Hurrah! The recent independent report on the national curriculum in England agrees with us that citizenship studies need to be strengthened. Specifically, the UK government assents to a recommendation for:
‘a new statutory requirement to teach citizenship in key stages 1 and 2. We agree with this recommendation and consider it important, including for introducing learning on financial and media literacy, climate change and democracy and law into primary education.’
What does media studies mean for primary-age children?
When I look back at my own childhood, I note that the only media education I received was a notice board where one diligent teacher would post some headline news, often with a black and white picture (no colour photos in those days!). Some of the incidents were happening overseas, so I was, at the very least, aware of international events. Later, from age 12 onwards, I started to read the Daily Mail, noting that it was mostly filled with sensational stories of upper-class scandals or horrific crimes. At the age of 15, I moved off that and started to read more political content and gain some understanding of it.
For English children today, the change lies in the accessibility of news via smartphones. It is now evident that too much scrolling through instant content on phones can harm primary-age children, which is why a lot of parents restrict access. Governments are also putting pressure on social media companies to use algorithms that stop such content from reaching underage users. For the UK, there is the 2023 Online safety Act which Ofcom is implementing in stages. But with AI, the genie has popped out of the bottle; it is almost impossible to stop harmful content spewing all over the internet. So, we must either ban underage access completely or upskill children to detect fake news and harmful AI-generated content, both in texts and pictures. This is what the proposed new curriculum will do.
What does financial literacy look like?
Again, when I look back on how I was taught to manage money, I have vivid memories of sweets and cash books. In the rush to buy and sell sugary products, after the lifting of World War 2 rationing, every town and even most villages had a sweet shop. That is where we children spent most of our pocket money, and learned the practical arithmetic of pricing and change at the till. The school I studied at made it compulsory to fill in a cash book every weekend, laboriously writing up these tiny transactions in the credit and debit columns. I stopped doing this once I left that school, but the principles have been useful once I understood how Excel worked a decade later!
It will be interesting to see what is to be included in the new financial literacy curriculum. Children these days barely need to understand coinage, as the grownups around them will be mostly paying by swiping a card. With a pang of nostalgia for the merry noise of toddlers dropping coins into savings boxes, we have to recognise that basic money management is now coinless and must be done digitally, most likely teaching children to use a bank card. This can be chosen on various criteria, such as parental controls, best value for money, or best learning tool. One learning tool best designed for children to start learning about money is GoHenry.
One specific example in the proposals concerns how to calculate interest, which must be taught in maths education. This helps understand how interest rates can increase the amount in a savings account, as well as how buying things on a credit card can incur debt. It may also help in understanding home loans and why parents get anxious if interest rates go up and gouge the family budget. But I think this needs to be taught gradually. I did not understand interest until I was in my mid-teens.
When I listen to the arguments between parent and child in my own family about spending, it is obvious that children go through a long learning process between the instant gratification expected at younger ages (for example, buying items which attract their attention) to understanding what purchases are more valuable and the purpose behind them.
Climate Change and Sustainability
At primary school, we studied Nature studies. We held holiday competitions for nature collections, such as various grasses or wildflowers. Then, in the Sussex countryside, we quickly learned the names of common wildflowers, which children lack the knowledge of today! At a more senior level, we also joined the team that monitored the daily temperature and rain gauge. I wonder if the improved curriculum will include any of that.
The first time I encountered spectacular teaching about climate change was in a Leicestershire primary school, where a class had achieved a wonderful spread of artwork about the loss of the Amazon forest.
The curriculum will need to span what to do to ensure sustainability. Perhaps learning about exciting and exotic places where climate change is evident. However, teaching children the blame chain is complex. How can children understand that their burger patties come from cattle fed on soybeans, which are sourced from land cleared in the Amazon? It will be interesting to see how the suggested content for the new primary curriculum will deal with such connections. Will they be suppressed by our bias towards market forces, capitalism and our ‘right’ to do what we like?
Democracy
How to begin to teach these in primary school?
I think children can grow a basic understanding of voting even in their early years. Even from pre-school, children become aware of preferences based on differences in activities and food. Some like a sing-along, some prefer playing outside. Rather than a teacher or the timetable always prescribing, schools could introduce a bit of group choice: how many want a sing-along now, and how many prefer to play outside?
Gradually, as children progress from key stage 1 to 2, children can be urged to discuss preferences, and to argue with others to explain their position, even to persuade. The curriculum review actually proposes more attention and time to be given to oracy and the skill of presenting arguments.
Law
Understanding the law requires that children understand they are in a rules-based environment at school, even if home is too chaotic for rules and routines to be apparent. Understanding law thus begins with children understanding the rules that affect them in the here and now. Why no queue jumping in the dinner line? What do you feel when someone else has swiped your new crayon box? Do you like playing in an area where someone else has dropped litter that you can slip on? Then, also finding out that rules can be changed, maybe via a system where class monitors can voice group preferences, which inculcates some notion that group representation (democratic politics) is a good system.
In conclusion, I am rather excited about what is being proposed to enhance the primary school curriculum. It will be implemented only from 2028, which is sensible as materials and teacher training will be necessary.
