Education Quandary

Hilary's advice

Your younger colleagues probably don't remember the days when topic work often meant a term-long meander through the Vikings with nothing to show for it but a display of misshapen cardboard helmets. In many schools, the rigour of literacy and numeracy hours blew in like a bracing sea-breeze.

But remind yourself that, when children grow up, their lives will be non-stop "topics". When they book a holiday, rent a flat or apply for a job, they will need to think through the geography, maths and psychology of the situation. With big issues, such as climate change, it'll be vital for them to be able to juggle complex ideas.

Today's resurgence of topic work is born out of teachers' frustration with the rigidity that has ruled in primary schools for a couple of decades. They know that integrated learning makes sense. But, I hope, the changes will remain rooted in the clear framework for learning the national curriculum brought in.

This is not to say that all subject-specific learning should be tossed out. Children need maths and music lessons. They need to learn the chronology of history. But the best education always features a good balance.

Readers' advice

Your younger colleagues could be right, but so could you. Some topic work had little point, but it needn't be like that. Primary curriculums have to respond to the world; we can't just repeat the same curriculum forever. Great topic work is engaging, rigorous and interdependent, helping children to see the relevance of what they are doing in the classroom to the world. The question is not: "Topic-based work or not?" but: "What kind of topic-based work and how well organised is it?"

Martin Skelton, Fieldwork Education, London E14

Do we never learn? I left teaching in the 1980s in disgust at the woolly, "child-centred" thinking that permeated primary education. Since then I have worked as a private tutor, filling in gaps left by schools. I have more work than I can cope with.

Molly Logan, London NW10

Last year, my daughter's class studied the topics of "minibeasts" and "Where does food come from?". She loved it. The topic approach makes total sense for younger children.

Helen Strickland, Nottingham

Next Week's Quandary

Dear Hilary,

My children's RE teacher says that she believes it would be fine to teach children that intelligent design is an alternative theory to evolution. I'm shocked. She is no fundamentalist, but argues that children ought to know about different ideas. Isn't it wrong to teach children theories for which there is no evidence?

Send your letters or quandaries to Hilary Wilce, to arrive no later than Monday 30 July, to 'The Independent', Education Desk, Independent House, 191 Marsh Wall, London E14 9RS; or fax to 020-7005 2143; or email to h.wilce@btinternet.com. Please include your postal address.