Should our kids go to university?

I attended an interesting seminar yesterday on new ways to educate our children.

It was hosted by Relate. Yes! The relationships people!

It was called Built to Last: Equipping Children for Real Life.

Too many children, it was argued, are under-educated and over examined. A focus on academics and target testing, has left young people totally unprepared for the world of work. Many are unmotivated, lack self discipline and have little emotional resilience.

An answer is to teach children life skills, or "soft skills". Social mobility is easier with these skills, not just a good handle of English and Maths. Integrate academic and personal development and the child will reap the results. In Finland they've been doing it for years, getting great results.

I had just come from sitting in on half an hour of my son's literacy lesson. All the parents were invited. It was a fun class looking at noun plurals. That's the thing, in my son's school, they do teach the children academics they need to know. They also go off curriculum and teach things that are fun to know. They also have those pshe classes or whatever they're called to teach them 'social intelligence' and 'emotional resilience'.

Parents evening on Monday, his teacher told me he was doing very well at the academic stuff. I was more interested in his social development. "He's kind," she said. "Very helpful and supportive of other pupils. He has a good friendship base." Good to hear, my little baby was isolating himself a year ago. The school's done great work on his 'soft skills' while continuing to challenge his 'hard' academic ones.

My hope is that he can go to a secondary like this.

Schools get only 20% of our children's time. The panel were saying that there is currently a failure to deal with what children get from their 'informal' curriculum. Television predominantly - the X Factor and the National Lottery play high on their expectations of a financially positive future. Programmes such as Waterloo Road has broken barriers between teacher and pupil, the latter now seeing teachers as "real people with real lives". (At my son's school the children call the teachers by their first name. My friends with kids in school think this is really wierd and doesn't foster respect, but I've found the opposite)

It was mentioned that embedding social skills doesn't deteriorate academic training. A shame the example given here was a boy's boarding school. The private sector of course, has much smaller classes. At boarding schools the kids don't go home at 3.30. It's harder to play truant; you need to runaway, like my fellow kicked out chum did.

Relate, the relationship people, are entering schools now. They see problems kids have at home, with a parent, a step parent. "They are often ill-equipped for the world of work. Too many people lack relationships of value in their lives."

They believe schools should turn out "relational competence" in kids. "The key skill by those who do succeed is relatedness. One good relationship can act as a catalyst for opportunity."

There was a fear from some listening that by putting 'soft skills' high on the agenda, schools in the sector would turn their backs on academics.

What was agreed is that success is not based on social background. Yes, I would, um, agree with that, public school dropout that I am...

"Qualifications will be essential," said a panellist, "but show us what you've done." Anyone seeking a job in a creative sector would need a portfolio. Show articles they'd written, videos they'd shot etc. "Basic qualifications are an underpinning and needs a broader experience on top."

I wanted to know what a 'basic qualification' was these days. I wanted to ask if all kids should go to university. Now that so many go, what employer is going to take notice of a CV that doesn't have that 'basic' qualification on it followed by all the rest; the volunteering, the 'work experience', the 'internships' - all the things you do for free.

I was too shy to raise my arm. I thought the question might be a bit silly compared to everyone elses.

The foca didn't go to uni and his life is way way way more successful than mine with my two degrees. We were last century kids though. As the land lies now, I'll tell my son I'll support his choices. Things may be very different in a decade.

It was a great seminar, interesting, loads of examples of educational programmes being tried out in this country and America. What will get rolled out nationally so all kids can benefit?

Can the UK, currently bottom of a Unicef report on children's wellbeing, churn out a nation of self motivated, self disciplined, socially intelligent. responsible children?

What do you think?

(I was going to post about this last night, while it was all fresh, but housing reared it's ugly head. Forgive me if it comes across all garbled)