Flujo Tenso

Pupils were asked if they thought the practical knowledge and skills they

learned in Art and D&T would be as useful to them for learning in other school subjects, such as History and Maths.

The majority asserted that they were all equally useful:

Y eah, I think all o f the subjects are good for m e, because I'll be good at Maths and I can also learn to sew and use a sew ing machine and use different tools. (IV8)

Because if you w on't be able to make som ething, then you w on't be able to do nothing. (IV3)

Because these things you ought to have to know about w hen you 're older. ( C C ll )

U m , because you can't just have know ledge all the tim e. I mean, making stu ff in volves die future, it's a thing you have control of. (BG4)

Most o f the others were divided between those who considered practical skills and knowledge would be more or less useful. In both cases respondents generally considered its educational value was vocational. Boys in particular stressed this vocational value o f education:

U m , they'll definitely be a lot m ore useful to m e, w hen I'm older. Maths w on 't be so usefiil, but I've got to do it. (RK8)

I think so, if not m ore important, because I don't think you use (it depends on w hat career you do) I don't think you use Maths later on in life that m uch, apart from the odd sum that you did in primary school. Algebra and all things like that, they're not used in everyday practical life, whereas skills learned in textiles and Art, I think they are, and D T, they're m ore practical. (FF4)

Typical responses from those who considered they were less relevant were:

W hatever you com e to do, you need Maths for anything but, in this school. T ech nology is just making toys and things and that isn't much use for anything. (Y F8)

U m , people, um, tend to look with higher regard at subjects y ou 've done w ell at, if they're academic and because academic subjects w ill be m ore use to m e in getting a job that I want. (HB4)

U m , w ell the top thing I'd like to do is dentistry, so I don't think it w ould help m uch there. (FF2)

Another response from several pupils was that it would depend on which job they went into. A few pupils also emphasised that, although these skills would not be as useful as History and Maths, they would be useful nevertheless, while an opinion was occasionally expressed that Maths was more important and History was less important.

5.3.2.1 Sum m ary

Answers to this question indicate that practical subjects are valued by pupils, especially for future employment. This was not what I expected, because other research (e.g. Gerran and John, 1997) has suggested that pupils do not value practical subjects as highly as those that are academic. The difference in the findings might be accounted for by the sampling criteria and the fact that this research omitted the views of pupils who chose not to study a practical subject at KS4. However, the responses accord with answers to the previous question, which revealed that many boys intended to go into a job that requires practical skills. W hatever their opinion of the value of learning practical skills, they clearly understood the purpose o f their schooling to be vocational.

5.3.3 Social Relevance o f Practical Knowledge a n d Skills

Pupils were asked if they thought that practical knowledge and skills are becoming more, or less, important to people and the world today. M ore pupils said they were increasing in importance than not. Occasionally, the view was expressed that they are becoming more important to some people and less important to others, or that there is no change.

Pupils were insistent that, despite new technologies, hand skills are becoming more important for recreation and employment:

I think they're becom ing m ore important. Although robots and computers are taking over um factories, skills are still needed to make them and they'll alw ays be needed. And enjoyment anyway, with hobbies and things. (FF 12)

Y eah, m ore, mainly because the jobs are becom ing so hard to get. (Y F6)

I think they are m ore, I think that people, like they're tying them out a lot m ore. I don't think people used to like them but they like them a lot more now . I think they used to do them but they're actually learning now that it's quite good. (CC3)

I would, yes, because you need builders, m ore people to make furniture, y ou 're getting m ore things needing to be built by humans, so definitely, yes. (M G8)

Some o f them even responded that hand skills are o f growing importance to the world o f work:

M ore, m ore important, because you need to be able to do m ore things n ow . To get anywhere, you have to be able to com pete. The m ore you can do the better. (C L l 1)

M ore important, because if you learn it at school, then you know it w hen you leave school, so it'll be easier to get a job. (BG6)

M ore important, because there are less jobs in other sorts o f jobs. A nd p eople can w ork in design. (CC9)

Pupils related this question to their own experience at school:

It's just that people from different schools are pressing that people should have a good know ledge in technology and things like that. (CL4)

T hey're becom ing m ore important, because people have started to concentrate on that m ore, instead o f subjects like Maths and English and things like that. There is a lot m ore people, I feel, doing art and craft now . (CL8)

Fewer pupils considered that hand skills are becoming less important. They also referred to shifting patterns o f employment, mentioning in particular that

'computers are taking over more and more jobs' (HB4):

Y ou don't need to make stuff now , because you can always buy it. Y ou don't have to make your ow n entertainment. In the olden days, they might have had, w ell fifty years ago they might have made like, swords and that instead o f, because they haven't got T V s. But now it's just computers and things. (D A 7)

I think it's becom ing less, because computers are used everyw here, so there's not m any people making out o f hand, people m ight want to make things out o f hand, but the computers w on't let 'em. (LN9)

I think m ore things like media and computers are becom ing m ore important than skills in w oodw ork. I think people are m ore w illing to pay som eone to do their craft w ork for them than to do it them selves. ( T D l4)

They're becom ing less important now , because technology is increasing all the tim e. (H A 3)

One pupil related this to the growth of self-assembly products:

Because, um , say if you want to make som ething, say a table or som ething. Y ou can get one from a shop in a kit, instead o f having to mdke it from scratch. (K Y4)

Another pupil expressed the opinion that although these skills are becoming less important, they are relevant nevertheless:

I think that practical skills are becom ing less important, because o f what w as done by hand in the past isn't so much but there again they'll always need m achine operators and to maintain machines. You need a skilled person, so if you 're trained in that there'll always be work. (RK9)

A third pupil noted that, although she did not personally agree that hand skills are becoming less important, this was 'the prevailing view '. (IV5)

5.3.3.1 Summary

I had not anticipated that a majority of pupils would consider that practical knowledge and skills are becoming more, rather than less important. I was particularly surprised how often pupils said they were becoming more important vocationally, in view o f predictions made by economists and policy makers that these skills will become less important in the future (Elliott, 1999). Fewer pupils mentioned computers than I had expected. Answers to other questions indicated that home and family background influenced many o f their views.