Stories + Views: International comparisons

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trevor fisher: The Mr Men Debate

The Mr Men story which Janet Downs commented on (see sidebar) is part of a bigger narrative - Gove avoiding commenting on the critics of his National Curriculum proposals. The Mr Men citation is important, but it is vital not to allow him to divert from the critics particularly the Royal Historical Society, whose comment on their web site is ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Oh, Leonard, you're hilarious! The link to the early thread was not meant to be a "representation" of "my body of work". It was what it said on the tin - an argument for both "knowledge" and "skills". ......"

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Francis Gilbert: #Online schools: are they the future? Fiona Millar speaks out in this video…

This is a complicated issue but there's no doubt it should be seriously thought about; could 'online schools' become established as a significant part of the educational sector in the coming years? While it may be easy to scoff at the idea, I can see how in poor countries, where schools are not established as bricks and mortar, online schools ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "The idea that pupils can be taught in refurbished office blocks is presented as a brave, exciting new world. But it's difficult to see how pupils can do scientific experiments using real chemicals (rather than just an on-line simulation), ......"

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Janet Downs: Do English pupils work shorter hours? Channel 4 FactCheck and FullFact sift through the evidence.

Channel 4 FactCheck and FullFact came to the same conclusion as this site: English pupils spend more hours in the classroom than the OECD average. Channel 4 found data about East Asian top performers was “frustratingly incomplete, with information about hours spent at school in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Japan missing. The partial data we have suggests that Japanese pupils ... read more and comment →

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Janet Downs: Today’s pupils are aspirational and an exam system should motivate not demoralise them, academics concluded

The Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment (OUCEA) has summarised research evidence which relates to proposed reforms of GCSE. OUCEA found: 1 International test data shows no decline in the performance of English students 2 International test data can’t simply be taken at face value and need to be interpreted carefully. 3 Grade inflation at GCSE hasn’t been established. (a) Rises in grades might ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Gratton Mulcrow: "A very useful summary. Many thanks Janet...."

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Janet Downs: Gove misleads Spectator conference about longer school days and shorter holidays in the Far East

In Far Eastern countries “School days are longer, school holidays are shorter,” said Education Secretary Michael Gove in his keynote speech at the Spectator Education Conference. "If you look at the length of the school day in England, the length of the summer holiday … then we are fighting or actually running in this global race in a way that ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "I've now updated the post above to using the 2012 figures for the total hours that pupils spend in the classroom between the ages of 7-14 (inclusive). English pupils still spend more hours in the classrom than the same ......"

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Janet Downs: Channel 4 Fact Check asks if Coalition plans for childcare would reduce costs for parents. Or would they increase profits for nursery chains?

It’s a central plank of the Coalition’s plans for early-years reform – that the UK is over-regulated. Removing the red tape and allowing bigger staff-child ratios, schools minister Elizabeth Truss says, will reduce child-care costs. This would bring the UK in line with other countries. And nursery staff would need to have at least Grade C in Maths and English. Channel ... read more and comment →

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Fiona Millar: Performance related pay. Don’t believe the spin.

Last week I decided to write my Guardian column on the issue of performance related pay for teachers which the Coalition government wants to introduce from this autumn. You can click on this link to read the full text of the article. Before I started writing it, I put out a request for opinion and evidence on Twitter and received a huge ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Ian Bolton: "'As time went on Old Herbaceous found himself isolated in a most peculiar fashion. Nobody took any notice of him.'..."

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Janet Downs: Another international league table – how did UK education fare?

The UK’s low position for educational well-being, 24th out of 29 developed* countries, was caused by the large number of 16-19 year-olds not in education, UNICEF found. The low ranking was not caused by weak performance in PISA** tests. Preschool enrolment rates (% of children aged between 4 years and the start of compulsory education who are enrolled in preschool) in ... read more and comment →

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John Mountford: More problems about progress on the international stage.

BBC Home Editor, Mark Easton's recent article on the findings from UNICEF's latest report into the well-being of children and young people is a rather revealing read. In its latest report, UNICEF compared data up to 2010, highlighting the plight of young people in 29 of the richest countries. In 2007, when comparisons were last reported, Britain came 21st out of ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Clive Benfield: "Yes they can and they have, some time ago...."

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Janet Downs: The “often negative approach” towards teachers “didn’t work”, says ex-schools minister who seemed to understand that most top-performing countries work with teacher unions

Teachers are “key players” which must be in the front of ministers’ minds when education policies are decided, said ex-schools minister, Gillian Shephard, quoted in TES. Shephard became Education Secretary at the tail end of the last Conservative Government when she replaced John Patten who refused to talk to teachers. She knew the Conservatives weren’t likely to win the 1997 election ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Terence Donovan: "The idea of Mr Hayes being referred to as a 'left wing Herbert' is priceless. Thank you...."

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