Ireland's big school secret: how a year off-curriculum changes teenage lives

(www.theguardian.com)

204 points joveian | 1 comments | 16 Oct 24 17:36 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

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MattPalmer1086 ◴[16 Oct 24 18:25 UTC] No.41862123[source]▶

Sounds like a great idea.

In England, I've seen education get consistently more rigid and inflexible over the years. All about tests, tests and more tests. Teachers leave the profession, children turn off. And as it consistently fails to produce better results, the answer is always to do more of what has failed.

Bring something like this to England, please!

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SoftTalker ◴[16 Oct 24 20:47 UTC] No.41863706[source]▶

>>41862123 #

> tests, tests and more tests

Same in the USA. The old student question "will this be on the test?" is now also asked by teachers and administrators. If the answer is "no" they skip it.

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spywaregorilla ◴[17 Oct 24 00:32 UTC] No.41865278[source]▶

>>41863706 #

That's not unreasonable if you have good tests that hit the right elements. My experience about 10 years ago with the AP exams were very positive. The tests were good, and even though the classes were taught to the test, they were some of the best classes I ever took.

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1. bobthepanda ◴[17 Oct 24 02:12 UTC] No.41865790[source]▶

>>41865278 #

the problem, at least in the US, is that the tests and standards have tightened up without necessarily giving the teachers better training or better productivity tools to teach them, and now their job evaluations also depend on it, so now everybody is optimizing for the test. Usually to the detriment of subjects not on standardized testing like the arts or physical education or anything resembling a break time.

Throw in the fact that in much of the country, teachers have to do things like pull second jobs to get by and beg parents for basic supplies like scissors and paper towels, and it's no wonder everything is falling apart.

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