Coursework should involve volunteering and skills development, think-tank suggests

The revamping of school coursework would see an end to “desk-based projects” and shift its focus onto preparing young people for later life, Demos has said.

Its report proposes that volunteering-style tasks be introduced, or what it calls “service learning”.

Ideas put forward for this new-look coursework include pupils researching and giving guided tours of local historical monuments, teaching pensioners IT skills, or coaching younger pupils to play new sports.

It comes as the recent political debate has centred on skills education. Education secretary Michael Gove said earlier this year that employers are looking for young people who are “self-disciplined”, while Labour’s education shadow Tristram Hunt has said that “character education” should be included in initial teacher training and that “resilience” should be on the curriculum.