St Nicholas School (LN)
MATT DONALDSON
Pupil-Driven Inquiry Projects; the end of fact-based learning Whilst we of course all know of the many challenges and difficulties we have all faced in recent months, both personally and professionally, very little has yet been written on the positives that we can draw from the impact of the pandemic. Almost every element of our lives has of course changed in recent months, but perhaps more than any other industry, we as educators have a wonderful opportunity to take this moment to innovate and improve our strategies to suit pupils’ skill sets and moreover their needs for the future. To indulge a significant oversimplification, a case could be made that education has changed very little since the Education Acts through the 19th century, and dare we speculate, earlier than that. Learning was predicated on scarcity of information – stories and information passed down from elders to juniors, then in classrooms, with content dictated by teachers. This system worked because experienced individuals were the best source of knowledge available to those seeking to learn, be it individuals in a classroom or apprentices in a factory. Nowadays, we of course utilise different resources – keyboards replace slates and notebooks, interactive screens replace blackboards, but crucially, the premise remains largely the same. Information delivered in rigid boundaries – this is a science topic; here is a history lesson. Today though, for pupils growing up in the Information Age, children studying have access to an overwhelming amount of content – not even the expression at their fingertips applies any more thanks to the advent of smart speakers and voice commands. Content can be read aloud by watches; practical
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tutorials available in an instant via video. The dynamics of how people access information, and develop and learn new skills is rapidly changing. Lockdown has brought a huge amount of innovation to our field, and so to return to the traditional strategy of pure fact retention would be a missed opportunity in terms of how we prepare children for the future. Certainly at primary level, there is a strong emphasis on simply regurgitating information: Can you remember Henry VIII’s six wives? Can you name three mountains around the world? Label the parts of this plant. Circle the pronouns in this passage. Whilst knowledge remains important, the accessibility of information nowadays means that we as educators have a much broader scope to teach the application of this knowledge. So, what should this new curriculum focus on? Successful individuals in the workplace have the ability to problem solve, to interpret and analyse, to critique and question. These skills have always been important, but we have assumed that children have needed a grounding in basic knowledge before they learn them. Nowadays, with that basic knowledge more accessible, why not begin teaching skills at an earlier age, helping children to become adaptive learners, academically independent and resilient? To achieve this end, greater focus is therefore required in allowing children to become independent learners. This does not mean that they are able to work on an activity for 30 minutes without disturbing the teacher – it means that they are
