The use of Story-sacks & Benefits for learning

What should be the priorities of Primary education?

There have been many arguments and still currently mixed reviews on what the priorities of education and its curriculum should be focussed on in terms of Primary Education. Many argue that the main focus and priority should be focussed on the academic subjects such as Maths and English in order for a child to develop upon their own personal intelligence and grow into a successful individual. However, although I agree that the compulsory core subjects are important, I feel there should be more focus on other areas and aspects of learning such as passion, creativity and imagination in order to expand upon a child’s development and learning in their Primary Education phase. Todays curriculum is changing fast due to Donaldson (2015) enforcing a new curriculum with focusses of literacy, numeracy and digital competence allowing teachers to be more flexible with their learning rather than reading from a book or children demonstrating work just on pen and paper as smart phones and tablets did not exist when the last curriculum was introduced in 1993 (GOV,2017).  Thankfully, a new curriculum is being developed for settings and schools in Wales. The curriculum will be available by April 2019 and a final version will be available in January,2020, and will be used throughout Wales by 2022. (Gov, 2018).

I feel a massive priority of Primary Education should be creativity, especially the use of a child’s imagination as this allows a child to venture and explore their own personal ideas in a way like no other and allow them to create a fictional picture of the world from their own personal view and no one else’s, something I feel was not emphasized or explored enough when I was in Primary School. Ken Robinson (2006) believes that “Creativity is as important in education now as literacy and we should treat it with the same status.” I completely agree with Ken Robinson. Nowdays I feel a child’s creativity is dimmed out and has a less significant focus in terms of its impact upon their learning in comparison to literacy and numeracy skills which are seen to be more important in current education. To me this isn’t fair. A child may struggle in more academic areas such as literacy and numeracy but strive in creative subjects such as art and digital competence so we must consider creativity and applaud this for being a part of a child’s strengths rather than a weakness. Creativity is massively important as it allows the child to open a door to a range of possibilities because as the child grows the less the imagination is used. Ken Robinson (2006) believes this is due to the fact that “we don’t grow into creativity we grow out of it, or in fact we are educated out of it.” For example, using objects and materials like mud, grass and water to manipulate and be explored by a child could be used and seen in so many ways such as a recipe for making things like mud pies and other countless activities, therefore engaging a child’s opportunity for a more creative and imaginative side from inspiration and discovery of outdoor learning. This is also a great opportunity for engaging in team work as children can collaborate and problem solve together enabling them to learn from each other and others views which I feel should be a massive priority of primary education.  I also feel creativity should be enforced in a learner’s surroundings. For example, a child won’t want to learn in a classroom that’s dull and boring, creativity allows the ability to brighten the classroom with children’s work using examples of their creativity and imagination so the classroom becomes their own and a more exciting place to learn. This is definitely something I would to like enforce in my classroom one day.

I also feel many Primary school teachers lack Passion, which to me should always be a priority when teaching children their education because if you lack passion and enthusiasm then how can you expect the child to engage and want to participate in the work and their own learning? The more passion you show the more its enforced upon the child’s attitude. Therefore, I feel the new curriculum allows the teachers to be more engaging and passionate with their learning because its new, exciting and fresh. It gives them more flexibly with their teaching through the use of digital competence with iPads rather than just books and paper which again emphasises my idea that creativity and imagination should be considered a priority to Primary education.

However, although I feel the use of creativity, imagination and passion should be a massive priority of Primary Education this doesn’t mean that the core subjects aren’t. Subjects such as literacy, numeracy and science have allowed children to build greater understanding and knowledge about the world and everyday life. Literacy allows the ability for a child to pick up a pen and learn to write the letters in their own name and maths is always and probably will always be used every day by a child for little things such as looking at the numbers on a clock to tell the time or counting how many blocks they have to build a tower. Research by the IFS (The institute for Fiscal studies) showed children with high maths scores at the age of 10 can earn 7.3 per cent more than others when they are 30 years old. I agree with the ‘Donaldson Report’,2015 that ‘literacy, numeracy, and digital competence should be a cross-curriculum responsibility for all teachers working with children.’ The use of creativity can be used in these core subjects to make them more fun and engaging for children to change the stereotypical ‘boring’ view that many young children hold. Digital competence holds a massive opportunity for creativity and imagination due to the possibilities it holds for children within different apps and games. Different apps allow children to still learn but in an effective and creative way such as using their literacy skills to create a fictional story using different animations and effects. However, teachers should be critical and mindful to avoid overusing this source in their teaching.

Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you share the same or similar opinions  and views as me, that we should emphasise upon the importance of creativity and imagination without losing focus of core subjects.  If not, please share your views and opinions in the comments below as id love to hear them😊.

Here's the link to Ken Robinsons Ted Talks about whether schools "kill" creativity. Feel free to take a look and learn more!

 

 

References

https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity/up-next#t-182172

http://gov.wales/topics/educationandskills/schoolshome/curriculuminwales/curriculum-for-wales-curriculum-for-life/?lang=en

http://gov.wales/docs/dcells/publications/150225-successful-futures-en.pdf