Hot off the press is the news today that
students who were in the top ten per cent in Maths in primary school under
perform in Secondary School when compared to students in Australia, Scotland,
Slovenia and Norway. The 2009 Programme
for International Student Assessment
(PSA) showed that overall pupils in English Schools came 28th for
maths out of five countries. The
Institute of Education also states that the highest achieving students appeared
to make less progress relative to their overseas peers particularly those in
East Asian countries between the ages of 10 and 16.
It cannot be argued that the current
Government’s emphasis on raising standards and implementing changes to achieve
this, is commendable. However, having
taught in the Primary and Secondary Sectors (Independent and Public) I conclude
that what is MOST worrying is the clear
cultural shift in how education is valued across the board. Now whilst this is a generalised statement as
my experience is based in London only, it’s NOT a shift that’s just occurred
and the evidence appears the same in many other areas in the UK (particularly
urban areas). This decline, which I’ve
witnessed first hand has been seeping into our culture for over thirty years.
Many students in our Schools are
disenchanted with a system that values success statistics over individual
nurturing and motivation. Many students
in our Schools lack confidence. Many students
in our Schools (particularly in the Secondary Sector) believe that education
is no longer the key to their success so the temptation of celebrity and beauty, reliance
on the State System or crime becomes more attractive and appealing.
We MUST
BE WORRIED when groups of failing students make the statement:
“What’s the point?”
There is clearly no one answer to such a
complex subject but I'd suggest we're being asked to look more closely at what we perceive to be not only the failing students,
but the failing teachers, the failing graduates, the failing business owners,
the failing parents, the failing governments, the failing economy…..the failing…..the failing.....
Maybe the first step is to
understand who or what might be causing the underlying problem. I suggest this because we might be
successful in fast tracking a small portion of our students to excel in maths and
keep us up with international statistics but that still leaves us with the
same problem that’s been incubating and is now fully fledged in our
culture.
What about the rest who
continue to fail and are still shouting:
What’s the point!?
These
youngsters are now the future of our society and they CANNOT be ignored, even if we think they can.
Follow my blogs if you’d like to find
out my suggestions or read my Power of Self book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AYIJAEA to discover where you might stand.
LB xxx
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