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A-level results are out, but what about those not going to university?

Fiona Millar

By Fiona Millar

A significant number of young people are turned off by traditional higher education. They should have a decent alternative

This year’s A-level results day saw grades down slightly, universities awash with places, and signs that young people might be starting to vote with their feet, and not in the direction successive governments have predicted. What is going on? For the past 20 years, encouraging more young people into higher education has been a central aim of education policy. Until now there was no real reason to think this plan wasn’t working.

Around a third of all school-leavers go on to higher education at 18, and that figure rises to almost 50% by the age of 30. But a survey tracking aspirations for a university education among pre-GCSE pupils released on Thursday by a social mobility charity, the Sutton Trust, suggests that the wind might now be blowing in a different direction. The trust has been monitoring aspirations for the past 15 years and reports a falling proportion of young people who think university matters. The survey also shows there is still a marked difference in attitudes towards higher education between students from different social backgrounds.

A blip or a worrying straw in the wind? We should fear the latter as it would point to a growing and glaring omission at the heart of our education system – the failure to cater adequately for those for whom university may not be the right choice. One obvious reason for disenchantment (reflected in the survey) is the high cost of tuition fees and living expenses. A degree generally leads to higher wages, and employers increasingly seek this level of education when recruiting – even for non-graduate jobs. Up to a third of graduates may now be working in low-skilled jobs.

But the survey also reveals that of those not planning to attend university, 58% cite not enjoying “that type of learning”. We need to understand why this is, what we might do about it. The assumption that everyone can and should enjoy an academic education is almost certainly flawed. Like many other graduates from a Russell Group university – in my case at a time when only 10% of the population went to university and were fully funded to boot – I believe every young person should have the chance I had. Not just of an academic education and a route into professional work, but also the opportunity to learn and develop socially and emotionally, preferably away from home, without the pressure of having to earn a living.

However, as a parent and a school governor I also know this path isn’t right for everyone. The over-academisation of the school curriculum and the devaluation of any sort of assessment that doesn’t involve a high-stakes exam may now be demoralising many young people, in particular those who most need to see the point of education.

There have been signs throughout this academic year that the latest incarnation of the GCSE – increased content, no coursework and lengthy exam papers – might be a massive switch-off to key groups of pupils. And the failure over decades to develop alternatives to academic study, in the form of high-status technical education and apprenticeships, is starting to look like a criminal act, especially in the run-up to Brexit when skilled workers from elsewhere may not be readily available. Over the past 50 years, a series of vocational qualifications have come and gone and never garnered the kudos of O-levels, GCSEs or A-levels. So we should not be surprised that traditional qualifications still reign supreme, that university still sits at the pinnacle of the education system and that growing numbers of students see no realistic alternative routes into fulfilling work.

Most people probably haven’t even heard of the new T-levels – the current government’s answer to this endemic English problem. These apparently “world-class” qualifications won’t even come on stream until 2020; and they will have to be delivered in woefully underfunded further education colleges. Even worse – there are barely 100 degree apprenticeships on offer, a drop in the ocean compared with thousands of more conventional courses. So for the growing number of young people who feel university is not for them there really isn’t anything concrete to aspire to.

The Sutton Trust is right: more maintenance grants and apprenticeships would probably help. But what is really needed is a huge culture shift, away from the assumption that academic is best and towards a broader vision of what makes a real education. A vision that should include what might be seen as “that other type of education”: practical, creative, technical, engaging – and, above all, of equal status to a university degree.

Source of the article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/16/a-levels-results-higher-education-alternatives

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Educación de calidad, inclusiva y con equidad

Mauricio Ramírez Villegas

Por Mauricio Ramírez Villegas

Bolivia fue anfitrión de la II Reunión regional de ministros de Educación de América Latina y el Caribe, titulada “Transformar la educación: una respuesta conjunta de América Latina y el Caribe para lograr el Objetivo de Desarrollo Sostenible 4”. Bolivia participó no solo como anfitrión, sino que fue liderada por el ministro de Educación, Roberto Aguilar Gómez, quien es vicepresidente mundial del Comité de Dirección de la Unesco para el ODS 4.

