BOLTON teachers are drawing up a profile of the perfect pupil as part of a government experiment.

Three local schools have been asked to take part in a trial which could lead to a radical rethink about classroom practices nationally.

It is the brainchild of Government adviser Malcolm Brigg who believes school-leavers need more than traditional qualifications to compete in the modern jobs market.

Essential

Certain key personal qualities and attributes are also essential to help young people cope successfully with the ever changing world of work and the challenges of life, he says.

Now nine schools throughout the country - including The Withins, George Tomlinson and Little Lever - have been asked to find out ways of producing this ideal teenager.

By September teachers in all the schools will have prepared a list of personal skills and attributes they believe are essential for pupils lead a useful and fulfilling life.

The combination should add up to an individual prepared for lifelong learning, capable of making important decisions and transitions, adaptable enough to obtain and retain a job and able to contribute to the good of others.

Schools will then look at how they can change the way they work to help pupils acquire these necessary skills at the same time as preparing them for traditional exams.

Eventually lessons learned from TILE - Towards Improved Learning and Employability - should be implemented in schools throughout Bolton and eventually nationwide.

Withins Deputy Head Anne Colley firmly believes the TILE way of thinking is the way forward for all schools.

She says in the race to get children through exams, teachers can easily lose sight of what they are educating children for and TILE will enhance not dilute traditional education.

She said: "Schools do need to get children through exams but that is quite a short-term goal.

"We should also be looking at the pupil as a whole and preparing them for employability and life-long learning.

Methods

"We need to identify what sort of people they should be when they leave school and look at our policies and teaching methods to find opportunities to develop the necessary attributes.

"These attributes will encompass academic success but put it into a firm context."

Three schools from three towns - Bolton, Wakefield and Hartlepool - will take part in the trial and each will draw up its own individual list of attributes ready to instill them in children starting secondary school this September.

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