The Importance Of Core Values In Education

PROLOGUE

Being educated in a three tier system has shown me how different types and sizes of school can vary, both in their teaching styles and in their attitudes towards teaching. My belief is that all schools should have the same core values for education and all schools should treat pupils equally. The core values all schools should have are: putting the pupils first, using a range of teaching strategies, and an increased amount of practical activities.

The purpose of a school is to educate children, for that reason the progress of the pupils learning should be the upmost priority. From experience, this is not always the case: after failing an exam my sister, along with many others, was not given the additional support or tuition promised.

I believe primary schools should provide opportunity for children to do lots of hands-on activities, rather than always writing or listening. Hands-on activities benefit children as it motivates them and actively involves them in their own learning: this builds the children’s confidence and makes them listen and try harder. Poorman (2002:32) supports this view, stating: ‘true learning cannot take place when students are passive observers of the teaching process’ (cited in Jarvis et al, 2002:2).

From experience, hands on activities are the most memorable learning aspect of primary school: one of my most memorable lessons from primary school is making a robot out of cereal boxes with joints so it could move when air was blown into it. Reflecting on my time at school has shown me that, despite having gained knowledge, I have limited memories of lessons and those I remember are all practical, thus suggesting that very few of my activities were

We feel as though science does not play a big enough role in education, despite it being a core subject: more often than not science experiments are rushed due to a lack of time so the children do not benefit as much as they should. Whilst on placement this occurred and the children were not left with sufficient time to evaluate and reflect on what they have discovered, which is arguably the most important aspect of the activity. The Department of Education and Science (1999:7) support our view on the importance of reflecting stating that children need to modify their ‘existing ideas in the light of new insights gained from scientific investigations’ in order for learning to be meaningful, ultimately supporting our belief that more time should be allocated to