Opening Minds:
Opening Minds is a new educational system that says there shouldn't be separate lessons for history, maths, art, English. It maintains that our fixation with old fashioned subjects - the way what pupils learn has been organised for hundreds of years - simply gets in the way of what today's young teenagers really need to know to be successful in the complicated world of real life.
What they really need to know and understand is a set of skills, or competences. So, rather than have a geography lesson followed by maths then English, you might work on a topic called "higher faster stronger" - in which you'd keep an eye out for improving your skills in 'Relating to People', and 'Managing Information', which would incidentally teach you some maths, English and geography as you went along.
Libby discusses the issue with Lesley James: Head of Education for the Royal Society of Arts where Opening Minds was developed, Mark Taylor: History Teacher at a South London Comprehensive School, who believes in the traditional approach, and Dr Bethan Marshall: Senior Lecturer at Kings College London, who is, as she says, "impaled on the fence" on this issue.
Package: Opening Minds
Sara Parker visits St John's School and Community College where they've been using the RSA Opening Minds competence-based curriculum since 2001.
The Kana Foundation School
A new educational initiative - the Kana Foundation School - for African/Caribbean children has just opened, based at the Institute of Education , University of London . The school is open on Sundays between 11am and 2pm and offers teaching in a wide range of subjects. Angie Brooks, the founder of Kana Foundation School joins Libby in the studio.
Package: Indian School
One place where the slow change in attitude to the Dalit ("untouchable") caste is most evident is at a school for poor children in Delhi run by India 's largest sanitation NGO, Sulabh International. Clare Jenkins has been finding out more about this 'school for scavengers' and how it promises to transform their future.
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