Middle-class British pupils are worse at mathsthan children of Shanghai cleaners: Youngstersfrom deprived backgrounds in Chinese city areyear ahead of children in the UK
Chinese children three years ahead of Britons with well-educated parents
Gap rose to five years when compared with youngsters in well-off homes
British teenagers have already dropped out of the top 20 in maths, science and reading
The children of cleaners and catering assistants in some Asian countries are better at maths thanthose of doctors and lawyers in Britain, research reveals.
Youngsters from deprived backgrounds in Shanghai were the equivalent of a year of school aheadof UK children from wealthy homes with well-educated parents.
The advantage in Singapore was around three months.
When the most deprived children from the UK and Shanghai were compared, British children werenearly three years behind.
The gap rose to five years if deprived British pupils were compared with children from well-offhomes in China’s largest city.
The gulf in academic attainment between the two regions was revealed in data within a report bythe Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released in December. Ithad already shown that British teenagers have dropped out of the top 20 rankings in maths,science and reading for the first time.
The new analysis, based on maths tests taken by more than half a million 15-year-olds, suggestssome countries are better at helping their children succeed at school, regardless of background.
The report concludes: ‘In the United States and the United Kingdom, where professionals areamong the highest-paid in the world, students whose parents work as professionals do notperform as well in mathematics as children of professionals in other countries.
Nor do they perform as well as the children in Shanghai, China, and Singapore, whose parentswork in manual occupations.’
The success of pupils in emerging economies has led other nations to look at their educationsystems.
Education minister Liz Truss is travelling to China next week to find out how maths is taught there.
Education Secretary Michael Gove has already announced changes to improve maths in England,including a focus on core knowledge, more mental arithmetic and tougher exams.
Anyone aged 16 to 18 who does not have a GCSE in the subject with a C grade or higher is alsoexpected to continue studying it under new rules.
Miss Truss said: ‘Shanghai is the top-performing part of the world for maths ? their children arestreets ahead.
‘Shanghai and Singapore have teaching practices and a positive philosophy that make thedifference. They have a belief that diligence redeems lack of ability.
‘Our new curriculum has borrowed from theirs because we know it works ? early learning of keyarithmetic and a focus on times tables and long division, for example.
‘The reality is that, unless we change our philosophy and get better at maths, we will suffer economic decline.’
Research has shown children with high maths scores at age 10 earn seven per cent more whenthey are 30 than those who struggle with the subject, a difference of tens of thousands of poundsover their working life.
Andreas Schleicher, deputy director for education and skills at the OECD, said: ‘If school systemswant all of their students to succeed, they should give the children of factory workers and cleanersthe same education opportunities that the children of doctors and lawyers enjoy.’
相关介绍：
总部设在巴黎的经济合作与发展组织去年12月发布调查报告称，在低收入家庭中，英国孩子的数学水平要落后上海孩子三年;对比上海低收入家庭的孩子和英国富裕家庭的孩子时，上海孩子大约领先一年;而在富裕家庭中，上海孩子的数学水平甚至要超过英国孩子五年。
调查还发现，新加坡学生的数学水平也普遍超过英国学生数月。
这项调查收集了来自多个国家的50万名15岁学生的数学考试成绩，结果发现新兴国家在数学教育方面普遍比较成功，而英国已经在数学、科学和阅读教育排行榜中跌落20名以外。
英国教育部部长伊丽莎白•查思下周将专赴中国对数学教学进行调研。她表示，上海数学教育具有全球最高水平，其课程设置经过事实证明是可行的，英国也已经在向上海学习。
英国教育部已宣布在英格兰地区实行数学教育改革，更加偏重核心知识点和心算技巧，并将进一步提高数学考试难度。
【小编推荐】