Se reconoció que la educación es fundamental -y transversal- para el logro de los 17 Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS). En 2015 los miembros de NNUU acordaron implementar la Agenda 2030 para el desarrollo sostenible que es un plan de acción a favor de las personas, el planeta y la prosperidad. Los 17 ODS son de carácter universal, integral e indivisible y conjugan las dimensiones económica, social y ambiental del desarrollo. Los ODS ponen a la igualdad y la dignidad de las personas en el centro y llaman a cambiar el estilo de desarrollo, respetando el medioambiente. La Agenda 2030 es ambiciosa y visionaria, requiere la participación de todos los sectores de la sociedad y del Estado.

Los concurrentes a la reunión regional, convocada por Unesco y el Ministerio de Educación de Bolivia, aprobaron los Acuerdos de Cochabamba y adoptaron la hoja de ruta regional para la implementación de la Agenda de Educación 2030 para América Latina y el Caribe. Se compartieron experiencias, se reconocieron los avances y se identificaron varios desafíos en materia educativa para el logro del ODS 4 -educación de calidad-. Algunas de las principales conclusiones fueron que a través de una educación de calidad e inclusiva podemos alcanzar la meta de acabar con la pobreza y transformar vidas, protegiendo además el planeta.

Bolivia ha trabajado con éxito en políticas para la reducción de la deserción escolar. Según datos oficiales, para 2017 la deserción del nivel primario es del 2% y del nivel secundario del 4,4%, lo cual representa una disminución del casi 50% desde el año 2006. Pero hoy, es necesario incluir en las acciones urgentes al nivel de formación superior dado que la alcanzan solo 27 de cada 100 bolivianos, de acuerdo a datos del INE.

Bolivia recalcó los avances en materia legal que ha logrado con la ley 070, que reconoce la educación como un derecho fundamental. En su artículo 1.1 establece que “Toda persona tiene derecho a recibir educación en todos los niveles de manera universal, productiva, gratuita, integral e intercultural, sin discriminación.”

Durante los dos días de trabajo se debatió sobre la transformación de la educación y el desarrollo, las experiencias y aprendizajes de la Cooperación Sur–Sur, la reconstrucción de los conceptos de calidad, equidad e inclusión, así como de los temas docentes. También se analizó los mecanismos de seguimiento y monitoreo con el propósito de revisar y fortalecer las políticas educativas y el financiamiento público educativo para lograr las metas a 2030. La herramienta más importante aprobada en este encuentro regional fue la hoja de ruta que contribuirá a desarrollar políticas y acciones en los temas que han sido priorizados por los países de la región: la calidad de la educación, equidad e inclusión, docentes y trabajadores de la educación, y aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida. Es un marco de referencia para el diseño y ejecución de acciones regionales en educación y contiene recomendaciones para la implementación de políticas públicas a nivel nacional. Además, apoya el avance coordinado y coherente en los temas priorizados por los países de la región.

Fuente del artículo: https://www.eldeber.com.bo/opinion/Educacion-de-calidad-inclusiva-y-con-equidad-20180814-9460.html

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Encounters with Asian Decolonisation

David Fettling

By David Fettling

In the YouTube video the young man browses Chinese-language books in a library, practices Chinese calligraphy with careful brushstrokes, introduces himself in Mandarin.

He is 20 years old from southern Sumatra in Indonesia, enrolled at Wuxi Institute of Technology outside Shanghai. He admits learning Mandarin is difficult, but points out it’s now the world’s most-used language, with English relegated to second place.

Other Indonesians studying in China, in other YouTube videos, likewise demonstrate a cultural attraction to the country, emphasising the richness of China’s past, its fast-modernising present, and its hyperpower future.

One Indonesian student remarks how much traditional Chinese architecture remains in Chinese cities: China’s culture is still «murni», or pure, she says.

Another remarks bluntly that China is now «lebih maju», more developed, than Europe, a leader in «teknologi».

Study here, another claims, and you and your country can «bangkit», or awaken, as China has.

Chinese culture, Indonesians note, treats education with great seriousness. One student translates a Chinese expression for «early to sleep, early to rise» into Indonesian, «tidur cepat, bangun cepat» — then adds to it «belajar cepat», quick to study.

Others remark on the «semangat» or spirit, of learning on Chinese campuses, remarking how university libraries are filled with students even on weekends.

Australia has much invested in its ability to attract large numbers of young Asians for tertiary study. The income they bring is increasingly how Australia’s university sector is financed.

Australian institutions want to start drawing more young people from other rising Asian nations, especially India and the ASEAN states: populous, demographically young, and with rapidly expanding middle-classes, they constitute tantalising 21st century markets.

