KC Cantiaci
pfm Member
As regards work, it seems to be having an effect with employers favouring better educated immigrants over UK nationals. So I would venture this would have an impact on their life.
PISA Tests - UK falls outside of top 20
- Thread starter KC Cantiaci
- Start date
As regards work, it seems to be having an effect with employers favouring better educated immigrants over UK nationals. So I would venture this would have an impact on their life.
Dowser
Learning to bodge again..
The detail reports are available from here and make interesting reading - validates my choice to quit job and leave Ireland last year so that my 3 girls could go through the Swiss education system
I think the test questions are interesting - it allows you to directly translate mathematics learned in school with real world application of those skills IMO. Although I am surprised to find 15 year olds taught in China (presumably "learning by repeating" style) to be so advanced.
Richard
Daniel Quinn
Banned
Ive said it before , but worth saying again .
Schools don't fail children , parents do .
Schools don't fail children , parents do .
Greg
2t5b
politicians don't like to blame the parents though, they might not vote for them. Let teachers take the blame for everything.
Worth noting that the children least happy with life at school are the ones from Korea, Japan and the country of Shanghai.
Richard Nichola
pfm Member
I think that the test questions are exactly the sort of problems that people need to use mathematics to solve in later life. As I mentioned up thread, if you asked the pupils to do the equivalent sum to get the bike speed, I'd expect much more than 3% of them to be able to get the correct answer.
The problem is that mathematics is taught primarily in the abstract and in my opinion it should be anchored to the real word at every opportunity.
A knowledge of maths and finance should I feel be taught to students and may well help them to control their plastic cards, bank accounts and and future credit rating. Also it may help them to function with a critical mind thus allowing them to sift the wheat from the chaff when it comes to advertising clams and statistics published by the government of the day.
Richard Nichola
pfm Member
Silly me. The reason why maths will only be taught in the abstract.
I've been working in Shanghai today (I'll moan about the Chinese elsewhere later when i can see through the smog) but its involved a Chinese guy, Malaysian and a Fin, they all spoke fantastic English, we've just been for a bite to eat. If they heard what you hear when at the bustop or London no-hopers, they would not understand a word.
Martin (Alright-bro-init)
Martin (Alright-bro-init)
Paul R
pfm Member
Nonsense. Schools get children for the bulk of their alert hours, plus extra evening time for homework. If you want to throw the 'problem' back to me then give me back my children.
And given the average teacher's pay is something over £40 000 I think I have a right to expect them to be competent.
Paul
Paul R
pfm Member
There was a very bad story on the news last night about South Korea where the claim was basically that the children got up for school before they went to bed after the evening's tuition.
But is the real implication that Asian schools are poor? Or do bright Asian children go to university at 12?
Paul
Greg
2t5b
what does this even mean? How's your Mandarin?
Greg
2t5b
and if your children dick around all day and don't give two shits about school discipline and ruin the chances of most of the others in their class?
davidsrsb
pfm Member
Kids go to university later here because they start school at age 7.
Asian kids have VERY little free time with tuition and almost compulsory club activities. This means that you see very few teenagers hanging around causing trouble.
Greg
2t5b
I imagine you also see very few teenagers having fun.
John Channing
fruit box forever
Is that what you have personally experienced? It certainly has not been my experience of work.
I do not doubt the value of a good education (I spent 7 years at university), I just feel stories about testing at a specific point in the educational process are of limited value and like most tests, too narrow to capture someone's ability to succeed at work. How do our graduates compare against those from Singapore/Hong Kong/China? Pretty well based on my direct experience in a multi-national company that recruits people from all over the globe.
Maybe further down the education chain, for example, those not making it through to tertiary education, we are not equipping people as well as we might do, but I cannot say that for sure.
Fixed.
In the UK at least the primary motivation for companies to employ foreign nationals is because they can get them considerably cheaper. I've worked in more than one company that would only grudgingly employ people from the EU etc because they considered them "trouble", as in they knew their rights and stood up for them; and "too expensive", as in they knew their true value and wouldn't work for less. Indian sub continent employees are easy to manage. If they don't do what you want and accept the low wages you offer you just sack them, they lose their visa and have to go back home. Don't underestimate the power of a UK Work Visa to motivate employees to knuckle under and just work like dogs for low pay.
Paul R
pfm Member
They don't. But even in our relatively 'nice' area they experience this.
I think that schools should spend less time and effort dealing with disruptive children. The most recent batch of disruption in the local school were taken to and fro in a taxi at public expense.
Paul
daveofbradford
Monica I said sack my cook
Exactly my opinion well said Chris