Return to real lessons: Dickens and key dates in history to be taught to raise standards. Children will study great literary characters, British prime ministers and historical battles in a drive to put knowledge back at the heart of schooling.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb today lamented children's 'depressing' ignorance of basic facts and concepts and said schools were sidelining core knowledge in favour of trendy skills-based courses.
Mr Gibb outlined plans for a major overhaul of the curriculum aimed at ensuring youngsters are introduced to 'the best that has been thought and said'.
He said that a generation was growing up having never enjoyed Shakespeare's language or studied literary figures such as Miss Havisham, who features in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
Mr Gibb cited research showing that hundreds of youngsters with As at A-level had no idea that the Duke of Wellington led the British at the battle of Waterloo or that Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone were 19th century prime ministers.
Mr Gibb said the results showed 'depressing evidence of the state of teaching knowledge in history'. Damaging 'child-initiated' teaching theories - where children decide their pace of learning - and the belief that pupils should simply 'learn how to learn' because there is no point in attempting to gain knowledge, were taking hold across parts of the education establishment, he said.
The new curriculum would set out the core knowledge youngsters should cover at each age. In science, they would be expected to learn about concepts such as photosynthesis and genetics while in history they will cover facts, dates and the narrative of British and world history.
English lessons would see them introduced to great works of literature while maths would contain mental arithmetic and algebra.
Addressing a conference staged by the Reform think-tank, Mr Gibb said: 'The facts, dates and narrative of our history join us all together. The rich language of Shakespeare should be the common property of us all.
'The great figures of literature that still populate the conversations of all those who regard themselves as well-educated should be known to all.
'Yet to more and more people Miss Havisham is a stranger and even the most basic history and geography a mystery. These concepts must be taught. And they must be taught to everyone.'
Education Secretary Michael Gove has already scrapped Labour's proposed primary curriculum which would have merged 13 stand-alone subjects into six 'areas of learning'.
Ministers will also rewrite the previous Government's secondary curriculum, which was introduced two years ago and came under fire after removing references to Winston Churchill and promoting learning 'skills' over core bodies of knowledge. ( dailymail.co.uk )
Dumbing down: Knowledge has been 'relegated' from classroom in favour of skills, warns Nick Gibb
Schools Minister Nick Gibb today lamented children's 'depressing' ignorance of basic facts and concepts and said schools were sidelining core knowledge in favour of trendy skills-based courses.
Mr Gibb outlined plans for a major overhaul of the curriculum aimed at ensuring youngsters are introduced to 'the best that has been thought and said'.
He said that a generation was growing up having never enjoyed Shakespeare's language or studied literary figures such as Miss Havisham, who features in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
Mr Gibb cited research showing that hundreds of youngsters with As at A-level had no idea that the Duke of Wellington led the British at the battle of Waterloo or that Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone were 19th century prime ministers.
Mr Gibb said the results showed 'depressing evidence of the state of teaching knowledge in history'. Damaging 'child-initiated' teaching theories - where children decide their pace of learning - and the belief that pupils should simply 'learn how to learn' because there is no point in attempting to gain knowledge, were taking hold across parts of the education establishment, he said.
The new curriculum would set out the core knowledge youngsters should cover at each age. In science, they would be expected to learn about concepts such as photosynthesis and genetics while in history they will cover facts, dates and the narrative of British and world history.
Classic: Martita Hunt as Miss Havisham in David Lean's 1946 adaptation of 'Great Expectations'
Addressing a conference staged by the Reform think-tank, Mr Gibb said: 'The facts, dates and narrative of our history join us all together. The rich language of Shakespeare should be the common property of us all.
'The great figures of literature that still populate the conversations of all those who regard themselves as well-educated should be known to all.
'Yet to more and more people Miss Havisham is a stranger and even the most basic history and geography a mystery. These concepts must be taught. And they must be taught to everyone.'
Education Secretary Michael Gove has already scrapped Labour's proposed primary curriculum which would have merged 13 stand-alone subjects into six 'areas of learning'.
Ministers will also rewrite the previous Government's secondary curriculum, which was introduced two years ago and came under fire after removing references to Winston Churchill and promoting learning 'skills' over core bodies of knowledge. ( dailymail.co.uk )
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