Mythbuster - OECD world education ranking study

[Sprogster]

There has been much publicity given in the UK national media yesterday and today, how the United Kingdom has slipped down the rankings in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) annual independent study of educational standards in fifty seven countries.

What is surprising however is that France is doing as badly or in many cases worse than the UK. For example in literacy France has slipped from number 14 to 23 and by comparison the UK from 7 to 17.

Why therefore is there this perception that educational standards are higher in France, or is it just a myth that has no factual substance?

 

[Deimos]

My impression (no knowledge, just impression) is that it is not so much the ranking that is significant but changes in how well the children are being educated.  I country might easily slip in rankings is its educational standards are only improving slowly is those below it are improving fast and thus overtaking it.

Another aspect that can have an impact is how standards are measured.  I have the impression that in the UK at the moment the government cannot stop its obsessive interfering and continual changes to education.  Rather than just allowing schools to get on with teaching kids there continual changes to school structures, exams and tests, teaching methods, syllabus, everything and I would expect standards to drop.

Ian

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Hang on - where is the USA in all of this? The US is the most technologically and economically advanced nation on Earth and yet it canot make the top 25 in any of these measures? That is staggering. Hard to believe in fact. Either this OECD ranking is a pile of pants or the Western World - France included - is making a serious error in trying to be more like the US of A.

Mind you, after the OECD report showing Britain to be the worst place on Earth in which to bring up children, lagging significantly the Central African Republic, Burma and North Korea (as I recall - I may be hazy on the details here) I find it difficult to endow much of what they say with credence.

[Phil & Pat]

[quote user="The Riff-Raff Element"]Hang on - where is the USA in all of this? The US is the most technologically and economically advanced nation on Earth and yet it canot make the top 25 in any of these measures? That is staggering. Hard to believe in fact.

[/quote]

If you find the USA situaton hard to believe, just spend a little time looking at the Yahoo! Answers US site.  I was amazed at what I found.

To be fair to them, the BBC did report that a printing error in their test booklets for reading  (but not maths or science) meant some

items had incorrect instructions so no results were reported, but personally I doubt it made much difference.

Phil.

[Sprogster]

I believe the OECD survey relates to primary and secondary education up to the age of eighteen. In this area the Americans know their public school system is pants and therefore if you have money in America you send your kids to private school.

Where the USA comes into its own is the quality of its college/university educational system after the age of eighteen.

[woolybanana]

OECD got one thing right then.[6]

[woolybanana]

[quote user="The Riff-Raff Element"]Hang on - where is the USA in all of this? The US is the most technologically and economically advanced nation on Earth and yet it canot make the top 25 in any of these measures? That is staggering. Hard to believe in fact. Either this OECD ranking is a pile of pants or the Western World - France included - is making a serious error in trying to be more like the US of A.

Mind you, after the OECD report showing Britain to be the worst place on Earth in which to bring up children, lagging significantly the Central African Republic, Burma and North Korea (as I recall - I may be hazy on the details here) I find it difficult to endow much of what they say with credence.

[/quote]

OECD got one thing right then[6]

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Sprogster"]

I believe the OECD survey relates to primary and secondary education up to the age of eighteen. In this area the Americans know their public school system is pants and therefore if you have money in America you send your kids to private school.

Where the USA comes into its own is the quality of its college/university educational system after the age of eighteen.

[/quote]

Pretty much a mirror image of what happens in the UK and, to a lesser extent, France, then. Except that in Europe the public school system still manages to deliver reasonable quality output, if this survey is any guide at all, that is.

I can't help feeling that ignoring a public school system and depending on an educated elite for the future prosperity of an economy might be...shortsighted?

Fact or myth: is the French system better? I'd say that it is pointless to compare at primary and secondary level, myself, as the cultural differences - particularly language - make finding a consistent basis for evaluation nigh on impossible. And if the approach is flawed, we can't have a lot of faith in the output. A better guide might be adult literacy and numeracy, I suppose. Perhaps someone measures these?