The ninth Prince’s Teaching Institute Education Summer School begins
Posted 29th June 2009 09:55am by Alison Duguid
The Prince’s Teaching Institute has criticised the "inadequate" curriculum that leaves pupils with no inspiration and teachers feeling too constrained about what they teach.
Speaking on the first day of the ninth Prince’s Teaching Institute Education Summer School, a three-day residential course for secondary school teachers, Bernice McCabe, course director of The Prince’s Teaching Institute’s (PTI) emphasised the vital role the Summer School has in empowering teachers with more knowledge of their subjects.
Mrs McCabe said: "The most notable effect of the Summer Schools has been that teachers have gone back to their schools feeling it is within their power to change the way they approach their teaching. The Prince’s Teaching Institute, supported by leading academics and writers, offers an independent perspective in the wider education world, speaking for the teachers whose voice is informed by years of experience in the classroom. But the main purpose of the residential events is to enable teachers to reflect on what they themselves can do in their own classrooms."
Mrs McCabe, headmistress of North London Collegiate School described as "wholly inadequate" the overemphasis on skills as set out by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.
Mrs McCabe agreed with the QCA’s official view, as expressed by its Director of Curriculum Mick Waters, of the purpose of the curriculum being that young people should become "successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens" but, she said it was a huge omission not to say explicitly what children should learn. She said, "This to me is a wholly inadequate prescription for education. When everything is reduced to skills and functionality, where is the joy, where is the challenge, where is the inspiration?’"
The PTI Summer Schools place emphasis on subject content and offer a chance to discuss subject issues in depth with academics and experts. The Prince of Wales’s longstanding concern about the teaching of English Literature and History was the original driving force behind the creation of his annual Education Summer Schools. Two years ago a programme for Science teachers was added, and last year Science was paired with Geography, with particular focus on the interface between the two subjects in exploring the topic 'Planet Earth and its People'.
Mrs McCabe said that concerns had been expressed by a number of eminent scientific bodies, including Professor Michael Young at the Institute of Education, about the lack of solid content in school Science courses. And a study by the think tank Reform into the teaching and examination of Mathematics since 1950 had shown that the standard of performance needed for a pass had now sunk to a point where a grade C in Maths could be achieved with virtually no conceptual understanding of the subject.
"For the large majority of children, the attempts to design Maths courses that were more relevant and accessible have had the effect of reducing the levels of challenge, enjoyment and attainment. It is not an encouraging picture but the PTI wants to offer support to those who believe that rigour and challenge are the basis of successful Mathematics teaching and that teachers need to enthuse pupils and use their initiative to do so."
Read more about the Maths Summer School.
Read more about the Science Summer School.