Yet there is increasingly sharp regional competition for where those students choose to study — from China.

Influx of foreign students hits China

South-east Asians and Indians are enrolling in Chinese universities in rapidly increasing numbers.

Roughly 80,000 South-East Asians were studying at Chinese universities in 2016, up 15 per cent from two years before. That includes 14,000 Indonesians (20,000 are in Australia).

Some 18,000 Indians are now at Chinese institutions, more than are in Britain.

China will likely host 500,000 international students before 2020.

One reason for China’s attractiveness is a lower cost of tuition and living — Beijing offers many scholarships, too. But deeper cultural factors are also at work.

Students study in a library at China's Tongji University.PHOTO: Foreign students have remarked how Chinese university libraries are filled with students even on weekends. (Flickr: Matthias Ripp, CC BY 2.0, file photo)

Foreign students enthused by China’s uber-modernity

For centuries people across Asia have been intellectually drawn to China and sought to learn from Chinese practices.

Thousands of agents of the Chinese state have integrated themselves into Australian public life, according to a controversial new book.

China’s 19th century weakness switched emphasis to the West and Japan. But the old pattern was starting to echo again by the mid-20th century when post-colonial Asian nations saw in the newly-proclaimed People’s Republic of China a potential model for their own development.

Indonesian nationalists of that era widely admired the People’s Republic of China as pioneering a new form of Asian modernity. That may be a harbinger of what’s starting — or restarting — now.

Indonesian students in China enthuse about China’s uber-modernity in e-commerce and fast subways; they say studying in China will help them better launch businesses and reduce unemployment back home; and they voicehappiness with the structure and content of their Chinese study programs.

The idea of China as a simultaneously great civilisation, fast-modernising power, and culture conducive to scholarship is attractive to large numbers of young Asians.

International student numbers at Australian universities are currently breaking records. It’s easy to conclude Australia’s position as regional higher education powerhouse is impregnable, that Asian middle classes will always seek their international educations mostly from Western nations.

Such assumptions could soon look as short-sighted as previous ideas of mineral booms lasting forever.

Asian international students in Australia have been voicing increasing dissatisfaction with their educations. Many regret their social isolation: most international students live in a «parallel society» from Australians, often segregated on campuses in international-only dormitories.

Meanwhile, many Chinese institutions, after initially housing international students in separate accommodation, are now moving toward integration of housing and other campus facilities.

Australia has significant advantages in attracting Asia’s best

Tertiary students at the University of Melbourne in Melbourne.PHOTO: Australia is a highly popular university destination for Asian students. (AAP: Julian Smith, file photo)

Asian international students are also increasingly dissatisfied with what they see as Australian universities’ declining quality.

Australian universities have endured four decades of budget cuts with no end in sight, with implications that have not escaped notice on WeChat.

Meanwhile, universities in China have increasingly impressive libraries and laboratories — Indonesians praise Chinese facilities on campuses— and professors with increasingly impressive academic credentials.

Yet Australia has significant comparative advantages in attracting Asia’s best and brightest.

Australia is a liberal democracy in a region that is mostly not: its universities should be naturally superior places for young people who hope to think, write and speak freely, to freely inquire.

A revealing point of irritation among Indonesians experiencing China after their own mostly-free press is China’s internet censorship.

One Indonesian student in China reacted to that aspect of the People’s Republic this way: «Oh my God: seriously?»

Students in China hoping to research «sensitive» topics are often rejected.

China might be seen as more developed because of things like e-commerce, but its e-Stalinism can speedily cancel out the impression.

Our cultural attractiveness is being undermined

Turnbull celebrate Chinese New Year with Australian Chinese Community.PHOTO: The tightening of residency and citizenship requirements is undermining Australia’s cultural attractiveness. (Supplied: Li Jianmin)

And Australia’s stated project of an open, multicultural society, a society that offers international students a chance to fully participate in its workings, either temporarily or permanently as citizens, should have sustained attractiveness — and offer a sustained contrast with more rigid notions in East Asia of who «belongs» and who is an outsider.

Rather than reinforcing those advantages — by revitalising financially-straitened Australian universities, by consolidating its multicultural model — Australia is eroding both.

For years Australia has ignored evidence that its rhetoric of multicultural inclusiveness does not, in practice, extend adequately to Asian international students, many of whom, according to Melbourne University’s Fran Martin, come «full of hopes to learn about and participate in Australian society», yet who often cannot name a single Australian friend when they graduate.

