SSUNI Launches ‘Let Us Learn’ Report on LLW at QUB
On Monday 4th December, SSUNI’s Learning for Life and Work Working Group launched its report, entitled ‘Let Us Learn’, at Queen’s University Belfast. The report can be read here.
The working group was led by Lauren Bond (International Officer) and Ugne Girciute (Education Officer / Advisory Panel Member) and 4 other volunteers. This was a long project, designed to produce a comprehensive assessment of young people’s views about LLW.
The launch was highly successful, bringing together key stakeholders from educational and political circles, such as MLAs, officials from CCEA and the Department of Education and Teacher Trainers, ensuring that SSUNI’s message was heard by those with the ability to make a difference.
The event featured a panel discussion with a range of young people, who answered questions from the floor to highlight the report’s recommendations and the importance of LLW. The overwhelming opinion was that LLW is vital to ensuring a well-rounded education that prepares students for adulthood, instead of an education that just provides students with grades.
The report has a number of key statistics, as well as comments from respondents, that highlight some of the key issues with LLW across the full range of the subject’s curriculum. For example, 86.8% of respondents did not find LLW to be viewed as a priority subject in their schools like English or Maths would be.
The report has 5 key recommendations:
Listen to the views of young people at all times - it shouldn’t take a report in order to take action.
Engage with pupils and parents regularly, hear their concerns and ideas and use them.
Realistic training and resources - teachers shouldn’t have to bear additional responsibility.
Review, consult, update - society is constantly changing and our curriculum needs to also!
Be creative and bold - we need a curriculum that inspires young people.