The mathamatics skills of school children: how does the UK compare to the high performing East Asian nations?
- Autores: John Jerrim, Alvaro Choi de Mendizábal
- Localización: XX Encuentro Economía Pública: estado del bienestar. Sostenibilidad y reformas, 2013, ISBN 978-84-695-6945-0, pág. 56
- Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
The Programme for International Student Assess ment (PISA) and Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) are two highly resp ected studies of school pupils� academic achievement. British policymakers have been disappointed with UK school children�s performance on these tests, particularly in comparison to the strong results of young people from East Asia. In this paper we provide new insight into the UK � Ea st Asia gap in school children�s mathematics skills. We do so by considering how cross-national differences in math test scores change between ages 10 a nd 16. Our results suggest that, although average math test scores are higher in East Asian c ountries, this achievement gap does not increase between ages 10 and 16. We thus conclude th at reforming the seconda ry school system may not be the most effective way for the UK to �catch up� with the East Asian nations in the PISA math rankings. Rather ea rlier intervention, during pre- school and primary school, may be needed instead
