Never mind the technology, where’s the learning?

While the news coverage of Jim Rose’s interim report on the Primary Curriculum has inevitably emphasised the ‘loss’ of curriculum subject titles, it is a great boost to the status of both discrete and integrated ICT in the curriculum. While his main emphasis is on children being better prepared for life outside school and to deepen understanding:

“Good primary teaching deepens and widens children’s understanding by firing their imagination and interest in learning.”

he puts ICT squarely at the core of the primary curriculum:

“It will also be increasingly important that children have the ICT skills which will enable them to apply the technology of the future and meet the challenges of an uncertain world, with confidence and flexibility. A sound grasp of ICT is fundamental to engagement in society, and the foundations for this engagement must be laid in primary schools. Along with literacy and numeracy, the use of technology to develop skills for learning and life should be at the core of the primary curriculum.”

Specifically he refers to moving elements found in Key Stage 3 into the primary phase and asks Becta and QCA to:

1. Review whether aspects of the Key Stage 3 curriculum for ICT would be more appropriately taught in Key Stage 2.
2. Make sure that by the end of Key Stage 2, children are able to select and apply ICT to advance their learning across the curriculum.

Rose’s view is that ICT should be as high a priority as Literacy and Numeracy, and be taught both discretely and integrated into the rest of the curriculum:

“No matter how the curriculum is designed, the vast majority of primary schools rightly acknowledge the need to prioritise key aspects of it. English and mathematics fall within these priorities, not least because they respectively embrace literacy and numeracy; ICT should also be given priority as discussed below. In each case, associated knowledge and skills should be taught both discretely, and applied regularly across the curriculum.”

He also recognises the role of ICT in helping teachers with the workload that the curriculum imposes on them:

” … Any changes proposed to the primary curriculum by the Review are unlikely to substantially reduce these demands on class teachers, making it necessary to seek imaginative ways of providing teaching to the required depth, not least to meet the pace and appetite for learning of the most able children. One highly promising route to meeting the demand for in-depth teaching and learning is undoubtedly emerging through ICT.”

Tags: JimRose, Rose, rose review, primary curriculum review