Stories + Views: International comparisons

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Allan Beavis: Michael Gove claims that private schools’ domination of positions of power is “morally indefensible” – so why is he doing so little to encourage social cohesion?

The Guardian today reports that in a speech at Brighton College, which has just been named “Independent School of the Year”, Michael Gove declared that the dominance of public schoolboys in the upper echelons of politics, business, the arts and sport was “morally indefensible”. At first glance, his speech seemed to suggest that Gove had seen the error of his ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by andy: "I was half expecting that question to arise. The multi-faceted nature of the issue makes it rather difficult to provide a detailed response (i.e. put figures on it). Without wishing to insult anyone the key factors were (and ......"

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Janet Downs: Gove blames media for not praising English school leaders

Secretary of State, Michael Gove, praised English head teachers at the annual conference of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) on Saturday. His admiration of NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby and his colleague Kathy James was so fulsome that Mr Hobby joked later that he thought it was a ruse to make NAHT members distrust him. Mr Gove quoted a ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "I'm not confident that all the very able and dedicated heads who've had ignorant and bullying Ofsted teams turn up to label them and everything about their schools as being failing while systematically ignoring all the incredible things they have ......"

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Melissa Benn: Let’s have ‘no excuses’ on admissions, for a change.

One of the interesting things about education debate is about how certain issues come to the fore, then fade and then rise in prominence again. To take but two of these - the question of admissions policy, and the relationship between private and public education-; both have resurfaced in an excellent piece by Ron Glatter in the Guardian this week. Using ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Ben Taylor: "Melissa I am not here under a pseudonym and it is really my picture. I appreciate being able to use this website. My only involvement in WLFS is that I think it is a good idea and support it philosophically, as ......"

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John Putt: An equitable education system for an equitable society

I was educated at a comprehensive school in the 70s & I attended university. First of my family's generation to do so. I have taught in 4 comprehensive schools: 3 in England and 1 in Wales. Recently I have learned a great deal about the Finnish education system and I believe we all have a lot to learn from ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: ""Particularly the way the Finns set the bar so high for entry to the teaching profession. It’s amazingly competitive. Teaching attracts the top graduates." Yes Ricky - and I'm sure you have you noticed that we also attract some of the ......"

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Helen Flynn: How to make academies accountable–the Wilshaw way

It seems that the new Ofsted Chief, Sir Michael Wilshaw, is waking up to the fact that the vast army of academy schools that has suddenly sprung up is largely unaccountable. In his own words he has said that by the time that Ofsted has uncovered that a school is failing, it is too late. Spurred on by an ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by How to make academies accountable–the Wilshaw way | Helen Flynn: "[...] It seems that the new Ofsted Chief, Sir Michael Wilshaw, is waking up to the fact that the vast army of academy schools that has suddenly sprung up is largely unaccountable…  More [...]..."

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Janet Downs: “The highest performing education systems across OECD countries are those that combine quality with equity,” says OECD

“Improving equity and reducing school failure pays off,” says the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Completing secondary education is good for the individual and good for countries. In its latest major report the OECD stressed that investment in education is crucial – from the early stages right through to the end of upper secondary education. Education should not be ... read more and comment →

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Janet Downs: Minister is right to promote reading for pleasure – but then spoils it by repeating dodgy data

Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, wants to ignite a passion for reading in children. There’s no shortage of groups to help him including Booktrust, Volunteer Reading and Bookstart. It’s a pity his Government slashed the funding for Bookstart – perhaps Mr Gibb will get it reinstated. But what should have been an inspirational launch of his ideas has been dampened by the ... read more and comment →

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Janet Downs: England scores more highly in maths than other EU countries, says new report

England’s achievement in international maths tests shows that English pupils score “significantly higher” than the average in EU countries which took part in the tests. So says Eurydice, the European Commission’s education research network, in its recent report. Eurydice made several recommendations about effective teaching of maths in Europe: 1 Use achievement targets to motivate lower-performing pupils thereby increasing their scores. 2 Use ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Adrian - I couldn't check the Times because it's behind a paywall and I'm not a subscriber. The professional magazine, t'espro, inserted in TES (20 Jan 2012) carried several pages of positive comment including an editorial. Unfortunately, neither ......"

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Allan Beavis: How effective can Gove’s school reforms be if the government fails to tackle child poverty?

There has been much fighting talk from Education Secretary Michael Gove in recent weeks, perhaps to quash increasing criticism of his education policies and to give some much needed spin to the ideologies that he is convinced will raise standards in our schools. According to him, anyone who opposes his reforms are happy with failure and this attitude is typical ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Even minor differences between children’s home lives can have a significant impact on pre-school development, says a report from the Resolution Foundation which featured in TES (13 Jan 2012). The analysts rated households by their before-tax household income* as follows: low ......"

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Adrian Elliott: What if Michael Gove was right about PISA 2000?

Over the last two years Michael Gove has repeatedly argued that the supposed decline in the results of English schools in the PISA tests from 2000 to 2009 proves the need for his reforms. Contributors on this site, notably Janet Downs , have argued convincingly that the 2000 PISA figures from England were flawed and so Gove’s conclusions are equally ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "Because we're so bad at PISA/functional skills type questions and from this summer UK GCSEs require a substantial proportion (20-40%) of questions of this type, some private schools in particular are switching to the IGCSE which has no contextualised questions ......"

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