bats

This survey says that education in the UK is ranked 6th in the world and Canada 10th.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20498356

Do you think this is accurate?? I don't have kids so can't compare but based on the co-op kids I see they don't know much at 18 but they are much more confident than the UK equivalent.

Alan2005

I don't think Canadians will care that they are behind the brits in this table. They are above the septics and that's wot matters innit.

MillieF

Big day for Canada, ahead of the UK in education, and Mark Carney, another good Canadian, has been made governor of The Bank of Engand, to pull 'em back from the economic brink. I listened to it on yesterday in Parliament and it sounded like this chap's the new messiah, no pressure there then.

bats

er no, behind the UK in education.

And aren't they crowing about this appointment.

MillieF

Sorry bats, I hadn't lost the plot! My brain just appears to have stopped functioning....I started this post and then the phone rang... Yes, aren't they going on about him! I was puzzled by this education report, I don't generally trust these sorts of things, they always seem to be trying to measure intangibles in very differing cultures. The education in Canada seems so so very changeable from one small area and province to another from what I've read on here.

chanceUK

Poor quality of Aboriginal schooling may bring the marks down for canada?

cjones

Absolutely, it's been all down hill since they did away with the residential schools. Political correctness gone mad.

jimmydean

It would have been interesting to see each component part of the UK listed in their correct position on the table..... I have a feeling that Scottish and N Ireland schools drag the average for the UK up.....

chiefmissile

Hi,

My wife is a teacher here in the UK and we have family who are teachers in Canada. The main reason for Canada being so low down in the table is not the quality of teaching, but the fact that the Canadian system has no regulatory body like OFSTED, HMI inspectors, in addition they do not undertake SATS, these points alone put Canada down the pecking order, not the quality of teaching. The quality of teaching in Canada is second to none, with most Canadian teachers having better qualifications than most UK teachers. To be a teacher in Canada you need a 5 year degree not 4 like here in the UK. The kids love going to school in Canada because its fun and not regulated by red tape. The focus is on the kids learning and not focused on the school stats. The pecking order table is solely based on the fact that there are more regulatory bodies and monitoring systems that provide more feedback for stats in UK schools, not the quality of the teaching. The Canadian system is better because it dose not put young kids under unnecessary stress by having to complete SATS for kids of 6&7 years old. My rant is soley based on Primary schools in Canada and not secondary.

Regards

Andrew

dbd33

Your kids, perhaps.

christmasoompa

'Unnecessary stress'?! My now 8 year old wasn't stressed about it at all, but she had no idea what she'd done. I asked her how her first SAT went and she said 'I've not done anything like that Mummy, I just did some special work with Mrs Headteacher'.

They weren't told they were doing tests, nothing changed for them at all, so she was completely clueless about the whole thing and certainly not stressed!

Almost Canadian

My daughters had to sit such exams in Alberta

Can you please explain how a 5 year degree makes a better teacher than a 4 year one?

chiefmissile

I have no idea why a 5 year degree is better than a 4, i accept that just because someone has an extra year of a degree, it dose not necessarily make them a good teacher, but thats the rules in Canada. Alberta may be different as all provinces are.

Andrew

dgagitw

Except at the very highest level - e.g. the observation that Finland probably does a better job of educating its kids than Russia does - all surveys of this type are total crap from what I can tell. The same goes for those stupid standard of living and best place to be born ones. If you look at the measurable facts - e.g. percentage of illiterate school leavers - pretty much the whole western world is the same within the margin of error for the sample sets used.

For the record, other than being 1 year behind, I'd be very hard pushed to point out any difference in quality between the education my son is getting here vs. the one he got in the UK.

Lorry1

Really?

ADD is very over diagnosed here (quoted by my doc) because they basically want all the kids to learn at the same speed and not have to focus efforts on the 'slower' child.

I think the fact that the UK is 6th and Canada is 10th says it all?