Tuesday, 3 December 2013

UK  children lag world rivals in maths and reading despite reforms


Standards of maths, reading and science among British teenagers failed to improve over the past three years despite intense debate on education reform.
New figures published today showed that the United Kingdom lagged in 26th place for maths in an international ranking. This was no better than average among the 65 developed countries in the study.

Similarly, British children’s performance in reading was average in comparison with other countries, as it was when results were last published three years ago.

It was only in science that results from the UK were above the international average but even this mirrored the last set of results and did not reflect any improvement.

The tests, sat by 510,000 pupils aged 15 in schools across the 65 countries, were taken last year – two years into the coalition’s school reform programme. The study, known as the programme of international student assessment (Pisa) is run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The last time it published similar results in 2010, based on tests sat by students in 2009, Britain’s performance slumped in all three subjects as it was overtaken by countries whose school standards were rising more quickly.

The new results mean that Britain has at least arrested this slide rather than dropping again. But the failure to improve triggered fierce political controversy as Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, called them a verdict on the education record of the previous Labour administration while Tristram Hunt, the Shadow Education Secretary, said the current school reforms were failing to improve teaching and learning.

Within the UK, scores achieved by teenagers in England and Scotland were broadly similar, those in Northern Ireland were slightly lower but results in Wales were much worse in all three subjects.

Poorer children performed worse than other teenagers in British schools, with a wide attainment gap, but children from immigrant families achieved relatively well with barely any such gap in mathematics.

The international rankings were dominated by school systems in South-East Asia.

Shanghai was far ahead in maths, reading and science with Hong Kong, Macao and Chinese Taipei also in the top six.

Singapore was second in the table, South Korea fifth and Japan seventh.

Finland, previously a star performer in international rankings, slumped out of the top 10.

Mr Hunt said poor results would show that England’s school system, under the present and previous governments, “didn’t keep up with international competition”.

In lessons to be taken from other countries, Mr Hunt said that successful school systems encourage “collaborative networks”, which he contrasted to what he called the coalition government’s “free market” vision of schools.

And he emphasised the importance of a qualified teaching profession.

Mr Gove said in advance the forthcoming results would be a “verdict on the last Government”.

“These tests were taken in 2012 by children who had been educated almost entirely under Labour and before most of our reforms had even been introduced.

“The real test of our reforms will be how we do in a decade’s time,” said Mr Gove, who is responsible for education policy in England.

Katja Hall, the CBI chief policy director, said: “High-performing schools are the best way to support economic growth and greater opportunity. These figures should be a wake-up call. UK schools are treading water when we know that matching the very best could boost the growth rate by one percentage point every year.

“No issue matters more to the UK economy over the long term than the quality of our education system.”

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust education charity, said: “England’s stagnating position on Pisa is very worrying, and requires strong action to improve classroom teaching and opportunities for disadvantaged students.

Professor Robert Coe, of Durham University, said: “There are real issues with comparing different countries with different systems, but whatever the limitations, Pisa is the best evidence we have of its type. However, it is interesting that Pisa test results for the UK show little difference in maths, English and science for recent years.

“This seems to underline the view that improvements in GCSEs and some other examinations have had more to do with grade inflation than real sustained improvement over time.”

Katja Hall, the CBI chief policy director, said: “High-performing schools are the best way to support economic growth and greater opportunity. These figures should be a wake-up call. UK schools are treading water when we know that matching the very best could boost the growth rate by one percentage point every year.

No issue matters more to the UK economy over the long term than the quality of our education system.”

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust education charity, said: “England’s stagnating position on Pisa is very worrying, and requires strong action to improve classroom teaching and opportunities for disadvantaged students.

Labour accused the Government of failing to confront the international challenge faced by Britain.

Professor Robert Coe, of Durham University, said: “There are real issues with comparing different countries with different systems, but whatever the limitations, Pisa is the best evidence we have of its type. However, it is interesting that Pisa test results for the UK show little difference in maths, English and science for recent years.

“This seems to underline the view that improvements in GCSEs and some other examinations have had more to do with grade inflation than real sustained improvement over time.”
 

The Times

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