FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH

BUILDING ON SUCCESS IN LONDON SCHOOLS

Saturday 8th February 2014 Institute of Education

What can schools learn from the best education systems?

Peter MortimoreFormer Director of the Institute of Education, University

of London & former Professor i pedagogik, Syddansk Universitet.

Plan • Challenge of studying other education

systems• The strengths of London schools• The underlying problems of the English

system• Some comparative data• Possible ways to improve• What next?

Challenge of studying other education systems

• Difficulties– Contexts of national history, culture and customs– Barriers of language and understanding– Limits of access

• Benefits– Realisation that there are alternatives– Observation of how schooling and society are

linked– Improved understanding of one’s own system.

The London tradition

• Pioneers like Alex Bloom• The work of the London County Council• The ILEA• The London Challenge.

Strengths of the education system• Reasonable aims• Adequate functioning• Generally good local government• Good tradition of Governing Bodies• High quality teacher education• Generally high quality of teaching • Generally good school leadership• Efficient local management of schools• Plus music, art sport & fun.

Ambiguous features

• Spending on the system - a fair distribution or cash for favourite schools and projects

• The National Curriculum• Assessment• Faith schools• The National Reading scheme• Inspection.

Weaknesses of the system

• Over-dominance of Westminster• Lack of affordable pre-school care• The market model of schooling• Impact of private schools• Selection• Children’s stress• An obsession with measuring ability.

Ability• A national obsession with sorting people by

ability• IQ scores or broader definition

[intellectual, social, emotional, physical and artistic capabilities, skill in using luck, capacity for hard work, resilience and sense of strategy]

• Need to take account of energy, curiosity, motivation, stamina, resilience etc.

• Skill of making the most of what you have• Insecurity of not knowing one’s own ability• Power of expectations.

A lesson from history• Education systems cope well with pupils coming

from relatively advantaged backgrounds• Pupils from poor family backgrounds do less well

everywhere (though exceptional individuals buck the trend)

• The achievement gap is one of education’s greatest challenges

• Some countries – like Finland - are good at reducing this gap (England did well 1950 -2000).

So how does England compare with the Nordic countries

in terms of data?

Lower secondary STR (EAG 2013 Table D2.2)

Den Fin UK Nor Swe0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

11.8

9.3 15.2 1011.3

PIRLS READING 2011Mean and achievement gap

Denmark Finland Norway Sweden England0

100

200

300

400

500

600 554 568

507542 552

85 83 83 83109

TIMSS Maths 2011Mean and achievement gap

Grade 4

Denmark Finland Norway Sweden England0

100

200

300

400

500

600537 545

495 504542

92 91 91 87122

2012 PISA Reading average scores and achievement gap

Den Fin Nor Swe UK0

100

200

300

400

500

600

495524

504483 499

113 127 131 142 129

Percentage of poor readers (below level 2)

source PISA 2012 Table 1.2.11. Vol 1, page 320

UK Den Fin Nor Swe0

5

10

15

20

25

30

21.4

16.7

10.9

20.9

25.8

Proportion of working populationwith tertiary education

(EAG 2013, Table A1.3a)

DEN FIN NOR SWE UK0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

3439 38 35

39

1

Participation in life-long learning (Eurostat – Lifelong learning 2008: % of 25-64 pop)

DEN FIN NOR SWE UK0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

30

2319

32

20

Adult average literacy proficiency(OECD Skills outlook 2013 Figs 2.2b & 2.3a)

DEN FIN NOR SWE ENG0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

270 288 274 279 270276 297 275 283 266

1

16-65 16-24

Happiness table (Bradshaw et al, 2009)

Overall rank COUNTRY

1 Netherland

2 Sweden

3 Norway

4 Iceland

5 Finland

6 Denmark

24 UK

Unicef 2012 index of relative poverty

Country %

Denmark 6.5

Finland 5.3

Norway 6.1

Sweden 7.3

UK 12.1

So how good is England’s performance?

• A mixed bag for PIRLS • Good but with achievement gap in TIMSS • Average in PISA with reducing achievement gap• High tertiary but not lifelong learning• And our children are less happy.__________________________________• The obvious question is why is it not better?• The next question is how to improve?

So what can we learn from better systems?

• Pre-school is good and school starting age is 6 or 7• Much less testing and few league tables• Less pressure on pupils, teachers and parents• Trust is highly valued• School is seen as preparation for democratic life• Life-long learning is encouraged by slower pace

and built in catch up points• Societies appear less selfish.

Possible ways forward• Immediately

– Ensure all schools have common funding, powers and governance

– Abolish league tables– Outlaw selection– Open up faith schools

• While exploring ways – To ensure all schools have a balanced intake– And a more even spread of effective teachers

• And working towards– The integration of private schools.

Conclusions• England has excellent teachers but a muddled

system• It has strengths but also weaknesses and English

school pupils appear less happy than their counterparts

• Remedies are available but politicians will ignore them unless we can persuade the public to demand change

• We must maintain our enthusiasm for education - its impact might be limited but it still represents the best hope of creating a better society.

Education under siege: why there is a better alternative

Peter Mortimore

Published by Policy Press and also available as an E book

[http://www.policypress.co.uk/]