Increased questioning of multiculturalism by government ministers, and tightening of residency and citizenship requirements, is undermining Australia’s cultural attractiveness.

And the persistent downgrading of the place of the university in Australian society — the budget cuts themselves, the commodification and trivialisation of the very concept of university education — inevitably erodes the image of Australia as a place of open, free inquiry, an astute choice of place for people to develop their minds.

Australia has turned its universities into degree factories. Should it be any surprise that China, «the factory of the world», proposes to do that better?

Source of the article: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-16/australian-unis-biggest-china-threat-competition-chinese-unis/10117508

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School Choice Is the Enemy of Justice

Erin Aubry Kaplan

By  Erin Aubry Kaplan

In 1947, my father was one of a small group of black students at the largely white Fremont High School in South Central Los Angeles. The group was met with naked hostility, including a white mob hanging blacks in effigy. But such painful confrontations were the nature of progress, of fulfilling the promise of equality that had driven my father’s family from Louisiana to Los Angeles in the first place.

In 1972, I was one of a slightly bigger group of black students bused to a predominantly white elementary school in Westchester, a community close to the beach in Los Angeles. While I didn’t encounter the overt hostility my father had, I did experience resistance, including being barred once from entering a white classmate’s home because, she said matter-of-factly as she stood in the doorway, she didn’t let black people (she used a different word) in her house.

Still, I believed, even as a fifth grader, that education is a social contract and that Los Angeles was uniquely suited to carry it out. Los Angeles would surely accomplish what Louisiana could not.

I was wrong. Today Los Angeles and California as a whole have abandoned integration as the chief mechanism of school reform and embraced charter schools instead.

This has happened all over the country, of course, but California has led the way — it has 630,000 students in charter schools, more than any other state, and the Los Angeles Unified School District has more than 154,000 of them. Charters are associated with choice and innovation, important elements of the good life that California is famous for. In a deep-blue state, that good life theoretically includes diversity, and many white liberals believe charters can achieve that, too. After all, a do-it-yourself school can do anything it wants.

But that’s what makes me uneasy, the notion that public schools, which charters technically are, have a choice about how or to what degree to enforce the social contract. There are many charter success stories, I know, and many make a diverse student body part of their mission. But charters as a group are ill suited to the task of justice because they are a legacy of failed justice.

Integration did not happen. The effect of my father’s and my foray into those white schools was not more equality but white flight. Largely white schools became largely black, and Latino schools were stigmatized as “bad” and never had a place in the California good life.

It’s partly because diversity can be managed — or minimized — that charters have become the public schools that liberal whites here can get behind. This is in direct contrast to the risky, almost revolutionary energy that fueled past integration efforts, which by their nature created tension and confrontation. But as a society — certainly as a state — we have lost our appetite for that engagement, and the rise of charters is an expression of that loss.

Choice and innovation sound nice, but they also echo what happened after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, when entire white communities in the South closed down schools to avoid the dread integration.

This kind of racial avoidance has become normal, embedded in the public school experience. It seems particularly so in Los Angeles, a suburb-driven city designed for geographical separation. What looks like segregation to the rest of the world is, to many white residents, entirely neutral — simply another choice.

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that in 2010, researchers at the Civil Rights Project at U.C.L.A. found, in a study of 40 states and several dozen municipalities, that black students in charters are much more likely than their counterparts in traditional public schools to be educated in an intensely segregated setting. The report says that while charters had more potential to integrate because they are not bound by school district lines, “charter schools make up a separate, segregated sector of our already deeply stratified public school system.”

In a 2017 analysis, data journalists at The Associated Press found that charter schools were significantly overrepresented among the country’s most racially isolated schools. In other words, black and brown students have more or less resegregated within charters, the very institutions that promised to equalize education.

This has not stemmed the popular appeal of charters. School board races in California that were once sleepy are now face-offs between well-funded charter advocates and less well-funded teachers’ unions. Progressive politicians are expected to support charters, and they do. Gov. Jerry Brown, who opened a couple of charters during his stint as mayor of Oakland, vetoed legislation two years ago that would have made charter schools more accountable. Antonio Villaraigosa built a reputation as a community organizer who supported unions, but as mayor of Los Angeles, he started a charter-like endeavor called Partnership for Los Angeles Schools.

