“Schools have been struggling with an overloaded national curriculum for years, which makes the publication of the Curriculum and Assessment Review long overdue. I think we should broadly welcome its attempts to rationalise and streamline the curriculum.
“Particularly welcome from my perspective are the changes to the computer science curriculum and the new emphasis on improving young people’s data and media literacy. This reflects my research into how effectively schools are preparing children for a highly technologized future. However, questions remain about how effectively and quickly teachers can be supported to teach these new elements, given the pace of change in areas like generative artificial intelligence which threaten to revolutionise education. I am not convinced that the review has grasped the immensity of those challenges.”
Professor Jopling expressed disappointment that the review did not go further to tackle the culture of high-stakes testing:
“It is more than a little disappointing that the review has not gone further in proposing to reduce the amount of high-stakes assessment that children and young people face or shifting the emphasis much more strongly from assessment to learning. Previous experience suggests that the devil is always in the implementation, especially when you see the department of education immediately rejected its recommendation to retain Progress 8, the main accountability measure for secondary schools.”
Professor Jopling will explore these issues further in his forthcoming talk on 20 November, arguing that only fundamental change will equip the next generation.
He said: “Schools, and what goes on in them, still look much like they did 50 or even 100 years ago despite everything that has changed in the meantime.
“We need to understand better the different ways in which children and young people gather information and learn, and rethink schooling in ways that acknowledge rather than resist those realities.”
The lecture – part of the University of Brighton’s free public lecture series – will suggest that only radical change can create the kind of collaborative, creative, and learning-focused education children and young people need.
Event details
Beyond our depths: The (post)digital future of schooling
Professor Michael Jopling (School of Education, Health and Sport Sciences)
Thursday 20 November, 6.30pm
The Professor Sir David Watson Lecture Theatre, Watson Building, Falmer campus, University of Brighton
Register to attend for free
This lecture is part of our free public lecture series, where new professors share their pioneering research and its real-world applications. Open to the general public, each lecture is free, informative, and focused on the future.
Find out more about the event and what’s coming up.