By John Pugh MP - 11th January 2012
John Pugh MP urges the coalition to take the teaching of technology seriously, starting with the primary curriculum.
The big problem in British education is the under-performing, under-achieving, demotivated young male. More of the same will stoke up major social problems for the future. Research shows that disengagement from the educational process starts young, and frequently before secondary school. This partly reflects the fact that the primary curriculum provides limited opportunity for those (often boys) who find it easier to learn in a hands-on way through technology and design.
In British education technology is too often seen as an option for those who cannot hack academic subjects and seek a route away from them – often during the last years of formal education – instead of as a gateway to educational and academic development in the early years.
With the Meccano generations now mostly retired, young boys' and girls' informal opportunities to develop practical, engineering skills have diminished – apart from the opportunity to operate gadgets made in China.
Ensuring that 'technology' is embodied properly in the curriculum without clear endorsement through SATs is no easy task, but is an obvious route to better outcomes. The research evidence on this is highly persuasive. However, there are fears that any future revision of the primary curriculum will favour a more bookish approach, which may in turn further accentuate the differences between boys’ and girls’ attainment.
The case for a design and technology SAT which does not impose artificial requirements on primary schools but celebrates their achievements in this area is a clear and arguable one.
Look into the background of most ministers and, not unexpectedly, one finds careers built on book-based formal education, and not on the sort of experiences that made people like Steve Jobs or James May. If the coalition is to take technology seriously, it must begin with the Primary Curriculum.
John Pugh has been Liberal Democrat for Southport since 2001.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd