The Guardian reports: The proposed changes to the national curriculum for 11 to 14-year-olds (key stage 3) in England include:
English: Pupils will continue to study Shakespeare plays and sonnets as well as the canon of pre-20th century literary classics, including Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and George Eliot. There will be a suggested list of contemporary authors, such as Benjamin Zephaniah, Philip Pullman, and Bill Bryson.
What do the curriculum changes mean?
The proposed changes to the national curriculum for 11 to 14-year-olds (key stage 3) in England include:
English: Pupils will continue to study Shakespeare plays and sonnets as well as the canon of pre-20th century literary classics, including Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and George Eliot. There will be a suggested list of contemporary authors, such as Benjamin Zephaniah, Philip Pullman, and Bill Bryson.
History: Pupils will continue to learn about the importance and impact of events in the last century, such as the world wars and the Holocaust. The history and impact of the slave trade will be added to the curriculum with explicit references to the role of reformers, such as Equiano and Wilberforce.
Languages: Schools will be given greater freedoms to offer economically useful languages, such as Mandarin and Urdu. But students will be able to drop all languages at age 14.
Citizenship: Following Keith Ajegbo's review, pupils will study national identity and the diversity of living together in the UK, including issues such as the legacy of Empire.
Geography: Sustainable development and environmental change will be given a much stronger focus.
Cooking: Pupils will be taught how to cook simple healthy meals from basic fresh ingredients in revamped food technology classes.
Personal finance: Pupils will be taught essential financial life skills through functional maths and in personal social and health education (PSHE). These will include: personal finance, enterprise and financial capability; learning about risk and reward; investment and trade; personal budgeting; mortgages; interest rates; and balancing credit cards.
PE: Lessons will combine physical activity with learning how exercise affects fitness and health. Schools will have even more flexibility to run the physical activities that best meet their pupils' needs.
All 11 to 14-year-old pupils will continue to study all 12 subjects of the national curriculum covering, in addition to English and mathematics, science, design and technology, ICT, the humanities, a foreign language, art, music, PE and citizenship. The new curriculum will put more emphasis on general skills, such as initiative, enterprise, and the capacity to learn independently - which are particularly valued by employers.
1 comments - Add yours
#1
The first book was definately on a list of suggested books in my English class. I'm in ninth grade by the way. I'd already read the whole trilogy by that time so yeah ^^.
Children can of course read the books and pretty much understand them, but there are some things that only adults process and appreciate.
# February 6, 2007 02:30 by Miss Bear