Eastern promise, Nordic myths and curry

Robert Peal, 24 February 2014

As I write, Schools Minister Elizabeth Truss and a group of school heads are flying to China on a fact finding mission to discover why Chinese pupils excel at mathematics. This visit coincides with a report released last Monday, which revealed that the children of elementary workers (cleaners, factory workers, labourers) in Shanghai outperform at maths the children of professionals (lawyers, doctors) in Britain. The same is true of relatively poor children in Hong Kong and South Korea, whilst relatively poor children in Japan, Vietnam, Liechtenstein and China-Taipei are only just behind the wealthiest pupils in Britain.

These figures are frightening, but also inspiring. Yet again they put heed to the myth, popular in British schools, that poor children cannot succeed. So what are Chinese schools doing differently? Many claim that China’s success at mathematics is a cultural peculiarity that cannot be replicated in England. The Chinese, so it is claimed, have a fondness for high stakes examinations that goes all the way back to the entrance test for the Confucian civil service, whilst their disciplined family life and rapid economic growth has led to competitive atmosphere which drives children to achieve.

This is a cross-post from Robert Peal’s blog, where the article first appeared. You can read it in full here.