Having Fun and Raising Standards

Vale, P.

So much of our Education system in England has been directed at raising standards specifically in English and Mathematics in recent years, to the detriment of other areas that previously featured in schools. Evidence of progress, the setting of targets, assessment and inspection has been the order of the day. Gradually the 'fun' elements of school have been eroded. Enjoyment in learning certainly appears to have taken a back seat at the expense of striving to achieve improved standards. The reaction of our children to the introduction of an increasing amount of ICT through the school seemed to have captured everyone's imagination. However, it was our caretaker who inspired this paper. I was confronted after the first day back at school with 'My granddaughter loves coming to school no. She says we don't work in the computer room, we just have fun!!'

Cite as: Vale, P. (2003). Having Fun and Raising Standards. In Proc. Young Children and Learning Technologies. Selected papers from the International Federation for Information Processing Working Group 3.5 Open Conference, Melbourne, Australia. CRPIT, 34. Wright, J., McDougall, A., Murnane, J. and Lowe, J., Eds. ACS. 95-98.

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