Australian adults want to see "life skills" introduced into school curriculums, including money management, job preparation and domestic tasks. New research from Monash University showed Aussie adults also widely supported the inclusion of technology, coding and artificial intelligence subjects in student curriculums to prepare them for future jobs.
Co-author Professor Neil Selwyn, from Monash's new Education Futures think tank, said the survey results of more than 2,000 Australians had taken himself and Dr Deana Leahy by surprise. "The life skills—I wasn't expecting that at all," he said. Those quizzed were asked to rate the value of a list of subjects already in the curriculum, but were also given an open space to write what they think should be included. Prof. Selwyn said people called for schools to teach financial skills, budgeting, cooking and doing taxes. "You could argue that these are things people should be learning themselves, or learning from their families," he said. "But we've got to be thinking forward in terms of the skills people will need for jobs and their ways of living."
One respondent said schools should introduce a "contemporary life skills" subject: "A compulsory 1-hour a week class on skills needed that parents seem continually unable to teach their kids". Suggestions for the class included résumé writing, filing tax returns and health claims. Another respondent called for students to be taught "general life skills" as unfortunately not enough kids will have parents to actually be bothered to educate them or simply parents don't know themselves.
Of the subjects, maths was the highest ranked (75.5 percent), followed closely by English (74.8 percent). And while science was the third highest ranked subject (46.2 percent), it was more strongly supported by those who earned higher wages and were university-educated compared to lower income earners.
Aspects of school life considered least important were students having fun, learning about things that interested them and being given the opportunity to be creative.
