A good news story…

Saturday 12 April 2014

We hear a lot of doom and gloom about the state of education in England – much of this stems from political interference and sensationalist journalism (in our opinion!).  Here’s a story about how successful our young people are at an increasingly important skill: problem-solving.  The story didn’t get quite as much coverage in the media, sadly…

“Graduates need core knowledge in subjects like maths and English, but they also need to be able to apply this to tackle complex and unpredictable tasks with confidence… Good problem-solving skills give young people an edge in the world of work and prepare them to move into top jobs and leadership positions.”

Mr Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders

Teenagers in England are “significantly above average” in problem-solving skills, according to the results of international tests. Whilst scoring relatively low in some international school tests (especially one known as the Pisa rankings), these latest global rankings from the OECD put England in 11th place.

The OECD puts England as second highest in Europe, behind Finland, in tests of how pupils can apply their knowledge. These problem-solving tests were taken at the same time as the Pisa tests, which compare how well pupils perform in maths, reading and science.

Rather than testing theoretical knowledge, the problem-solving tests examined how well teenagers could use their knowledge in practical questions. For example, it presented pupils with a range of information about different types of train tickets and asked them to work out the cheapest price for a journey.

These problem-solving tests were an optional extra following the Pisa tests taken in 2012 – and were taken by 44 out of the 65 countries and administrations in the Pisa rankings.

It found that pupils in England were much better than their performance in Pisa tests, despite not making the top 20 in any subject.

The OECD’s Michael Davidson suggested that Asian countries were particularly strong at learning information, but it seemed that pupils in England were above average at how this information was creatively applied.

The top performers remained Asian countries and education systems – but the Chinese city of Shanghai, which had been the top performer in Pisa tests, is ranked sixth in these more practical tests. England’s pupils’ performance puts them above countries such as Germany, the United States and Sweden.

These problem-solving skills were going to be essential for the future job chances of young people, said the OECD’s Francesco Avvisati.

Worryingly, a new National Curriculum for state schools in England takes effect from September 2014. This new curriculum has been devised under the current government and it places far less emphasis on using, applying and problem-solving skills, and far more on knowledge and facts and figures. At Moortown Primary, we are in the process of preparing for the new curriculum, and will ensure that problem-solving skills are not neglected.