Let's take our slice of PISA with a big pinch of salt

Jan. 11, 2011 - PRLog -- "As Michael Gove suggested today, we may have much to learn from Pacific rim countries that appear to be doing better than us. However, we must also take our slice of PISA with a big pinch of salt and reflect deeply on the consequences of relying too heavily on exam performance as an indicator of success in schools and the future economic well being of the nation.

In Singapore, for example, results from formal learning are staggering with some colleges getting close to 100% for A grades at A-Level. And yet, the government there is deeply concerned that all the business leaders are coming in from other countries, with no native Singaporese in top jobs. The creativity, innovation, team working and problem-solving skills necessary to build business and enterprise are lacking and so the government is trying to counter didactic and narrow formulaic teaching aimed at passing exams and instead spend more time on creative exploration and skill building.

Gove’s response to the UK’s failings in the international league tables is to focus school assessment on the English Baccalaureate and five core academic subjects.

But I would argue that we have to urgently re-open the debate about what is meant by success in education.

Is it knowledge piled on yet more knowledge, and the narrow, constrictive and formulaic assessment based on reconstruction and regurgitation, or is it about the skill set to put that knowledge to good use?  

Research released by Microsoft this week, conducted in schools in nine countries around the world, suggested that young people aren’t developing the skills they need for life and the workplace. In a CBI survey last year of employers, 70% called for improvements in our education system to improve the skills of school leavers.

Beyond simply improving academic performance, we need to encourage the growth of skills for learning, skills for employability and skills for life, together with the regeneration of community, self-confidence and self-worth. We have to engineer the 21st century citizen."

Marius Frank, CEO of ASDAN





To arrange an interview with Marius, please call Anna Levy at Greenhouse PR (www.greenhousepr.co.uk) on 07852 473313.

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Notes to editors

ABOUT ASDAN

www.asdan.org.uk

ASDAN was established in the early 1980s by teachers for teachers, to bring the personal and social development of young people to the fore, through a challenged-based, skills-centred curriculum.  ASDAN has always focused its work on helping young people to develop the skills that young people need in employment and continuing education - literacy, numeracy, information technology, problem solving, working with others, research, presentation, and improving learning.

ASDAN QUALIFICATIONS
   Over 6,200 schools and other centres run ASDAN programmes.  
   ASDAN is in every LEA in the UK.
   In 2009/10 over 200,000 young people were pursuing an ASDAN programmes.
   More than 4,000 teachers attended a training course in 2009.
   There are 60,000 in the profession already trained to offer the awards.

ASDAN THE CHARITY - VISION AND VALUES
All ASDAN awards and qualifications reflect our vision and values. We recognise that young people are multi-talented and we celebrate that diversity, seeking to:

* Encourage, engage and motivate learners
* Promote active and experiential learning
* Raise the expectations of learners
* Reward a range of learning styles and contexts
* Use assessment to further learning
* Make learning relevant and transferable

ASDAN and the 6,000 schools involved promote the worth and value of all our qualifications thereby recognising the potential to transform the abilities and achievements of all learners.  

ASDAN was ranked 29th in the Sunday Times List of 100 Best Companies in the UK and was voted overall Business of the Year in the Bristol Evening Post Awards 2010.

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ABOUT ASDAN
ASDAN was established in the early 1980s by teachers for teachers, to bring the personal and social development of young people to the fore, through a challenged-based, skills-centred curriculum. ASDAN has always focused its work on helping young people to develop the skills that young people need in employment and continuing education - literacy, numeracy, information technology, problem solving, working with others, research, presentation, and improving learning.