UK education sixth in global ranking

StevieJ

I thought our education system was in the depths of despair?

The UK's education system is ranked sixth best in the developed world, according to a global league table published by education firm Pearson.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20498356

lostinrates

StevieJ wrote: »

I thought our education system was in the depths of despair?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20498356

Perhaps it is, but so might be the state of firms who design rankings....or just firms who have anything to do with educational standards?

Kennyboy66

StevieJ wrote: »

I thought our education system was in the depths of despair?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20498356

"Sir Michael Barber, Pearson's chief education adviser, says successful countries give teachers a high status and have a "culture" of education".


Ever since I can remember, successive Tory ministers and politicians have systematically rubbished teachers, teaching and schools.

Why is that ?

The vast majority of teachers I have come across either as a pupil or parent have been great (some duffers though, but a tiny minority).

Generali

It's interesting then that the UK's pupils come 28th in the world for attainment in maths according to the OECD.

If the education is so good, why are the outcomes so bad?

Backbiter

Generali wrote: »

It's interesting then that the UK's pupils come 28th in the world for attainment in maths according to the OECD.

If the education is so good, why are the outcomes so bad?

We were ranked 22nd in maths, but 11th in science:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/dec/07/world-education-rankings-maths-science-reading
The tests employed by the researchers often contain tasks that are simply unfamiliar to many of the pupils who take them. Back in 2001, the PISA tests ranked Germany around 25th in the world. The schools and teachers were condemned by parents and politicians. Kids were given constant practice in the types of questions the PISA tests contain, and in the past 12 years Germany has climbed the rankings.
This does not mean that the teaching has improved, but the parents and politicians are a lot happier.
What I am really saying is that these international comparisons are very hard to conduct fairly and accurately, and the results are not entirely credible.

chewmylegoff

Generali wrote: »

It's interesting then that the UK's pupils come 28th in the world for attainment in maths according to the OECD.

If the education is so good, why are the outcomes so bad?

i haven't tried too hard but i cannot find the pearson study anywhere. there appears to be no mention of it on their website. some of the comments on the bbc article point out that pearson measures things like "% of population who are graduates" which doesn't really compare the quality of education in one country to the quality in another. i have no idea if the pearson survey does really include stuff like that as i can't find it...

CLAPTON

having recently looked at science and maths GCSE exams and the syllabus I'm amazed we come anywhere at all.

we need to go to teaching maths and science for mathematicians and scientists.

yes, we also need to teach people to add up and multiply and know an outline of science but we need the best engineers and scientists in the world; not jsut people with a broad appreciation of global warming.

Kennyboy66

Generali wrote: »

It's interesting then that the UK's pupils come 28th in the world for attainment in maths according to the OECD.

If the education is so good, why are the outcomes so bad?

some possible reasons.

1) The UK is one of the few countries (USA is the only other major one) where rich pupils have more teachers than poor pupils.

2) The PISA (the 3 yearly tests run by the OECD) results are not necessarily that reliable. The UK was excluded from the 2003 batch because of a poor response rate. The decline from 2000 to 2009 seems a bit inexplicable. To go from 8th in maths to 27th seems a little odd. It would suggest that one of those results is an outlier.

The UK perform better in the TIMSS tests (year 8) and are actually improving between 1995 and 2007

3) The best performing countries appear to have more homogenous populations (without wishing to come over all UKIP).

Wookster

Generali wrote: »

It's interesting then that the UK's pupils come 28th in the world for attainment in maths according to the OECD.

If the education is so good, why are the outcomes so bad?

Good question. It would seem that Pearson would get this right but I just don't buy the results... the UK above Netherlands? I don't think so!

moneyinmypocket

Our education might not be that great but our system is very good

A._Badger

No one who reads this site would believe that educational standards in this country are anything but abysmal - at least, in terms of literacy, though pretty clearly in other areas too.

I have to work with the output of some of these products of child-centred education and it's a daunting task, frequently begun by correcting primary school level errors.