International News

Letter from LondonBrown‚s personal passionThe time of year for re-appraisal and remembrance of things past is here again. The degree shows at universities are coming to an end, at least in the art and design faculties, and the hype and preparation of the past few months is simmering down. End of term is also rapidly approaching for schools currently engaged in a noisy debate about the number of tests children have to write before entering university. Countrywide standard assessment tests or Sats as they are commonly known, begin at the tender age of seven. Further mandatory public exams have to be written at 11 and 14 years of age, making English pupils the most tested worldwide. According to data recently released by the General Teaching Council for England (GTC), British children write an average of 70 exams or tests before they attain the age of 16 ‚ a shockingly large number, especially for children who find exams stressful. The GTC says it prefers a system of ‚Ëœsampling of standards‚, i.e random tests in selected schools which would serve as a pointer to general teaching-learning standards. Indeed one educational watchdog has gone as far as suggesting that all national/ public testing before the age of 16 should be abolished, in direct opposition to government policy. “Of course there still needs to be a way of testing pupils when their standard education comes to a close, but placing added stress on pupils, teachers and parents on a regular basis before that time is not creating the best environment for learning,” says Keith Bartley chief executive of GTC.Recently prime minister designate, Gordon Brown, ruefully acknowledged that Britain‚s education system is less than world class. Despite the Labour government pouring in vast sums into education during the past decade, the general consensus is that UK is still turning out young people who are not truly literate or numerate. Ultimately ill-prepared students enter university where they waste time learning what they should have already learned in school. But at the same time exam-driven curriculums at school level limit the imagination and broader thinking skills required in university education.Prime minister in-waiting Brown is planning changes, having promised to make education his “personal passion” when he assumes office in end June. As well as focussing on school-going children, he will also be looking at widening participation at the university level, encouraging universities to admit students from the country‚s most deprived communities. With the prospect of improved learning outcomes in primary and secondary schools, university administrators are increasing the number and variety of courses they can offer to incoming students, who if Brown has his way, will be better equipped to make decisions about their future.(Jacqueline Thomas is a London-based academic)United StatesB-schools reinventing themselves”Toyota would have been proud of our just-in-time implementation,” claims Joel Podolny, dean of the Yale School of Management ‚ surely the first time the head of an academic institution has, without a hint of irony, used a factory-floor metaphor for speed and efficiency to…