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Labour’s Skills-Based Curriculum Was a Disaster, Says Ex-Teacher. So Why Bring it Back?

by Paul Sutton
2 June 2024 11:00 AM

The laughingly named ‘skills-based curriculum’ was a joke, so it’s no surprise Labour wants it re-instated. It often allows ignorant teachers with poor subject knowledge – usually badly educated – to grandstand at the expense of pupils. These preen as “outstanding teachers” but their results tell a different story, as does a quick conversation about their supposed specialism. Non-teachers would be astounded how many are teaching with virtually no knowledge, love or ability for their subject. I know of a Head of English at my old school who’d never heard of T. S. Eliot – I was asked, were they male or female?

Roughly half of my 18 years teaching English in a comprehensive was spent under the disastrous ‘skills-based’ regime. I was constantly admonished for “too much teacher talk” and told “we don’t want the sage on the stage but a guide on the side”. I avowedly rejected this – with frequent run-ins – but they couldn’t fire me since I got good results. And I knew a lot about my subject, always dripping it into lessons. Most but not all of my colleagues were badly read and cowardly. If I sound arrogant, I don’t care: I’ve the scars from so many battles that it’s the only way if one is the sole non left-liberal in such a monoculture. Too many have acquiesced for too long. 

Payback was in lesson observations, which (until Gove’s changes) involved teachers prancing around like speed-taking stand-ups, rather than teaching. Supposedly, pupils needed to self-educate through ‘Assessment for Learning’. In reality, most hated the cringe-worthy approach: endless group work; role playing; peer-assessment; self-assessment; et al. They wanted their teachers to TEACH. In particular, individual writing skills were always neglected. 

After about 2014, someone noticed that hardly any pupils could think for themselves, or express themselves verbally, let alone on the page. Posters and trivia like that don’t help in exams. Nor do silly gimmicks involving handing out playing cards, sweets and traffic light hats. These got gushing praise from the useless Ofsted inspectors, but short-changed pupils in what really mattered – their education.  

Small surprise if the party of indoctrination and trans-activism reverts to this. One look at David Lammy – our leading Tudor numerologist, with his Mastermind slot claiming Henry VII succeeded Henry VIII – shows that poor educational standards and Labour are synonymous. 

Tags: Assessment For LearningDavid LammySkills-Based CurriculumTS Eliot

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