Humanities 2020 Podcast

The humanities prepare students to be good citizens and help them understand a complicated, interlocking world. The humanities teach us critical thinking, how to analyse arguments and how to imagine life from the point of view of someone unlike yourself.

Martha Nussbaum

It was a pleasure on Wednesday afternoon this week to sit and chat with Anthony Barlow to record a podcast for the Humanities 2020 website and project.

The project has a manifesto.

Primary schools have a duty to equip children for the challenges of the 21st century. We believe that the primary school curriculum in England is failing to do this or to fulfil the legal requirement for a balanced and broadly-based curriculum. Literacy and numeracy dominate the curriculum while other vital aspects of learning are often ignored. This is wrong.

We want young children to be literate and numerate, but much more than that. We affirm that every child is entitled to rich, stimulating and engaging learning experiences.

We want children to have more opportunities to be creative and to build on their sense of curiosity. We would like to bring more joy and imagination back into the classroom.

The podcast I recorded seems to have been the longest to date. Which I guess is a good thing...

You can listen here if you have 55 minutes to spare... thoughts welcome. It was a bit of a ramble at times.

Thanks to Anthony for the invitation.

After I'd recorded it, I also checked out the ACast podcast hosting system which was being used for the Humanities 2020 podcast, and signed up for a free account and created the site for a podcast of my own which I'm going to call 'Living Geography'. 

Look out for the first episode coming when I can find the time to record it.