Special Report Volume 1 No 1,
on student achievement amongst countries in the developed world
Editorial
Main article: OECD study of student achievement
Education in Finland
Education in New Zealand
Education in Scotland
Education in Australia
Education
in Wales
Education
in England: Members
of Parliament recommend "Change
way schools are judged."
Education in England
A
Different Approach: Testing around the UK
How
teachers responded to statements about the tests
How to subscribe, unsubscribe, change of email address
Editorial
Welcome to the first edition of the TEI Newsletter. We all want
the best for our children. I don’t think many of us would
argue that the main responsibility for any child is with the
parents who brought the child into the world. We all know of the
enormous reservoir of love that we give to our children and
we know that without it children would grow up with deep psychological
problems. So let us assume that whatever the circumstances
the majority of children grow up knowing they are loved not
only by their parents but usually by various family members
as well.
Why do I start at this point? Because it is clear that school
cannot and should not replace the very close bond between parents
and child. Yet the state takes the vast majority of children
and has the responsibility of educating them. In one sense they
are gifted to the state by the parents. I believe that is the
attitude we should nurture in our approach to children, namely
they are a gift from their parents in order that they might be
educated.
However next to the parents and perhaps some other family members
who knows the children best? Yes it is, of course, the teachers
who educate the child. It is clear that we need to give these
professionals an excellent training and
then empower them to carry out the task of educating the children
under their care. When we do this we find that the children
learn and achieve. The more power we give teachers the more their
children achieve. The less power we give them the less they achieve.
In this Special Report we examine a recent OECD study of student
achievement. Finland and New Zealand came first and second amongst
countries in the developed world outperforming students in the
USA. We also look at why teachers in England and Wales have voted
to boycott tests. These results tell their own story and it is
why TEI exist and will continue to exist until USA teachers and
students take their rightful place in the modern world.
Top (Editorial) OECD study of student achievement
amongst countries in the developed world (April 2004)
The recent
OECD study: Knowledge and Skills for Life PISA (Program for International
Student Assessment) published on Tuesday 6 April 2004 showed
that Finnish teenagers are the best readers and their youth excel
in science and mathematics.
All this in a country where per capita income is about two-thirds
of the USA (The latest year where comparison can be made is 2001:
Finland $23,260 USA $35,271 with California and San Diego higher.)
Yet imagine an educational system where:
a) children do not start school until they are seven; b) spending
is under $5,000 a year per student; c) there are no gifted programs.
In the USA, we would say this is a prescription for failure,
yet this describes the Finnish education system. Furthermore,
how can Helsinki, a city of around 550,000, support five symphony
orchestras while nationwide, there are 21 more, as well as 12
regional opera companies? All this is happening in a nation of
5.2 million. Two-thirds of a total 250 Finnish operas have been
composed after 1975. As is repeatedly pointed out to visitors
Finland has devoted
itself to music, not for any emotional or moral uplift, but because
it is good for the brain. It is accepted that it is essential
to the neurological development of children. As a spokesman
stated, “When you invest in culture, it
always comes back, always.”
The source of Finland’s success
is empowering teachers resulting in flexible and individualized
teaching. The
USA, and certainly California, is focused on obtaining measurable
teaching results by continual testing students of all ages. The
curriculum is test-driven and teachers are forced to employ standardized
teaching in content and methodology.
However, Finland and New Zealand fully appreciate that learning
patterns can be different. In a recent article describing the
situation in Finland, “So
long as schools stick to the core national curriculum, which
lays out goals and subject areas, they are free to teach the
way they want. They can choose their textbooks or ditch them
altogether, teach indoors or outdoors, cluster children in small
or large groups.”
Ministry of Education, New Zealand state, “Successful
outcomes for all students require a range of learning pathways.
One size does not fit all. Children arrive at school with different
early childhood experiences and different levels of development.
How students learn, the pace at which they learn and their interests
vary between individuals.”
