“David Cameron, the Conservative leader, says his party will deploy ‘brazenly elitist’ measures to coax top performers from the boardroom to the classroom, while graduates with poor degrees will be kept out of the profession.” He went on: “We will replace the Graduate Teacher Programme with a new one – Teach Now. “Modelled on Teach First, it will be a one-stop-shop for people who want to transfer into teaching. “Only the best professionals with the best qualifications need apply. And after a rigorous application process, if you’ve made the grade, you’ll be put straight into a school.” Countries such as Finland, Singapore and South Korea have created the best education systems in the world by making teaching a “high prestige profession” and being “brazenly elitist”, Mr Cameron said.
It is interesting to note that in 2002, Korea was ranked #1 and may have slipped somewhat causing this lecturer to try and improve (and here) his students’ scores.
Why does Finland have the best education system in 2007? BBC answers that here in an audio broadcast. Obviously Cameron wasn’t aware that Harvard and Westminister are doing a great job as well, but BBC knew about it.
For those who are unwilling to listen to the tapes from 2007 – here are some points raised in a newer article from School Matters which explains why Finland is doing so well and the United States so poorly.
Time: American Teachers spend 1,100 hours teaching or at school. Finnish teachers only spend 570 hours in school which is about the same as Japanese teachers.
Money: “Teachers in Finland are well paid. An elementary school teacher makes $45-50/hour. A high school teacher makes $75-80/hour. The typical per class load is 18-20 students.”
But at least the United States still seems to be the leader in science and research.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Hummm… looks like the Korean version of “The Perfect Score.”
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/01/113_59242.html
total tripe…what the f*ck does the following mean?
Time: American Teachers spend 1,100 hours teaching or at school. Finnish teachers only spend 570 hours in school which is about the same as Japanese teachers.
So Finnish and Japanese teachers spend just 70 some workdays a year at school?
And honestly, who cares about British politicians? Maybe a headline like “Cameron Mentions Korea”….might be tangentially appropriate here.
but as it is worded it is a totally British-centric, totally partisan post. Odd.
I vote to remove Neff from this here Hole…
Bopshop -
I must admit – I enjoyed your outburst far more than I did the posting. I find it amazing that the posting offended you so much that you had to rant and rave. I also notice that you did not bother to go to the links and read them – if you had you would have noticed that the “Time” section is something that was quoted in the link. As for voting me off the Hole – that is entirely the Marmot’s decision. As I used to tell a certain troll that once haunted the hole a certain number of years ago – hope you have a pleasant day in your own little world. Said with a smile – of course.
everybody likes mr neff. i doubt mr marmot will be sending him anywhere away from here. sorry.
ps gangpe, yet another snazzy gravatar.
Even the master blogger himself occasionally posts on topics unrelated to Korea or its neighbors, hence the category “random crap.” Neff has done a great job refreshing the blog with daily postings, many of which involved a bit of research and analysis. His distinct voice is a welcome addition.
Neff, I think that’s because America attracts a lot of smart immigrants but not necessarily a solid verdict for its K-12 education system.
http://www.kauffman.org/entrepreneurship/foreign-born-entrepreneurs.aspx
my 2 cents here: what makes a great school is not the teachers, it is the students
Get a crop of motivated, dedicated, tough as nails students (i.e. the Koreans) willing to sacrifice their youth to achieve something in their life and even if they don’t have the best labs and the best teachers, chances are this group will come up on top of students cuddled by more efficient and richer systems.
Hell i saw it in my homeland, where the abysmal decline of the school system started accelerating when the country got actually much more well-off.
Ps
Pawi,, Giorgio Petrosyan, K-1 Max champion, Armenian-Italian pride
Finnish teachers well paid ?
according to the data provided: 570×80 $ = 45.600 $$ a year , slice a good 35% out of it in taxes (conservative estimate), net salary totals 29.640 $$ a year.
29.640 $ X approx 0.7 = 20.750 euros
Average salary in Southern Europe, with the Finnish cost of life, close to starving
Gang -
To be honest, that was the first thing I thought when I saw the figures – the cost of living in Finland is, from what I read, a great deal higher than most parts of the States.
A link to pravda.ru? Not to be the second person to take a shot at you, but that’s a huge credibility-killer. But I still like you Robert.
I support this.
I know many people on this board think that basically anyone can teach. The truth is, basically anyone can get a job as a teacher, but that’s not the same thing. And the larger truth is, in my years as a teacher, I have met very few people who can do it competently, and very very few who can do it well. It’s time to end this insane myth that teaching is something that “anyone can do.” Please. I’ve seen what happens when you let “anyone” do it.
Must… resist… snark…
“but as it is worded it is a totally British-centric, totally partisan post. Odd.”
Considering the amount of totally US-centric, totally partisan posts and comments here, you gonna be excluding a hell of a lot of commenters using that as a criteria.
Last year was particularly bad, almost a whole year of totally partisan US centric wow we have an election, democrat bashing, republican bashing posting.
CMM – I always appreciate the constructive criticism – especially from someone such as your self. I chose the Pravda article just to give more of a range to the posting. Your criticism was well received and I shall cry softly in my pillow tonight for my errors…..seriously though, thanks for the comment. Comments like that keep us all real
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