Week 10 - 03/12/13 - Back to Basics

It's interesting that this lesson fell on the same week we were informed, by the news media, that the UK had fallen further down the World league tables in the core subjects.

It didn't surprise me when Zaeed took some time to fill us in on the shift in focus within Further Education. 

English and Maths are critical

I'm sure most of us already knew that. Perhaps the biggest challenge is to convince those students that switched off at school that now is the time to switch back on. 

I don't believe it ends there though... I know from my own daughter's experience, at times Maths and Science seems to be taught strategically. As long as they retain information on certain carefully selected high scoring elements and then get it down in an assessment, some ( not all ) teachers see it as job done! Not really job done, when the same students struggle to translate and apply the complex exercises into everyday scenarios that call for an understanding of one of the core skills. 

I felt it was refreshing to hear that a shift in focus was on the way...

Emphasis is to be placed on understanding the subject rather than the passing of an exam.

It's a collective effort, as it's not to be left just to the core subject tutors. All tutors have an obligation to weave Maths and English into whatever subject they teach.