We find two countries whose students out-perform those of the
USA possess quite different education administrative structures
to those of the USA. In fact, we find that nationally and statewide
the USA has been moving for some considerable time in the opposite
direction to those of Finland and New Zealand. Project fifty
years in the future and which countries will be in ascendancy
and which in decline?
See following articles for details of the Finnish and New Zealand
systems.
Top (Editorial)
Education
in Finland
Suutarila, Finland - Imagine an educational system where
children do not start school until they are seven, where spending
is a paltry $5,000 a year per student, where there are no gifted
programs and class sizes often approach 30. A prescription for
failure, no doubt, in the eyes of many experts, but in this case
a description of Finnish schools, which were recently ranked the
world’s
best.
Finland topped a respected international survey last year, coming
in first in literacy and placing in the top five in math and
science. Ever since, educators from all over the world have thronged
to this self-restrained country to deconstruct its school system
- “educational pilgrims,” the locals call them -
and, with luck, take home a sliver of wisdom.
“We are a little bit embarrassed about our success,” said
Simo Juva, a special government adviser to the Ministry of Education,
summing up the typical reaction in Finland, where boasting over
accomplishments does not come easily. Perhaps next year, he said,
wishfully, Finland will place second or third. The question on
people’s minds is obvious: how did Finland,
which was hobbled by a deep recession in the 1990’s, manage
to outscore 31 other countries, including the United States,
in the review by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and
Development last September (2003)
The rankings were based on reading, math and science tests given
to a sample of 15-year-olds attending both public and private
schools. United States students placed in the middle of the pack.
Finland’s
recipe is both complex and unabashedly basic. It is also similar
to that in other Nordic countries. Some of the ingredients can
be exported, namely its flexibility in the classroom
and some cannot, namely the relative prosperity of most
Finns.
If one trait sets Finland apart from many other countries, it
is the quality and social standing of its teachers, said Barry
Macgaw, the director for education at the O.E.C.D. All teachers
in Finland must have at least a master’s
degree, and while they are no better paid than teachers in other
countries, the profession is highly respected. Many more people
want to become teachers after graduating from upper schools than
universities can actually handle, so the vast majority are turned
down. “Teaching is the No. 1,” Outi Pihlman, the
English teacher at Suutarila Lower Comprehensive School, said
about a recent survey asking teenagers to name their favorite
profession. “At
that age, you would think they would want anything but to go
back to school.”
The Suutarila school - cheerful, well lit, nicely heated - is
typical of Finnish “comprehensive schools,” which
run from first to ninth grade. The students, who number about
500, pad about in their socks. After every 45-minute lesson,
they are let loose outside for 15 minutes so they can burn off
steam. Others are allowed to practice their music, and they file
into classrooms, sling electric guitars across their chests or
grab drumsticks and jam.
Children here start school late on the theory that they will
learn to love learning through play. Preschool for 6-year-olds
is optional, although most attend. And since most women work
outside the home in Finland, children usually go to day care
after they turn one. At first, the 7-year-olds lag behind their
peers in other countries in reading, but they catch up almost
immediately and then excel. Experts cite several reasons: reading
to children, telling folk tales and going to the library are
activities cherished in Finland. Lastly, children grow up watching
television shows and movies (many in English) with subtitles.
So they read while they watch TV. So long
as schools stick to the core national curriculum, which lays out
goals and subject areas, they are free to teach the way they want.
They can choose their textbooks or ditch them altogether, teach
indoors or outdoors, cluster children in small or large groups.
While there are no programs for gifted children, teachers are
free to devise ways to challenge their smartest students. The
smarter students help teach the average students. “Sometimes
you learn better that way,” said Pirjo Kanno, the principal
in Suutarila. Students must learn two foreign languages - Swedish
is required by law, and most also take English. Art, music, physical
education, woodwork and textiles (which is mostly sewing and
knitting) are obligatory for girls and boys. Hot and healthy
school lunches are free. There are also 90 computers scattered
about the school, and students are free to attend homework clubs
staffed by assistants after school.
