Angela McFarlane

From the richness and complexity of human endeavour three domains of knowledge have been selected and privileged above all others to form the core of the UK education system. The study of language, mathematics and science are legally compulsory for all students from the ages of 5 to 16 and attainment in these subjects is the sole measurement by which the success or failure of our primary education system is judged. For this reason, it is worth considering why it is science rather than, say, humanities, creative arts, philosophy or any other field that has been chosen for such special investment, what we as a society hope to achieve through this focus and the extent to which we are indeed doing so.

Castells (1996) in his definitive trilogy The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture sets out his analysis of the rise and implications of ‘the network society’. In the early twenty-first century it seems we inhabit

a world where economic prosperity and all that depends on this – democracy, health, our very survival and that of the species with which we share our planet and on which we in turn depend – rests on the ability to benefit from the effects of globalisation. According to the ‘Globalisation Guide’ website (www.globalisationguide.org), ‘Globalisation is the rapid increase in cross-border economic, social, technological exchange under conditions of capitalism’. Globalisation is both fuelled by and fuels the a world where economic prosperity and all that depends on this – democracy, health, our very survival and that of the species with which we share our planet and on which we in turn depend – rests on the ability to benefit from the effects of globalisation. According to the ‘Globalisation Guide’ website (www.globalisationguide.org), ‘Globalisation is the rapid increase in cross-border economic, social, technological exchange under conditions of capitalism’. Globalisation is both fuelled by and fuels the

It seems that to take a place in this connected world we have decided young people need to be able to use language, work with number and shape, and know about science (OECD 2001). It is interesting to note that the curriculum requires only one language in the case of England – the other global languages including Spanish and Chinese, which are used by as many people as English, being almost entirely ignored in primary education in the UK. It may be that the Anglophone dominance of communications technologies has reinforced this linguistic isolationism, although change is on the horizon as we wake up to the need to work in languages other than English. Currently, however, we are not only limiting the scope of languages our young people experience, we are also taking a very partial view of the necessary competences they need in English. It is the use of the written form of language that has dominated schooling, with other forms of communication such as film or multimedia almost ignored and even speaking and listening skills being seemingly relegated to a poor second place despite their central importance in everyday life. Nowhere is this more evident than in the explosion in the use of voice-dependent technologies such as telephony. Consider how many everyday business exchanges that used to be undertaken in writing are now dealt with entirely by telephone – albeit often through interaction with a semi- automated system. Indeed, the use of voice-based technology is set to undergo a further expansion with the use of voiceover Internet protocols (VIP) making voice communication worldwide cheap and accessible to a much wider user base. Even as I am writing this chapter the Internet search engine company Google has announced their venture into the Internet voice communications arena.

This, then, is something of the background of worldwide development

Angela McFarlane