England's young adults trail world in literacy and maths.

[Guest Guest 47403]

England is actually going backwards in literacy and maths according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) these figures are very poor!

 

Young adults in England have scored among the lowest results in the industrialised world in international literacy and numeracy tests.

 

 

A major study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows how England's 16 to 24-year-olds are falling behind their Asian and European counterparts.

 

 

England is 22nd for literacy and 21st for numeracy out of 24 countries.

 

Dr Jasper Kim: "If you're a wealthy family... you can pay for performance, but if you're in the bottom tier you can be left behind"

 

The OECD's Andreas Schleicher warned of a shrinking pool of skilled workers.

 

Unlike other developed countries, the study also showed that young people in England are no better at these tests than older people, in the 55 to 65 age range.

 

 

When this is weighted with other factors, such as the socio-economic background of people taking the test, it shows that England is the only country in the survey where results are going backwards - with the older cohort better than the younger.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24433320

[Guest The Ropey HOFF]

I saw this and thought, just how does this happen these days, with all the targets and league tables?

 

I think it's partly due to a lack of discipline in the schools, but teachers have their hands tied these days.

[Guest Guest 47403]

I saw this and thought, just how does this happen these days, with all the targets and league tables?

 

I think it's partly due to a lack of discipline in the schools, but teachers have their hands tied these days.

 

I think your right some of the comments mention disruptive pupils holding those that want to learn back due to teachers having there hands tied as far as discipline go in English schools.

[Wellers and Whitehead]

One teacher made the comment, in lay mans terms that children from poor socio economic areas ( which her school was in ) are going into school many disadvantaged because of lack of parental input, reading books etc etc to the children, and that they should be measured in progression!? I can see her point.

 

hence may always be behind in education due to this?!

[Levi]

England’s literacy, ah yes. On this forum I see lots of ‘your’ when people mean you’re (= you are) (ahem Baz) and ‘should of’ this and ‘should of’ that, when it really should be “should have done this or should have done that’.

 

That's all I wanted to add.

[Guest Andy]

England’s literacy, ah yes. On this forum I see lots of ‘your’ when people mean you’re (= you are) (ahem Baz) and ‘should of’ this and ‘should of’ that, when it really should be “should have done this or should have done that’.

 

That's all I wanted to add.

 

I don't really think you can judge people on a forum to be honest, most people know they are making typing errors when they post but just cannot be arsed to change it because it's not really that important.

[Guest Guest 47403]

England’s literacy, ah yes. On this forum I see lots of ‘your’ when people mean you’re (= you are) (ahem Baz) and ‘should of’ this and ‘should of’ that, when it really should be “should have done this or should have done that’.

 

That's all I wanted to add.

 

Well looks like I'm a shining example of England's poor literacy doesn't it :rolleyes:

[Petals]

Wrong quote in reply to Levi

 

Just because people take short cuts on a forum does not mean they are illiterate. If you judge the communication skill of people on a forum then you are deluded as its like chatting with words, slang and all that goes with it.

[Petals]

Back to the subject, we as parents have to take responsibility for our children and their standard of literacy. Just sending them to school and hoping is not on.

 

We need to have books and papers around the house and not just the web. We have to read books to our children, I loved having books read to me and my oh had a very deep voice and he read them the Lord of the Rings when they were quite young and before it became so well known.

 

I never had a problem with their literacy but then we made sure they were learning their tables, ABC and all that stuff that perhaps is being forgotten with our reliance on technology.

 

I mean can one use a slide rule we have one in our house. Can we do arithmetic in our heads and add up at the cash register, my mum can and she is 94.

 

These are the skills we need to keep alive, we do not have to be brilliant we just have to have survival skills for when technology is not around and there may be more times in the future when it happens with power cuts and break down in communications.

 

We are doing our children no favours if we just rely on them being taught in school.

[dmjg]

What's the difference between education the England and the other countries then?

 

The amount of funding per child will be similar.

 

The quality of the teachers will be similar.

 

That leaves the home then. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. You can't make its parents drink either.

 

Therefore the lack of attainment of English students is due to the attitudes towards education of English students and their parents. Unfortunately.

[PeterJa]

England is actually going backwards in literacy and maths according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) these figures are very poor!

 

Young adults in England have scored among the lowest results in the industrialised world in international literacy and numeracy tests.

 

This is the irony, politicians (of both parties) made GCSEs and A levels easier and easier so everyone got straight As. They got the kudos for "improving" the education system*, but in the meantime we slipped down the international rankings.

 

The second irony is when the Tories did try and make it harder to get the top grade people were threatening legal action...

 

* Deep down we all know it sucks.

[Guest]

One teacher made the comment, in lay mans terms that children from poor socio economic areas ( which her school was in ) are going into school many disadvantaged because of lack of parental input, reading books etc etc to the children, and that they should be measured in progression!? I can see her point.

 

hence may always be behind in education due to this?!

 

This is what I always thought too. The kids behind in junior school when I was there were always from the poor socio economic areas and when they start so far behind they just gradually lose interest as time goes on.

 

I can't believe parents can send their kids to school without teaching them some reading skills first, particularly as said people tend to be the ones home all day on benefits so actually have all the time in the world to read to their kids.

[flybyknight]

gr8 at textin tho innit

[Que Sera Sera]

This is what I always thought too. The kids behind in junior school when I was there were always from the poor socio economic areas and when they start so far behind they just gradually lose interest as time goes on.

 

I can't believe parents can send their kids to school without teaching them some reading skills first, particularly as said people tend to be the ones home all day on benefits so actually have all the time in the world to read to their kids.

