TOWARDS A TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY EDUCATION SYSTEM!

"The crisis in our economy and education system is getting more acute by the day. The Government’s current strategy is to address these twenty-first century skills shortages using a curriculum and pedagogy from the late nineteenth century." 

KENNETH BAKER

Chair of the Edge Foundation

FACT: Success in education is NOT about spending more money

”Countries need to invest in education if their citizens are to lead productive lives; but putting more money into education does not automatically result in better education. For countries that currently invest less than USD 50 000 per student between the ages of 6 and 15, PISA shows a strong relationship between spending per student and the quality of learning outcomes. However, for countries that spend above that level, and that includes most OECD countries, there is no relationship between spending per student and average student performance. Fifteen-year-old students in Hungary, which spends USD 47 000 per student between the ages of 6 and 15, perform at the same level as students in Luxembourg, which spends more than USD 187 000 per student, even after accounting for differences in purchasing power parities. In other words, despite spending four times as much as Hungary, Luxembourg does not gain any advantage. In short, success is not just about how much money is spent, but about how that money is spent.”

ANDREAS SCHLEICHER ‘WORLD CLASS How to build a 21st-century school system’

FACT: The poor will NOT always do badly in school; deprivation is NOT destiny

“Even as teachers in classrooms around the world struggle to make up for the disadvantage into which some of their students were born, some believe that deprivation is destiny. But PISA results show that this is a false premise – and that there is nothing inevitable about how well or badly different social groups are likely to do in school, or in life. There are two sides to this story. On the one hand, in all countries that participate in PISA, learning outcomes are associated with the social background of students and schools – a major challenge for teachers and schools.1 But on the other hand, the strength of the relationship between social background and the quality of learning outcomes varies substantially across education systems – proof that poor results are not inevitable for disadvantaged students. In the 2012 PISA test, the 10% most disadvantaged 15-year-olds in Shanghai showed better mathematics results than the 10% most privileged students in the United States and many other countries..... All countries have some excellent students, but few have enabled most students to excel. Achieving greater equity in education is not only a social-justice imperative, it is also a way to use resources more efficiently, and to ensure that all people can contribute to their societies. In the end, how we educate the most vulnerable children reflects who we are as a society.“

ANDREAS SCHLEICHER ‘WORLD CLASS How to build a 21st-century school system’

FACT: Selecting students by ability is NOT the way to raise standards!

“For centuries educators have wondered how they should design school systems so that they best serve all students’ needs. Some countries have adopted non-selective and comprehensive school systems that seek to provide all students with similar opportunities, leaving it to each teacher and school to cater to the full range of student abilities, interests and backgrounds. Other countries respond to diversity by grouping or tracking students, whether between schools or between classes within schools, with the aim of serving students according to their academic potential and/ or interests in specific programmes. Conventional wisdom says that the former serves equity, while the latter fosters quality and excellence. The assumption underlying selection policies is that students’ talents will develop best when students reinforce each other’s interest in learning. There is considerable variation in how countries track and stream students. Evidence from PISA shows that none of the countries with a high degree of separation by ability, whether in the form of tracking, streaming, or grade repetition, is among the top-performing education systems or among the systems with the largest share of top performers. The highest-performing systems are those that offer equitable opportunities to learn to all of their students. This is consistent with other research that shows that narrowing the range of student abilities in classes or schools through tracking does not result in better learning outcomes. The pattern is different for within-class ability grouping or subject-specific ability grouping, which has shown to be effective when appropriate adjustments are made to the curriculum and instruction.”

ANDREAS SCHLEICHER ‘WORLD CLASS How to build a 21st-century school system’

FACT: Smaller classes DON’T always mean better results

“It might be politically popular to argue for smaller classes, but there is no cross- national evidence to show that reducing class size is the best avenue towards improving results. Instead, reducing class size can mean diverting funds that would have been better spent elsewhere – such as higher pay for better teachers. In fact, the highest-performing education systems in PISA tend to prioritise the quality of teachers over the size of classes; whenever they have to choose between smaller classes and investing in their teachers, they go for the latter.”

ANDREAS SCHLEICHER ‘WORLD CLASS How to build a 21st-century school system’

WORLD CLASS: HOW TO BUILD A 21ST CENTURY SCHOOL SYSTEM!

In a world where the kind of things that are easy to teach and test have also become easy to digitise and automate, the skills that will be required are the skills that underpin the arts and culture.... teamwork, communication, planning, creativity, problem solving, organisation, imagination, awareness and a sense of responsibility. Skills that will enable us to harness the opportunities of the 21st century to shape the world for the better. 

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW...

We face unprecedented change and automation, globalisation, collaboration and broader social changes like the growing global middle class are transforming the workforce and the nature of work! Work today is increasingly collaborative and focused on solving problems in creative ways. 

THE SKILLS THAT MATTER!

The skills that are most often required in job adverts are the skills that underpin the arts and culture.... teamwork, communication, planning, creativity, problem solving and organisation. We need to be working with schools to ensure all young people have access to these skills to compete in the world of work.

WORLD CLASS!

High-performing countries like China, Finland, South Korea, and Singapore and those like Canada and Australia, who see a future where automation, globalisation and collaboration are changing the landscape, realise the global economic landscape has changed. In response, they are re-imagining their education systems by focusing on developing world class skills. We need to persuade the powers that be here that the future is only going to be secured if we develop a World Class Learning Framework to drive our learning landscape. A framework built on World Class Skills as well as subjects.

SIMPLY AMAZING: Explore Labs - Challenge Your Imagination

What an amazing piece of work this is! Makes you proud to be part of something so special!!

“Instead of being presented with stereotypes by age, sex, color, class, or religion, children must have the opportunity to learn that within each range, some people are loathsome and some are delightful.”
Margaret Mead

PEOPLE POWER!

People Power brings together 12 experts and MPs who address challenges to the UK’s productivity, pay stagnation and regional inequalities. Collectively, their essays show that the success of Britain’s economy in the future will depend on workers themselves – and that politicians should do more to prioritise their happiness, their skills and their ability to share in the proceeds of growth. Make sure you read it!