杏吧原创

SCIENCE and maths teachers in England are failing many of their pupils by
underestimating their abilities. A report issued last week by Ofsted, which
monitors standards in English schools, says that the disappointing performance
of English schoolchildren compared with those in other countries is partly
because their teachers expect too little of them.

David Reynolds and Shaun Farrell of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne
surveyed international studies of science and maths performance in schools
since
the 1960s. English children performed badly in maths and only marginally better
in the sciences. Between the 1960s and the 1980s, English scores declined
relative to those of other countries (see
Graph). 鈥淭hese results must in part
reflect the education system,鈥� says Reynolds. In Scotland, which has a separate
school system, results are broadly similar to those in England.FIG-20411201.gif

At age nine, English schoolchildren had the largest range of achievement of
any of the countries surveyed, which included some European nations, plus
Japan,
China and Korea. This was largely because of a 鈥渉uge long tail of
underachievement鈥�, says Reynolds. As a result, the average performance of
English students tends to improve markedly the year before university entrance,
because by this stage lower ability pupils have already given up maths and
science. 鈥淥nly at older ages in a highly selected system is the performance of
English children relatively good,鈥� he adds.

鈥淚t鈥檚 time to look beyond the white cliffs of Dover and try to see if
迟丑别谤别鈥檚
something to learn,鈥� says Reynolds, who notes that teachers in countries of the
Far East, such as Taiwan, Korea and Japan, do not accept that most of their
classes will perform poorly in maths and science. 鈥淲e need a change of attitude
amongst teachers [to accept] that you can get all children over a hurdle.鈥