Pressure on teachers to do more than teach the current curriculum

Life-based learning offers a solution to preserve the core educational purpose of education and meet the increasing social demands on schools.

Amanda Spielman in her address to mark the launch of Ofsted’s Annual Report 2019/20 identifies ‘the pressure on schools to do more than teach their current curriculum’

She adds, ‘The [Covid] crisis has really shown us how important schools are to the fabric of society, given how much they now do beyond their core educational purpose.’

She goes on to list the many demands on schools and raises the question, ‘Are we getting the balance right’ providing ‘the core job of education’ plus ‘extensive roles beyond education’

For me it is not a question of either/or. It is not one to the exclusion of the other.

The Life-Based Approach to Learning for primary-age children combines the core educational purpose with the greater demands of 21^st Century living by teaching the subjects through life themes.