News1 min ago
What is going on in our schools?
20 Answers
They have been ranked 6th in the world
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20498356
Higher than Germany, the US, France - Finland is the only Western country ahead of them.
Won't you join me in congratulating the UK's teachers and students in this fine result?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20498356
Higher than Germany, the US, France - Finland is the only Western country ahead of them.
Won't you join me in congratulating the UK's teachers and students in this fine result?
Answers
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Do you suppose the story will make the front pages of the Express and Mail?
I'll be interested to see if Michael Gove appears on the news celebrating this success or whether it's an embaressment when he's trying to tell the country how we have a broken school system needing his personal intesive care!
I'll be interested to see if Michael Gove appears on the news celebrating this success or whether it's an embaressment when he's trying to tell the country how we have a broken school system needing his personal intesive care!
To be fair this isn't just schools it's the whole education system.
The UK does very well in this factors like a large number of people completing University and a very high adult literacy.
Germany has quite a poor record in terms of tertiary education by comparison
http
You might argue that they have a good system in areas like apprentiships and therefore the survey is biaised against them
Whether apprentiships should be counted as education is a tricky one
Different approaches I'd say
The UK does very well in this factors like a large number of people completing University and a very high adult literacy.
Germany has quite a poor record in terms of tertiary education by comparison
http
You might argue that they have a good system in areas like apprentiships and therefore the survey is biaised against them
Whether apprentiships should be counted as education is a tricky one
Different approaches I'd say
-- answer removed --
that story's a bit baffling, isn't it, aog? With neither children nor teachers being robots, it's obvious some schools, and some counties, will perform better than others. It's no great surprise that the Education Secretary would want the lower-ranked ones to close the gap (whether you think his all-purpose answer "Academies" is a good one is another matter.)
But why's he picked on Lancs if, as they insist, they're consistently above average?
But why's he picked on Lancs if, as they insist, they're consistently above average?
Acadamies were a labour idea, and a good one. Perhaps this is assisting the higher figures.
There is still some whaty to go though. Headmaasters must be able to get rid of the useless ones so the others dont have to carry them and teachers authority must be once and for all re established. The loony left need booting into touch for good. Experimenting with kids futures is not an option.
One does also have to wonder if some of this is down to the higher education ethic of some of the immigrants.
There is still some whaty to go though. Headmaasters must be able to get rid of the useless ones so the others dont have to carry them and teachers authority must be once and for all re established. The loony left need booting into touch for good. Experimenting with kids futures is not an option.
One does also have to wonder if some of this is down to the higher education ethic of some of the immigrants.
I could be very confused if I took at face value everything I was told in articles such as this. I’m not quite sure how the Pearson Group has arrived at its league table. Apart from a few nebulous statements:
“…the intention is to provide a more multi-dimensional view of educational achievement”
“The rankings combine international test results and data such as graduation rates…”
But where detail is shown the criteria used seem not very appropriate to me to arrive at a relative measure of education systems. For example, one mentioned is “… such as how many people go on to university.”. Not very helpful. A nation could send 100% of its people to university and they could all emerge no more educated that when they entered.
This article, from the World Literacy Foundation:
http
suggests that one in five adults in the UK is “functionally illiterate“. This lines up quite well with my personal experience of others and is perhaps a better measure of achievement in providing decent education.
But this list from Wiki suggets otherwise:
http
This says that 99% of adults in the UK are literate. But for some strange reason, whilst the definition of literacy for most nations is “age 15 and over can read and write” (which I would suggest is a fairly good definition), for the UK it is “age 15 and over has completed five or more years of schooling” - a very different proposition indeed.
Furthermore, it is not stated whether the Pearson study for the UK concentrates on just the State sector or encompasses all schools. If the latter the results would be considerably skewed because whilst the State sector educates some 93% of the population I would be surprised if anybody emerged from a private education as “functionally illiterate”.
If the UK is truly 6th best in the developed world at educating its young then I am astonished. 93% of pupils attend schools in a system that is often at best inadequate and, in some of the worst examples, simply unfit for purpose. But of course over 93% of the 5.2m GCSE examinations this year resulted in a pass, so there may be something in it. The fact that I cannot quite square that with the notion that 20% of those eligible to sit them cannot adequately read and write may mean that I have to go back to school.
The Pearson Group also owns the Financial Times and the Penguin publishing group and was owner, until 2000 of the Lazard financial group. So Education is just one of its interests - a minority one at that - and their involvement consists mainly of selling books and biros to anybody who wants them. So no, jake, I won’t be joining in the celebrations. At least not until the Pearson Group’s “findings” are a little more clear.
As an aside, sp, these are not “the people who are going to be funding my state pension in a few years,”. You are funding your State pension through the Tax and National Insurance contributions you are making during your working life. It is scarcely your fault that successive governments have seen fit to run pension scheme as some sort of glorified Ponzi scheme. But it suits their purpose perfectly to have you believe that they do.
“…the intention is to provide a more multi-dimensional view of educational achievement”
“The rankings combine international test results and data such as graduation rates…”
But where detail is shown the criteria used seem not very appropriate to me to arrive at a relative measure of education systems. For example, one mentioned is “… such as how many people go on to university.”. Not very helpful. A nation could send 100% of its people to university and they could all emerge no more educated that when they entered.
This article, from the World Literacy Foundation:
http
suggests that one in five adults in the UK is “functionally illiterate“. This lines up quite well with my personal experience of others and is perhaps a better measure of achievement in providing decent education.
But this list from Wiki suggets otherwise:
http
This says that 99% of adults in the UK are literate. But for some strange reason, whilst the definition of literacy for most nations is “age 15 and over can read and write” (which I would suggest is a fairly good definition), for the UK it is “age 15 and over has completed five or more years of schooling” - a very different proposition indeed.
Furthermore, it is not stated whether the Pearson study for the UK concentrates on just the State sector or encompasses all schools. If the latter the results would be considerably skewed because whilst the State sector educates some 93% of the population I would be surprised if anybody emerged from a private education as “functionally illiterate”.
If the UK is truly 6th best in the developed world at educating its young then I am astonished. 93% of pupils attend schools in a system that is often at best inadequate and, in some of the worst examples, simply unfit for purpose. But of course over 93% of the 5.2m GCSE examinations this year resulted in a pass, so there may be something in it. The fact that I cannot quite square that with the notion that 20% of those eligible to sit them cannot adequately read and write may mean that I have to go back to school.
The Pearson Group also owns the Financial Times and the Penguin publishing group and was owner, until 2000 of the Lazard financial group. So Education is just one of its interests - a minority one at that - and their involvement consists mainly of selling books and biros to anybody who wants them. So no, jake, I won’t be joining in the celebrations. At least not until the Pearson Group’s “findings” are a little more clear.
As an aside, sp, these are not “the people who are going to be funding my state pension in a few years,”. You are funding your State pension through the Tax and National Insurance contributions you are making during your working life. It is scarcely your fault that successive governments have seen fit to run pension scheme as some sort of glorified Ponzi scheme. But it suits their purpose perfectly to have you believe that they do.
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