Math classes impress UK minister
Print Edition
THE positive attitude of the children and the high quality of Shanghai’s specialist teachers were the two things that most impressed Elizabeth Truss, British parliamentary under-secretary of state for education and childcare, during her visits to three schools yesterday.
Truss and an educational expert delegation observed two mathematics lessons, and talked with school leaders and teachers about the city’s teaching practices. Shanghai’s 15-year-olds ranked first for math in last year’s PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) tests. England ranked 26th in the tests.
“In Britain, we are very interested in PISA and use it to analyze our system. One of the concerns we have is that we haven’t improved in mathematics in recent years,” Truss told a press conference.
“The reason we came to Shanghai is because of the city’s high performance in PISA and the excellence of its math teaching,” she said.
During her fist visit yesterday, Truss sat in on a lesson for 12-year-olds at Shanghai Jianping West Middle School.
“It was a good lesson. I was impressed by how the students contributed,” Truss said.
She said she liked the way the teacher taught in short bursts and how the students then tried to put into practice what they had learnt.
“The teacher explained things step by step. I think that’s something we can learn from.”
Less motivated
Charlie Stripp, an UK educational expert and director of the National Center for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics, said the biggest problem facing mathematics in the UK is that many people think it is OK not to be good at the subject.
“They feel it’s all right not to succeed and that makes them less motivated,” he said.
In China, students always strive for excellence in mathematics as they want to score highly in the subject in their college entrance exams.
Truss said one of the key points she was keen to get across to parents and children in England is how important math is as a subject.
“One of the things that got to me was the Chinese phrase that math can get you anywhere. That’s one of the messages I want to get across when I’m back in England,” she said.
Truss said a number of students told her they would like to be scientists when they grow up, though few children in England have that ambition.
“We want to encourage more children to follow scientific careers because we have a great history in science. We need a new generation of scientists,” she said.
Truss said she is interested in exploring the positive culture of mathematics and science in Shanghai. She said the UK will consider applying attitudes such as “diligence redeems abilities” to the English system.
At the Fushan Foreign Language Primary School, students attended a math extension class in which they played a calculation game using the numbers on playing cards.
“The children were very concentrated and very quick,” Truss said.
The minister said she noted that there are specialist math teachers at all age groups, while in England, only secondary schools have such teachers.
“We are going to think about whether the Shanghai approach of having specialist teachers in each subject might be of interest to England,” she said.
Truss was also struck by the amount of time Shanghai teachers spend talking to each other about their plans. English teachers spend more time in class than they do marking homework and talking to other teachers.
“I think some techniques could be transferred to England because I think children respond in similar ways and there are similar motivations for doing things,” Truss said.
England recently put in place a new national curriculum for children aged 5 to 16, following an analysis of its performance in the PISA tests.
It also banned the use of calculators in the tests for 11-year-olds to ensure they have strong mental arithmetic skills before moving up to secondary school.
England will build a deep relationship with Shanghai, so that both can explore more working together in the future, Truss said.
The UK delegation will leave for Wuhan in Hubei Province today to visit more schools.
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