Despite the accolades, Finnish officials say they are far from
perfect. Boys, for example, perform much worse than girls in
reading, and with so many wanting to become teachers, too few
are willing to leap outside the social service sphere. “We’re
trying to get them to start their own businesses,” said
Kirsi Lindroos, the national board of education’s director
general.
Suutarila Journal April 9, 2004 - Educators Flocking to Finland,
Land of Literate Children by Lizette Alvarez
Top (Editorial)
Education in New Zealand
The Picot Commission was set up by the New Zealand government
in 1987. At that time schools came under different school districts
based on different local authority areas something akin to
the USA system. The Picot Commission recommended doing away with
this structure. Each school was to be community based and have
its own charter. It was to be run by a Board of Trustees (usually
five) each of which had to be a parent of a child attending
that particular school together with the Principal and a trustee
elected by the school staff.
The Board could co-opt other persons to the Board on a temporary
basis if they required certain expertise. The Board establishes
a Charter, a type of contract where the Board undertakes to the
Minister to take all reasonable steps to administer the school
in accordance with the purposes contained in the charter. Boards
are required to update their charters annually and also to provide
annual reports on how well they have achieved against their charter
goals and to account for their spending of public money.
Teachers' salaries would still be paid on a national basis through
the Ministry of Education. Educational Review Officers (EROs)
were established (something akin to Her Majesty's Inspector of
Schools in the UK) to oversee the whole system. Numerous layers
of administration became superfluous including about half the
Ministry of Education! The funds were given to school directly
and they could hire (together with other schools if this was
appropriate) whatever consultants they needed on a needs basis.
New Zealand Ministry of Education issues a set of national administration
guidelines that provide a framework within which school boards
need to operate. It also has a national qualifications system
and it was agreed that a national examination structure should
still exist for students reaching the end of high school. Even
today when most of the developed world is obsessed with testing
students of all ages the New Zealand
Ministry of Education fully appreciates that learning patterns
can be different, "Successful
outcomes for all students require a range of learning pathways.
One size does not fit all. Children arrive at school with different
early childhood experiences and different levels of development.
How students learn, the pace at which they learn and their interests
vary between individuals. These differences are recognized, to
an extent, through the current system. This gives teachers and
schools responsibility for organizational and teaching decisions
and through provision for immersion learning and designated character
schools. However, the current system needs to continually look
for ways to provide flexible pathways, especially for learners
with diverse needs." Ministry of Education, Statement
of Intent, 2003-2008, Building Learning Pathways.
Top (Editorial)
Education in Scotland
Recently the Scottish education minister
Peter Peacock publicly declared that league tables belonged to
a "past time" and
were now "meaningless." He stated, "League tables
owe their origins to a time past when the political currency
was about competition between schools and about designing a system
at a time when competition would be one of the main features
of education. We are not in that situation now. I believe in
universal excellence in schools and we should not have to have
a league table to try and choose a school." A spokesperson
for the Scottish Executive added that the reforms that were being
developed would mean the end of current league tables which are
based only on higher results, and do not take into account schools'
other achievements. She said, "Exam results only measure
one part of the school's performance. He [Mr. Peacock] wants
to provide more relevant information to parents... He wants to
change information available to parents and make it more meaningful."
Education in Australia
State education ministers have warned
they will block any move to rank schools' performance, declaring
that league tables are "inappropriate" and
must be banned. At a political showdown of education ministers
in Sydney on 25 April, the states forced federal Education Minister
Brendan Nelson to cancel plans to implement tests that would
lead to the ranking of schools.
Education in Wales
A study commissioned by the Welsh assembly suggests that
the key stage tests at 11 and 14 are counter-productive, with students focusing
on passing the tests rather than fully embracing subjects. The study recommends
that the tests should be phased out. The devolved assembly has already put
a stop to testing at seven. The Scottish parliament has also dropped the
tests.
Meanwhile, Mary Bousted, general secretary of
the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "Where
Wales has gone, England should follow. Teachers do not need to
test children at 11 years of age to know what standards they
have achieved or where they need to go next in their learning. "England
is now the only country in the UK to continue with the path of
testing to destruction - it needs to stop and quickly."
