Guest Lecturer - Jane Davidson

This post will look over the lecture delivered by Jane Davidson on her "learning country" and how education has progressed over the years. Jane Davidson was tin the position of Minister for Education for 7 years, she has seen first hand the changes within the educational system over the years. Jane discusses Margret Thatcher's National Curriculum which was put in place in 1983 by one, which prior to teachers decided what was taught in their classrooms. The initial plan for the national curriculum was visioned that the whole country would be learning the same subjects at the same time. Teachers opposed this new decision, they felt they were losing their freedom. Between the years of 1983 and 1997 there were improvements shown in education, the system was now structured, however education at this point was not focused on learning/being educated - more on being trained to fit what the government thinks you should know; showing the National Curriculum to be overly restrictive. The modernized national curriculum subjects have been revised and restructured. The purpose of these changes is to identify the skills for each subject and the range of contexts, opportunities and activities through which these skills should be developed and applied. The content has also been updated to ensure relevance to the twenty-first century and manageability for learners and teachers - Welsh Government(2008) From the appointment of a Labour government in 1997, Tony Blair coined the phrase "Education, Education and Education." His appointment to govern proves pivotal to modern education in England and Wales. A vote took place in 1997 to allow wales their own national assembly which was passed in 1999. Blair recognized that educational policy may need to differ between England and Wales to tailor specific needs. Davidson goes on to stress the importance of education in our current global situation. Education can be seen as a route away from poverty, as an individual - which in turn benefits the country through generation of wealth in turn increasing our Gross Domestic Product(GDP) figures. Davidson's (2012) vision was for wales to: "...become internationally renowned as a Learning Country: a place which puts learners' interests first; offers wider access and opportunities for all; aspires to excellence across the board; and which will not settle for second best in making lifelong learning a reality" (p.1) This shows the importance of my previous post on communities first and widening access. The idea for the learning country document was to put in place a 10 year plan for the educational system in wales, even though assembly members are only elected for 4 years. This is because a long term structure is needed as the system cannot change every 4 years! Davidson then mentions a part about the Foundation Phase and how it is in place to be a constant framework for education in wales no matter change in assembly members. Overall this was a very interesting lecture, factual yet captivating. References: http://wales.gov.uk/topics/educationandskills/schoolshome/curriculuminwales/arevisedcurriculumforwales/nationalcurriculum/?lang=en Welsh Government (2008) Davidson, J. The LEarning Country (2000) http://moodle.smu.ac.uk/file.php/904/the_learning_country.pdf The Learning Country.