The Importance of Education and How It’s Changing.

I have always believed education is an important part of a human’s life, not just in school but education throughout life. Similarly, to Mark Twain (1885 – 1910, cited by (Murphy, 2008) ‘I have never let schooling interfere with my education’. Education is not something to be gained purely through an educational institute, such as schools, colleges and university. Education is constantly gained throughout a person’s life, also known as ‘informal learning’ (Matterson, 2019).

The reforming of education within educational institutions has been happening for many years, from the Education Act 1870 to the Education Reform Act 1988, it has been an ever-changing system (UK Parliament, 2019). In February 2015, Professor Graham Donaldson CB released the ‘Successful Futures Report’. Commissioned by the Welsh government, Donaldson reviewed the current curriculum in schools throughout Wales and then gave his own review on what needs to be improved as well as changed in schools throughout Wales (Evans, 2015). Donaldson wrote a report with a view of fundamental improvements needed to the current curriculum in Wales that would allow the importance of pupil’s future and well-being to be attained (Donaldson, 2015).

In my opinion, the new curriculum looks at education is more holistic way compared to the current curriculum. The national curriculum as it stands now has specific topics/subjects that are taught throughout schools in Wales (Welsh Government, 2019).  Whereas, the new curriculum; as seen in Donaldson’s report, allows a bit more fluidity; this is evident in the new name for  school ‘subjects’, now known as areas of learning and experience (Donaldson, 2015).

Along with the new areas of learning and experience, are four key purposes to the new curriculum change. These four purposes will shape the way in which the areas of learning and experiences will be taught in schools across Wales (Evans, 2015). The key purposes are;

1.    Ambitious, capable learners who are ready to learn throughout their lives.

2.    Enterprising, creative contributors who are ready to play a full part in life and work.

3.    Ethical, informed citizens who are ready to be citizens of Wales and the world.

4.    Healthy, confident individuals who are ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society. (Dauncey, 2015)

When looking at the areas of learning and experiences as well as the four key purposes to the new curriculum, it can be seen that Donaldson was thinking of how to create a system that would allow the pupil to grow holistically. When listening to Ken Robinson’s ‘Changing Education Paradigms’ talk, he describes the current schooling system being run like a factory. No pupil is looked at individually; they are taught in groups, evaluated in groups and assessed in groups (The RSA, 2010). Donaldson addresses this issue with his own form of solution, by bringing in learning aesthetically. The areas of learning and experiences will all interlink, with no specifically set outline for each individual are of learning, pupils will learn through fluidity. This means that areas such as expressive arts and humanities could be joined together; in a away pupils can learn about geographical beliefs through the medium of arts and crafts (Donaldson, 2015).

With Donaldson’s new curriculum to be put into action by 2020, there are still a few creases to iron out. None of which the BBC are too coy to talk about. Donaldson reviewed that areas such as digital competence should be taken just as seriously as areas such as literacy and numeracy. However, putting his theories into practice does not come without its difficulties; as written by committee chairwoman and Labour AM, Lynne Neagle in a letter to Education Secretary Kirsty Williams (BBC, 2017). Schools who are expected to start using the new curriculum are unclear of exactly what to expect. Education bosses as recently as January 2019, telling the Welsh assembly members that the curriculum was "generic, poorly defined and weak on knowledge and skills development" (Lewis, 2019).

On the other hand, although there are still some problems with putting the report into action, I would like to believe that once the new curriculum does come into play, schooling will have been changed for the better. Bringing the education system of Wales into the 21^st century.

Bibliography

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Lewis, B., 2019. Draft Welsh curriculum 'poorly defined' education bosses say. [Online]
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Matterson, C. (2019) 'Learning happens everywhere, not just in the classroom', [Online]         Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/10755078/Learning-happens-everywhere-not-just-in-the-classroom.html (Accessed: 6 March 2019).

Murphy, L. M. a. K., 2008. Education Studies: An Introduction. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill Education.

The RSA (2010) RSA ANIMATE: Changing Education Paradigms. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&t=5s (Accessed: 6 March 2019).

UK Parliment, 2019. Going To School: Overview. [Online]
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