What Can We Learn from Other Countries' Education Systems?

When looking to the globe for effective education systems data is usually our starting place.  It is clear that some countries are doing better in reading, math, and science than the United States.  According to the most recent Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) the US is 13th in Reading, 18th in science, and 37th in math among assessed countries (Schleicher, 2018).  Topping the list in every category is China with familiar favorites like Finland usually near the top.  So what is it that they are doing that we are not?

One study entitled Empowered Educators after three years concluded that there were two main reasons that other countries have surpassed the US in education (Harrington, 2017).  First, successful countries have purposefully focused on building effect systems of education instead of trying to find short-term, narrowly focused solutions; aka silver bullets (Harrington, 2017).  We can learn so much from this data.  There must be a purposeful reorganization of the current system if we wish to see improvement.  Like so many systems in this country whose flaws are suddenly very clear in the wake of Covid 19, our system of education could use an overhaul.  No one person, district, or even policy can fix the issues.  The data shows that many aspects of the system must be fixed for the whole to run well.

The second step taken by more successful countries is “a commitment to ‘professionalizing teaching’ as a well-respected occupation” (Harrington, 2017, para 4).  I instantly thought of a Youtube video I saw years ago.  In it, the news report had the feeling of a sports cast, but was blasting headlines like “Mrs. Jones NAILS social studies today!”  The real life data is sadly not as good for teachers.  One study showed that in the higher performing countries, the status of teachers was put on par with that of doctors while in the U.S. teachers ranked the same as librarians (Strauss, 2018).  In the same study, teachers saw their status as lower than the general public did.  

The data shows that there is no silver bullet, but rather that systematic and perception changes are the only way to move forward.  Who better to reach toward growth than teachers!

References

Harrington, T. (2017, June 27). What can U.S. schools learn from top education systems in other countries? EdSource. Retrieved from https://edsource.org/2017/what-can-u-s-schools-learn-from-top-education-systems-in-other-countries/583852

Schleicher, A. (2018). PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations (Rep.). Retrieved https://www.oecd.org/pisa/PISA%202018%20Insights%20and%20Interpretations%20FINAL%20PDF.pdf

Strauss, V. (2018, November 15). Where in the world are teachers most respected? Not in the U.S., a new survey shows. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2018/11/15/where-world-are-teachers-most-respected-not-us-new-survey-shows/