Are schools teaching what our youth needs to learn?

On official life expectancy, today’s teenagers could expect to live into the 2080’s. Do we really think schools are preparing them for the troubles ahead?

Changes to the National Curriculum move at glacial speed. A major review is being implemented, reaching classrooms in… 2028. Whilst there are some positive changes, many experts are critical, seeing them as too timid and too slow. More details here.

Schools Week magazine says the new curriculum still sees pupils as “vessels to fill with knowledge”, where the real need is to use and filter data from real life, AI and elsewhere. Simon Jenkins in the Guardian urges a move away from formal exams, which prioritise memorising facts, to continuous course-based assessment.

As a non-expert in education, I am amazed that there seems to be almost no trialling of more innovative approaches, and am exploring whether this could happen in a couple of Welsh secondary schools. Wales sets its own curriculum, and is usually more open to new approaches than Whitehall.

The context for our youth is getting tougher all the time. A major study recently showed how deep and widespread are concerns about climate and the future among 16-25-year-olds, across the world: see more here. The impacts of social media are still being understood, but include a big rise in narcissism among young people, and a decline in social skills.

My suggestions on how to educate young people come from my broad explorations of resilience and wellbeing in the face of climate change and other future challenges:

Community cultivation: I share the view that Western cultures are too focussed on individuality. And many surveys show that high social media activity has made many young people self-centred and narcissistic. In the turbulent times ahead, the skills for both practical actions and emotional support in groups will be crucial, but most people of any age lack these skills.
What’s needed includes ability to express your own strong feelings clearly and cleanly, and hear others’; to compromise, collaborate, negotiate; to resolve or live with conflicts and differences in values. Also to understand a community’s need for cohesion, find ways to include diversity, rituals, and lots more. Wouldn’t it be great if schools and colleges taught these skills?
Resilience and self-care: life is getting more abrasive and alarming, so we’re all going to need more physical, emotional and soul resilience. This can be learned. Self-care means an understanding of how to manage stress, and how to calm and nurture yourself – including support from others. For general resilience resources, see seedingourfuture.org.uk, for soul resilience, see www.soulresilience.net.
Nature affinity: my hope is that every child and teenager gets experiences and knowledge that help them feel in community with all Nature, instead of seeing it as a dead asset for human use. The growth of Forest Schools is a hopeful sign.
Facing climate change: by this, I mean not only teaching the science, the future outlook, the choices that could be made, but even more importantly, the emotional capacity to live with and grow through the fear, overwhelm, and other feelings this must arouse. The Climate Psychology Alliance have developed some good processes for this, and the Work that Reconnects is also relevant.
Change-making: the younger generations need to know how to work for positive change, within political and economic systems that often look indifferent and in service to the rich. There are learnable skills of using the law, claiming your rights, gathering public support in your local community, using online petitions and more…
Imagination and creativity: in his excellent book, From What Is to What If, the founder of the Transition Network, Rob Hopkins, shows how the abilities and the creative space to imagine a better future has been largely squeezed out of the education system and many other places. We have to re-enable imagination, and link it to creative expression of all kinds: this is a vital part of positive change-making. For my summary blog on Rob’s book, click here.
Practical survival skills: we know that climate change is likely to continue for many years, and the impacts beyond 2040 or 2050 are probably severe, maybe a lot sooner. Survival skills can range from basics like having emergency food and torches, through coping without mobile phone networks, to how to do basic plumbing, carpentry, etc. Another key element in this is how to grow and cook your own food. This pairs well with the resilience and self-care mentioned earlier.

If you’re interested in role models for what this could look like, here are a few: Black Mountains College, in Wales, for further education; United World Colleges, for secondary education and beyond, internationally; Efterskole in Denmark, for 14-18-year-olds; Agora in the Netherlands for a pupil-led approach; and the Steiner Waldorf schools do well in teaching creative and social skills.