Education quandary

Sometimes you can't help feeling sorry for schools, forever stuck between a rock and a hard place. No doubt if this school had devoted a week to cutting out cardboard crowns and baking jubilee biscuits, then other parents would have come forward to complain about its neglect of "real" learning.

Hilary's advice

Sometimes you can't help feeling sorry for schools, forever stuck between a rock and a hard place. No doubt if this school had devoted a week to cutting out cardboard crowns and baking jubilee biscuits, then other parents would have come forward to complain about its neglect of "real" learning.

On these sorts of issues, there are – for once, thank goodness – no rules, but schools generally reflect the national mood. There was a distinct lack of excitement in the run-up to this week's celebrations, and the same was true in education. Back in February, four out of five local education authorities had no plans for marking the occasion, and a smattering of schools took a decision to ignore it altogether. One school's resource pack posed the questions: "Is the Royal Family out of date?" and "Why is the British public so uninterested in the jubilee?" – hardly the kind of stuff to set anyone aflame about the festivities.

In the end, though, most primary schools did do something. There were poetry and essay competitions, concerts and parties. A popular option was the Friday afternoon playground party, complete with bunting, jelly and ice cream, while one school went further and arranged for a "royal" opening of a new section of playground, with the path along the side of it christened Jubilee Walk.

However, is it really the end of the world if some children missed out on things like this – especially as the jubilee day itself was a public holiday, giving ample opportunities for other kinds of celebrations? Probably not.

But Chris Davis of the National Primary Headteachers' Association says it is "sad" if a school can't make time for special occasions, especially ones that come when when SATs are over for the year, and there is space in the timetable for fun and decompression.

And yes, he says, schools do have a duty to try to help children to understand society and the world they live in. The reason is that, although marking one-off events is actually one of the very few things not laid down in the national curriculum, "it is all part of their broader education".

In Mr Davis's Leicestershire school, children studied 1950s music, and looked at how the Union Jack came into being. "Schools have always built learning around these special sorts of events. They'll be some schools doing things around the World Cup, and others doing things around the Olympic Games."

And you don't need to toe any party line to do this, he points out. When it came to the jubilee, schools could have easily explained to children that while some people are staunch monarchists, others feel differently about the Royal Family.

Readers' advice

I have always assumed that the rounded education of my children was my responsibility, and that a school's job was to teach knowledge and skills in the most inspiring way possible and to pass on some shared values. There is a danger in trusting any institution to convey all the things you think are important to your children.

While many subjects may well be taught more efficiently by specialist teachers in schools, the role of the Queen is not one of them. Why didn't your correspondent tell his or her children about the significance of the jubilee and the Queen's role? There was plenty of material out there to bring it all to life.

Alison Haynes, Newton Abbot

It seems to me that there are two separate issues here: awareness and celebration. A school must have a responsibility to highlight and discuss any event that is high on the national agenda, whether it is a jubilee or a World Cup. Pupils need to be able to examine and comment on any issues these raise.

There is also the question of the historical perspective. Everyone likes to be able to look back on the big events of their time, simply as a matter of having been around when they happened, and schools need to help children remember these milestones in their lives.

Special celebrations are rather a different matter and surely must depend on lots of factors, including what else is happening in the local community.

Jan Wallace, Primary school governor, Oxon

Children are only in school for around 14 per cent of their time in a year. Has the writer thought of whether he or she is currently making good use of the other 86 per cent to develop his or her own child's values and understanding of the world? If his or her schedule is too busy to do this, why assume the primary school is any better placed to do so? Or is parenting just about putting food on the table and clothes on the child's back?

Paddy Storrie, Bushey

Next week's quandary

As someone who teaches in the capital, I am outraged by the Government's decision to put graduates into London schools after only six weeks' training. My wife, who also teaches, says she supposes anything is better than nothing. But surely I'm right in thinking that this insults children, and degrades the teaching profession? Who would want to go to a doctor or a lawyer who only had this sort of training?