D'oh levels! Schools use The Simpsons in model lesson plans to dumb down GCSEs
- The show is being used by teachers to engage students in various subjects
- Critics claim teachers are trivialising classes by using the cartoon series
- Campaigners say using this is a 'patronising and dumbed-down approach'
- It features in subjects ranging from 'science versus religion' to history
It sounded like a welcome return to the classics – teachers turning to Homer to add substance to lessons.
But to the dismay of critics, far from introducing pupils to the rigours of the Ancient Greek poet behind The Odyssey, they are instead illustrating weighty GCSE topics with the help of a far less intellectual figure – Homer Simpson.
The patriarch of the dysfunctional family in American TV cartoon series The Simpsons features in model lesson plans being used by teachers to engage students in subjects ranging from ‘science versus religion’ and the German philosopher Immanuel Kant in Religious Education, to the intricacies of the perfect tense in Spanish.
Homer-work: Part of the history lesson. The American TV cartoon series features in model lesson plans being used by teachers to engage students
Critics claim teachers are trivialising classes by using The Simpsons to provide ‘bogus relevance’ – an echo of an attack made three years ago by then Education Secretary Michael Gove on an ‘infantile’ lesson plan that used Mr Men characters to illustrate Hitler’s regime.
Former Government adviser Chris McGovern, of the Campaign For Real Education, said: ‘Resorting to The Simpsons is a cop-out and a flag of surrender to pupils looking for an easy time.
‘Youngsters need to have their sights raised, not lowered by this patronising and dumbed-down approach.
'If we are ever to compete with the best education systems in the world, we need to expect a lot more from our children.’
Despite Homer Simpson’s less than intellectual approach to life, summed up by his catchphrase ‘D’oh!’, more than 900 plans involving The Simpsons – including 700 aimed at 11- to 16-year-olds preparing for GCSEs – are available on the respected Times Educational Supplement website.
Examples devised by teachers that can be downloaded and used by colleagues include a history plan for the Weimar Republic, the regime that emerged in Germany after the First World War.
It asks students to imagine that The Simpsons, renamed Ze Zimpsons, have gone back in time and transported to ‘Zpringfield’ in Germany’s Rhineland, and speculate how they would have been affected.
The activity sheet reads: ‘Homer would have been involved in fighting in the war. He would have returned from war disappointed and disheartened. He is now hoping to return to his job in the Ruhr region.’
Bart and his dad in the TV show. The characters are also being used to illustrate Shakespeare plays
Other characters include power-plant owner Montgomery Burns, described as ‘a huge fan of the Kaiser’ – and even Krusty the Clown.
Simpsons characters are also used to illustrate Shakespeare plays, George Orwell’s Animal Farm, and in RE topics such as the ‘nature of God’, for which pupils are expected to watch the cartoon.
National Union of Teachers chief Christine Blower said: ‘It is a matter of the teacher’s professional judgment on how best to align materials with the content and skill to be taught.
'Knowing their class, the teacher will select materials which best suit the learning style of the children.’
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