Professor Richard Daugherty, who was commissioned
to undertake the review, said the assessment arrangements in
Wales must meet the needs of young learners at "this crucial
stage in their development. What the review group has proposed
is to use evidence from assessment to inform key decisions that
face individual pupils and their parents. Our proposals would
also ensure that we can continue to track trends and patterns
of achievement across the system in Wales."
The Welsh education minister, Jane Davidson,
said: "The group presents some very important recommendations
for dealing with this. I shall be considering the final report
with great care, taking account of the advice I have received
from ACCAC [The Qualifications, Curriculum and Assessment Authority
for Wales] on the review of the national curriculum and assessment
more generally. I shall make a full statement on my conclusions
before the summer recess."
Education
in England: Members of Parliament recommend "Change
way schools are judged."
"The Government was today urged to immediately overhaul
the way it judges the performance of schools. An influential committee
of MPs said their ratings would be dramatically altered if they
took into account other factors beyond the schools' control. It
said parents would be given a far better picture of a school's
performance if those factors - such as economic and social deprivation
- were taken into account; and it called for such information to
be made available to parents for all schools next year. When such
factors are taken into account some schools move from the bottom
of the league table to near the top.
The House of Commons committee of public accounts
has looked into the way the Department for Education and Skills
measures and reports the performance of maintained secondary
schools. The committee said it was not only educational factors
that affected schools' performances. The National Audit Office
has demonstrated how the impact of external factors can be measured
and analysed to give a clearer indication of the quality of education
provided by different schools.
The committee said such information would be
valuable to policy-makers and to parents choosing schools for
their children. It said the Department for Education and Skills
should identify which external factors have a significant bearing
on academic achievement and take them into account when assessing
the performance of all schools - not just maintained secondaries.
Adjusted performance measures have shown that specialist, faith,
beacon and single sex schools outperform others. The committee
said the strengths of these schools, such as a strong set of
values and ethos, should be promoted across all schools. The
schools' inspectorate Ofsted should identify where a school ranks
in terms of academic achievement before and after taking account
of external factors.
Education
in England: Teachers poised to boycott pupil tests
The biggest teachers' union is set
to carry out its threat to boycott classroom tests next year,
disrupting the Government's target setting agenda. Leaders
of the National Union of Teachers are likely to announce
a ballot on industrial action next month after a survey of
members showed overwhelming support. More than four in five
of the 30,500 teachers questioned said they would support
a boycott of tests for seven-year-olds, 71.4 per cent those
for 11-year-olds and 64 per cent those for 14-year-olds.
They said the tests were unreliable and caused stress for
pupils.
Results in the tests are used to judge the performance of schools
and form an important part of local and national league tables.
Ofsted uses them to help decide how well schools are doing
in comparison with others in similar circumstances and to help
identify weak teachers.
Charles Clarke, the Education Secretary, responded furiously
to the threat, saying tests were a fundamental part of raising
standards. They helped teachers see what progress pupils were
making and were particularly important for children in the most
disadvantaged areas. "Testing tackles the low expectation
culture that used to hold back these children. Parents, too,
value the information testing provides and we have no intention
at all of taking this away. It would be an absolute betrayal
for teachers to boycott these tests and I hope that teachers
throughout the country will vote against strike action. This
sort of strike would damage a generation of children." National
testing was here to stay, he said,"We are not
going back to the bad old days when no one knew what went on
in the classroom."
The survey follows a vote for the boycott at the union's annual
conference last Easter. The leadership decided to test support
by a wide scale survey before drawing up the terms of the ballot.
