N EWS


UK’s on a learning curve as the country aims to catch up with educational superpowers


Britain has set its sights on catching up with the educational superpowers. that’s the ambition ofMichael Gove, the secretary of state for education, speaking at the Education World Forum, held at the QE conference centre, shortly before the BEtt Show. He told delegates, educational


ministers and leaders from 75 countries attending the 11th meeting of the EWF: “This is a race in which Britain cannot afford to lag behind.” Mr Gove said that countries


such as Finland, Singapore and Hong Kong were accelerating their educational performance based on universal criteria, while Britain was declining. He cited research by OECD


(the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) published in December in its three-yearly assessment of global academic performance and testing of 15 year-olds in reading, maths and science (PISA). China came top while the UK dropped to 25th in reading, 28th in maths, and 16th in science. Ten years ago Britain was 7th, 8th and 4th respectively. He continued: “From Shanghai


to New Orleans, fromAlberta to Hong Kong, Singapore to Helsinki, nations which have been educational back markers have become world leaders. “And our recently published


schoolsWhite Paper was deliberately designed to bring together – indeed to shamelessly plunder from – policies that have worked in other high performing nations. “It was accompanied by a


detailed evidence paper, The Case for Change, that draws on the insights generated by successive PISAstudies andMcKinsey reports.And is based on three essential characteristics which mark out the best performing and fastest reforming nations systems


– the importance of teaching, greater autonomy and proper accountability.” On the importance of teaching,


he commented: “First, the most successful education nations recruit the best possible people into teaching, provide them with high quality teaching and professional development and put them to work in the most challenging classrooms. “We are committed to raising


the quality of new entrants to the teaching profession by insisting on they are better qualified than ever before.We are determined to improve teacher training by building on intellectual accomplishment and more time spent in the classroom acquiring practical teaching skills, and we plan to establish new centres of excellence in teaching practice – modelled on our great teaching hospitals.” On greater autonomy, he said:


“The PISAandMcKinsey reports clearly show the greater autonomy at school level, with head teachers and principals free to determine how pupils are taught and how budgets are spent, the greater the potential there has been for all round improvement and the


Michael Gove speaking at the EducationWorld Forum.


He described education as a race with other high educating


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performing nations, in which the UK cannot afford to lag behind.


greater the opportunity too for the system to move from good to great. “The coalition government


agrees that headteachers and teachers – not politicians and bureaucrats – know how best to run schools. “That is why we’ve announced


a review of our national curriculum with the aim of reducing prescription and are taking action to shed all unnecessary bureaucratic burdens on schools.” On proper accountability he


commented: “Data allows us to identify the best, so we can emulate it and diagnose weaknesses, so we can intervene before it’s too late. “The lesson from PISAis that


autonomy works when it is combined with intelligent accountability. That means making comparisons which are fair, and try to limit the extent to which measurements can be ‘gamed’ by those in the system, “It’s because it’s so important


that the public can make fair comparisons between schools that we are revamping performance tables to place more emphasis on the real value schools add as well as the raw attainment results they secure.” At the forum,William Hague,


secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs, called for countries around the world to harness the power of education to address the challenges posed by the global economic downturn. He backed NelsonMandela’s comment that ‘education is the most powerful weapon whch you can use to change the world’.


Circle No.E2


Delegates to EducationWorld Forum pose for a picture with British foreign secretaryWilliam Hague centre front. Technology in Education editor Bernard Hubbard was in attendance.


Technology in Education No.180 January/February 2011 10 Check out our website: www.technology-in-education.co.uk


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