Thought For The Day: Michael Rosen Rejects Data-led Learning

illustration by Chris Riddell

You know your curriculum is in trouble when even poets are taking up pens against it… Here poet and author Michael Rosen deplores the direction of the reductionist school curriculum. 

Data led schooling is an expression of the reductionist philosophy of the right wing. They adopt a ‘managerial’ approach to public services like education and healthcare which sees them as no more than any other industrial process in which the objective is to reduce the inputs and maximise the outputs.

This leads to a fetish for data… and the underlying belief that only the measurable is of value, and only the examinable is to be valued. 

Nothing more epitomises the exodus of teachers from the profession than such reductionist thinking. A school characterised by data collection, rather than learning will always fail children. 

About educationalist04

I'm convinced we can, as a species, do much better than this if we set our minds to being much more positive and productive towards our fellow humans. The solution is learning - creating independent and autonomous learners who can problem solve, innovate and create a better more equitable and sustainable world. My books, Future Proof Your School and Re-Examining Success together with this blog, explore how better learning outcomes for all can be achieved.

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