The union has to decide whether to ballot on a boycott of all
three sets of tests or those for younger children. It must also
choose whether to ballot only teachers involved in setting tests
or the full membership. Doug McAvoy, its general secretary, said
there was no threat of strikes. "Parents will continue to
receive information on pupil progress. Teacher assessment, which
gains much support in our survey, will be the basis for all pupils
in Scotland and is the basis for seven-year-olds in Wales. "The
Government is adopting a blinkered view, refusing to look at
any system which would achieve those aims except its own discredited
testing regime." (Daily Telegraph UK)
Teachers denounce national tests
Teachers would prefer to assess pupils
themselves. Compulsory
national tests for schoolchildren are an unnecessary and stressful
burden, according to a survey of teachers in England and Wales.
Only 6% thought the tests a reliable way of evaluating pupils'
achievements. More than eight in 10 of the 30,500 teachers surveyed
for the NUT union felt tests were stressful to children.
There was strong support for a boycott of the tests - but the
government has said that would be an "absolute betrayal" of
pupils and parents. The NUT's general secretary of the union,
Doug McAvoy, said: "This
survey underlines the strong criticisms teachers have of these
tests. "They narrow education, limit use of professional
judgment, place unnecessary stress on pupils and add significantly
to the workload of teachers without producing any benefits." The
tests regulator, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority,
said its annual evaluation, published on Thursday, "shows
that the majority of teachers surveyed feel they are appropriate
for assessing pupil performance, and are motivating and engaging
for pupils." On the contrary, said Mr. McAvoy: "The
government would be hard put to find a teacher who thinks they
are beneficial, improve achievement, or promote a broad and balanced
education for our children.
"Throughout the report, teachers
emphasize the waste of time and energy these tests represent
for no real return." He
said the government should let teachers use their own assessments
to determine pupils' needs and inform parents of how their children
were coming along. But the Education Secretary, Charles
Clarke, said tests were a fundamental part of raising standards
in schools. "Many
parents will be alarmed at the threat of preventing them knowing
how their children are doing at school. It would be an absolute
betrayal for teachers to boycott these tests." He hoped
teachers would vote against such action - "strike action",
as he called it, though the union said there was no question
of that. A spokesperson for the NUT said: "Parents will
continue to receive information on pupil progress.
Top (Editorial)
A Different Approach: Testing
around the UK
"Teacher assessment, which gains much support in our survey,
will be the basis for all pupils in Scotland and is the basis for
pupils at Key Stage 1 in Wales." The survey was organized for
the union by Sean Neill of the Institute of Education at Warwick
University. He found that teacher assessment was seen as a viable
alternative to tests by 85% of the respondents. Dr Neill commented
on a recent international evaluation of testing. "Though
the effect of continued testing is to raise test standards, some
of this effect can be attributed to increasing familiarity with
the test methods by both teachers and learners, increasing emphasis
on preparation for the tests, and instruction specifically focused
on the predicted outcomes of the tests."
Some anonymous comments from teachers were included in his report. "Raising
standards can effectively be done in schools with good monitoring
and self-evaluation practices," said a primary school leader.
Another, teaching infants, said tests "rule" all teaching
in a school where children come from poor backgrounds. "They
need enrichment far more than brighter children from more educated
families, yet they get less. Save money from SATs and give us
support and resources to improve standards."
Almost everyone - 91% - said the tests placed
an additional workload on teachers. A similar proportion of primary
teachers, and 85% of secondary teachers, said they were stressful
for pupils. Some felt they managed to insulate
the children from this. But others said parents bought revision
aids and private tutoring and offered children "bribes" to
do well - even in the youngest age group. Some 90% of
teachers felt the tests diminished pupils' access to a broad
and balanced curriculum.
Boycott
The survey showed substantial support for a ballot by the NUT
to boycott the tests. Support was strongest
(82.5%) for a ballot to boycott Key Stage 1 tests - the youngest
children. In Wales those tests have been dropped. The support
was 71.4% at Key Stage 2, when the tests form the basis of the primary
school performance tables. In secondary schools support was 64% in
favor of a Key Stage 3 boycott. The majority
of respondents - 67.9% - had more than 11 years' experience in teaching. Most
were in England; 4% in Wales. About 57% were in primary schools.
(BBC UK)
Top (Editorial)
How
teachers responded to statements about the test
Top (Editorial)
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