(1) Nick Gibb, The Maths Teachers of Shanghai Have the Perfect Formula for Learning; Those who try to dismiss their methods using crude national stereotypes should instead consider what UK educators could learn. The Guardian, Nov 26, 2015 (opinion).
http://www.theguardian.com/comme ... s-shanghai-china-uk
(All [Shanghai] schools follow the same textbook, which is published by the Shanghai education commission and refined and revised on an annual basis. Compare this with English schools, where, according to the Timss international survey, only 10% of mathematics teachers used textbooks as a basis for their teaching”)
Note:
(a)
(i) Click the author "Nick Gibb" to learn something about him.
(ii) Nick Gibb
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Gibb
(1960- ; Gibb was reappointed [on May 12, 2015; incumbent] as Minister of State for Schools after the 2015 general election by Prime Minister David Cameron, having held the same post beforehand between May 2010 and September 2012)
(b) "At the age of 15, Shanghai pupils are studying work equivalent to the second year of A-level, while our pupils are still studying for their GCSE. What’s more, the children of the poorest 30% of Shanghai’s population are outstripping at mathematics the children of our wealthiest 10% in England."
(i) GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GCE_Advanced_Level_(United_Kingdom)
(The General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level, or A Level, is a secondary school leaving qualification in the United Kingdom)
Quote: "In the United States of America (USA) the US high school diploma is the required qualification for entry into College (US equivalent of UK University). In the United Kingdom, the high school diploma is considered to be at the level of the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), which is awarded at Year 11. For college and university admissions, the high school diploma may be accepted in lieu of the GCSE if an average grade of C is obtained in subjects with a GCSE counterpart. As the more academically rigorous A Levels awarded at Year 13 are expected for university admission, the high school diploma alone is generally not considered to meet university requirements
(ii) Education in the United Kingdom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_United_Kingdom
(section 1 Key Stages: Key Stage (KS) 4 final exams GCSEs, Key Stage 5 Sixth Form, final exams A-Levels etc; section 2 Stages: since 1997 compulsory school age (CSA): age 5 (year 1) to 18 (year 13) in England)
(iii) I know little about England’s education system. For the term “college,” there seems to be many uses--eg, Eton College. But the “college” in quotation(b)(i) appears to be a sixth form college.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_form_college
(c) "I recently met Jun Yang-Williams 杨军, the science teacher from the programme [BBC documentary Chinese School, aired over the summer], who (though the producers neglected to mention this fact) has taught in English schools for the past 10 years."
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