 

There are many parents who don't even feed their kids let alone equip them with basic reading skills. Hence the need for breakfast clubs. Terrible.

[Guest]

There are many parents who don't even feed their kids let alone equip them with basic reading skills. Hence the need for breakfast clubs. Terrible.

 

Makes you thankful for having good parents.

 

I went to school well ahead in reading (helped that Mum was a librarian). Ended up going to the local grammar school which regularly scores in the top few schools nationwide in GCSE's which set me off to university in good shape.

 

Met Aussie partner whilst on holiday, maybe if was less well eductaed I would have been on less money/no money and wouldn't have been able to afford a holiday which directly led me to living in Brisbane now.

 

Can shape your whole life just going to school with good reading skills!

[ramot]

You can't just blame circumstances although they are probably a contributing factor. I wonder are generally things worse than when I started school shortly after the war in 1949? Your back ground can of course hold you back, but just to be controversial for some the old grammar school system did help disadvantaged pupils, although I can't speak about whether the secondary modern schools were a good thing or not as I have no knowledge of them.

You could say I had a disadvantaged back ground. 5 primary schools before age 10, including Germany, broken home, (not asking for comments just stating the truth) no father after age 8, mother working full time, and seriously no frills let alone books. So you could say the odds were stacked against me.

Passed 11+ went to Tiffin Girls school, top grammar school, can't fault the education there, but I didn't do terribly well, left school age 16, but went on to make a success of my life, so perhaps luck played a part.

I am saddened that so many years later, after so much time and money poured into the system, it isn't doing better.

I have no answers, I am basically in favour of the comprehensive system, but having sent ours through the system, we were very concerned

that a few disruptive pupils were allowed to disrupt the education of others, so perhaps a bit more streaming might have helped?

I am out of touch as mine are grown up, but have a 5 year old grandson just starting school in UK, and it seems to me that generally parents seem happy at the primary school level, and then very worried about the senior level.

Hope things improve for every childs' sake, and that we can educate everyone to realise the importance of a good education.

[starlight7]

I am amazed that Australia came out higher than the UK. I think also that the discipline (or lack of) in some British schools is a big problem- far worse than even in the roughest schools here. I have come across one or two Australian teachers who have done a stint in British schools-London mostly- they thought they were unbelievably bad as regards kids talking back, being cheeky and even violent.

[Lambethlad]

England now ranks 22 out of 24 countries rated for literacy.

The top five countries in literacy were Japan, Finland, the Netherlands, Australia and Sweden.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/435429/England-trails-world-on-literacy-levels-and-Labour-is-to-blame

[Wellers and Whitehead]

I believe this is already discussed in another thread.

[ali]

England now ranks 22 out of 24 countries rated for literacy.

The top five countries in literacy were Japan, Finland, the Netherlands, Australia and Sweden.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/435429/England-trails-world-on-literacy-levels-and-Labour-is-to-blame

 

Hi Lambethlad, your thread has been merged with the one already established on the subject.

[Sammy1]

What's the difference between education the England and the other countries then?

 

The amount of funding per child will be similar.

 

The quality of the teachers will be similar.

 

That leaves the home then. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. You can't make its parents drink either.

 

Therefore the lack of attainment of English students is due to the attitudes towards education of English students and their parents. Unfortunately.

 

Actually there is a huge difference between the countries. For example, Finland only takes the top 10% of graduates to be teachers. It is a respected, well paid and highly sought after profession.

 

Unfortunately, in the UK and elsewhere, there are still teachers that do it because they cannot think of anything else to do, or who scrape through with mediocre grades.

 

Research shows that the quality of a teacher is the single most important factor in education.

 

Of course it is very important to have parents that encourage their children and who promote respect for the teachers. Unfortunately this does not happen as much as it used to, as we live in a society that now sees entitlement as a way of life.

[starlight7]

I don't know- when I was young my parents had absolutely no idea what schoolwork or homework I had. No one did then unless there was something psychologically wrong with them. It was for the teachers to sort out. Looking back we were very well educated ( maybe because the teachers didn't have to double up as social workers ). Most of my contemporaries went to university and it was a pretty high standard there, too.

[caramac]

I wonder how much of a decline there's been since we had a big influx of people from Europe who spoke little or no English when they arrived. That's not an anti immigration statement, but support for those children has dropped significantly over the last few years which must have an effect.

My children have had/are having a much more rigorous education than I had in terms of literacy and numeracy and understand how language works far better than I do, but obviously there are children who are not so lucky.

[jimmyay1]

sadly in the UK it's cool to dick about in school and not care, you're stuck up or a snob if you want to work hard or show an interest and most want to go with the herd, unless you're at a private school or one of a very small minority of dedicated and motivated state school pupils.

 

it's not the same in many other countries, and the UK educated workforce is falling further behind and missing out on job opportunities which are going to well educated, motivated graduates from all over the world - many of whom take up jobs in the UK and become the bosses of those who thought it "cool" to be an idiot.

[Guest The Ropey HOFF]

Actually there is a huge difference between the countries. For example, Finland only takes the top 10% of graduates to be teachers. It is a respected, well paid and highly sought after profession.

 

Unfortunately, in the UK and elsewhere, there are still teachers that do it because they cannot think of anything else to do, or who scrape through with mediocre grades.

 

Research shows that the quality of a teacher is the single most important factor in education.

 

Of course it is very important to have parents that encourage their children and who promote respect for the teachers. Unfortunately this does not happen as much as it used to, as we live in a society that now sees entitlement as a way of life.

 

What do you expect? Teachers in the UK haven't had a pay rise in 5 years, that's not going attract top educated candidates and the teachers already in post will be, disinterested, disillusioned and disheartened by how little they are valued.