Education Comment
Window to the World
of sense was about Osama bin Laden. If he was such an evil monster, why did so many people believe what he told them and continue to follow his teachings to this day? Easy enough to say that all his thousands of followers
Of
Richard Addis asks when is the right time to introduce children to current affairs?
were evil monsters, too. But when you think about it, most monsters lose their power to persuade once they are in the grave. People like Hitler, Vlad the Impaler and Idi Amin were of very little importance once removed from power, let alone dead. The answer – I think, to do with the religious claims of Bin
Laden’s teaching – was beyond me at the time and I know I fumbled it, hopelessly. But it brought home the question of why, when and how children should be introduced to current affairs. In January, a small group of journalists and I, who had got
to know each other while working at The Financial Times, launched The Day – a daily online “newspaper” for children aged 12 upwards. The experience of taking this into a wide range of schools, talking to parents, teachers and pupils and meeting some of the leading education writers has suggested some answers. It is agreed that one reason for introducing
current affairs into children’s lives is that they shouldn’t live in a “bubble”. Teachers and parents tend to define the bubble differently but prescribe the same cure. For teachers, the bubble is academic; for parents the bubble is more personal – a whole world of family and friends. “I want them to be aware,” says
one young mother, “in a gentle way. I want them to know that they are privileged here in the West and that there are families in parts of the world who are living through experiences that are different, often tough.” Why worry them or start
making them feel guilty? “It never would,” she says. “Children who are secure are easily capable of imagining some of the hardships of life without losing that security.
18 FirstEleven Michaelmas 2011
www.firstelevenmagazine.co.uk
all the recent questions posed by my rapidly growing-up son – including “is God dead?” – the most difficult to answer with any modicum
Just think of most of the good children’s stories.” Another reason many give, is the value of building bridges
between subjects that are studied at school and the wider world outside. “If I can talk about a volcano that is erupting right now and show a clip from the TV news,” says one former prep school head, “it really helps to show that school is about the real world.” This leads to the most important argument for current
affairs-based teaching. There is evidence that children aware of the wider world, and how the big issues link to subjects they are studying, are children who excel at school. The habit of listening to, reading and discussing current affairs, gives a huge boost to the foundations of understanding and to a coherent, joined-up body of knowledge.
“Students who are excellent at history talk at home about the latest saxon treasures”
“The students who are excellent at maths enjoy discussing
cricket averages with their fathers and the students who are excellent at history are talking at home about the latest Saxon treasure troves,” says one school head. On the question of when to start children on current
affairs, we have found near-universal agreement that it is never too young. It seems primary school children can benefit from discussion of news that relates to personal themes such as “courage” and
“trust” and issues with which they can identify. This starts the “habit” and makes it easier to interest them in complex stories later on. As for the best tools for introducing news – there are two main options. CBBC’s Newsround is an excellent TV starter for younger children. And The Day (interest already declared above!) is catching on fast for older children as a more serious online daily service, looking at three of the big stories of the day, including wars and less obvious news, too, such as scientific breakthroughs or new developments in the field of arts or sport.
Richard Addis is Editor-in- Chief of The Day.
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