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oldandrew:

Facts are part of knowledge, and knowledge is what we use for thinking. We currently have a crisis in education due to a lack of basic factual knowledge. Kids can't develop higher level maths skills because they can't do their times tables fluently. They can't interpret a text because their vocabulary and fluency at reading are too limited. The idea that we can skip the knowledge part and move straight on to the "thinking" part is what has got us into this mess. 

Not true - I never learnt the times tables fluently but ended up with a Maths degree anyway.

I could/can work things out because I understand what multiplication is and can use various methods to get the right answer. 

 I was teaching when the NC, and the whole package that came with the NC, was introduced. What strikes me most is that the NC was sold to the public at the time as the solution to the standards problem, as the means to elevate the UK to first in world rankings. Twenty years ago, if I were to look forward to 2010, I'd expect the UK to be celebrating pre-eminence in world education. Something has gone wrong with the original vision, if the UK is still reporting teaching standards and pupil standards are not good enough. Past governments, not just of one political persuasion, should be taking responsibility, I don't hear politicians taking responsibility for failures. Instead they scapegoat teachers, schools unions or LEAs, anything but government.

 http://www.algebra.com/algebra/homework/quadratic/lessons/Quadratic_Equations.faq.question.64569.html

?????

Newsflash!!! All's well with Gove - Simon Hughes has been brought in as his human shield.  So that's all right then! (Won't they soon run out of Lib Dem human shields though?)

I know a few people who have visited colleges and universities in China.   The common report is that Chinese education is about 90% theory and only 10% practical, despite state of the art facilities for learning.    The curriculum managers out there don't trust the students to work independently or think for themselves - the students learn by rote what the teachers tell them.

Are these the standards Gove wants to re-establish in England and Wales?