This year, charter advocates got their pick for school superintendent, Austin Beutner. And billionaires like Eli Broad have made charters a primary cause: In 2015, an initiative backed in part by Mr. Broad’s foundation outlined a $490 million plan to place half of the students in the Los Angeles district into charters by 2023.

I live in Inglewood, a chiefly black and brown city in Los Angeles County that’s facing gentrification and the usual displacement of people of color. Traditional public schools are struggling to stay open as they lose students to charters. But those who support the gentrifying, which includes a new billion-dollar N.F.L. stadium in the heart of town, see charters as part of the improvements. They see them as progress.

Despite all this, I continue to believe in the social contract that in my mind is synonymous with public schools and public good. I continue to believe that California will at some point fulfill that contract. I believe this most consciously when I go back to Westchester and reflect on my formative two years in school there. In the good life there is such a thing as a good fight, and it is not over.

Source of the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/opinion/charter-schools-desegregation-los-angeles.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FEducation&action=click&contentCollection=opinion&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection

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Tecnología para Educar

Juan Sebastián Rozo

Por Juan Sebastián Rozzo

En pleno desierto guajiro, en la Vereda El Estero de Riohacha, el profesor Juan Carlos Epinayú cuenta que nada volvió a ser igual para él y sus alumnos desde que al Centro Etnoeducativo No. 12 llegaran 30 tabletas precargadas con contenidos pedagógicos que les permiten a sus estudiantes aprender desde matemáticas y ciencias naturales, hasta realizar videos en Wayuunaiki para preservar la lengua de su pueblo.

A muchos kilómetros de distancia, en Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca, vive Mary Lili Caicedo, una profesora de sonrisa amable de la Normal Superior Juan Ladrilleros. Gracias a un aula virtual creada por ella misma, logró que los puntajes de sus alumnos en las Pruebas Saber mejoraran y hoy se ubican por encima del promedio nacional en sus competencias de inglés.

Son miles los casos como los de Juan Carlos, Mary Lili y Lucy, que demuestran que la educación en Colombia ha venido experimentando una verdadera transformación de la mano de la tecnología y en especial a través del programa Computadores para Educar, una iniciativa conjunta de la Presidencia de la República, del Ministerio TIC y del Ministerio de Educación, que en pocos meses cumplirá 18 años de operación.

Este programa tiene como objetivo promover el uso de la tecnología para fortalecer el proceso educativo de los niños y niñas en las instituciones educativas publicas del país. De ahí que los contenidos educativos con los que están dotados los equipos permitan enseñar materias como matemáticas, lenguaje, artes y ciencias, y además adquirir las habilidades digitales que nuestros niños necesitarán para su futuro cercano.

Durante los últimos ocho años, la brecha digital en educación se redujo en un 83%. Mientras en 2010 teníamos 24 niños por computador, esto es, más de dos equipos de futbol haciendo fila para usar un computador, hoy son solo 4 niños los que comparten un terminal. Esta escena se repite especialmente en regiones apartadas en las que los maestros asumieron, pese a las dificultades de su entorno, la apropiación de la tecnología para mejor la calidad del aprendizaje y las oportunidades de sus estudiantes.

El impacto de Computadores para Educar en las instituciones educativas de Colombia ha sido contundente, tanto así que en las escuelas y colegios beneficiados con formación docente los estudiantes mejoraron su desempeño en las Pruebas Saber, aumentando así su posibilidad de ingresar a la educación superior. Además, en estas instituciones las tasas de repitencia y deserción escolar disminuyeron significativamente.

Hay dos factores esenciales que permiten explicar estos grandes logros. En primer lugar, la dotación de más de 2.8 millones de equipos (computadores y tabletas) a 43.000 sedes educativas de todo el país ha logrado atacar de raíz la brecha de acceso. El segundo factor es la apuesta por formar a 160.000 docentes oficiales (esto es, la mitad de los que tiene Colombia), en el uso y apropiación de las TIC, con una inversión que supera los $1.5 billones en los últimos 8 años. La formación de profesores permitió que estos integren la tecnología en el ecosistema educativo de manera eficiente y asertiva.

Educar con tecnología ha sido un propósito de país. Lo entendieron centenares de alcaldes y gobernadores de buena parte de Colombia, que no dudaron en apostar por la cualificación tecnológica de las instituciones educativas de sus regiones, lo que también le ha dado aún más impulso al programa y ha potencializado su impacto.

Atrás van quedando, poco a poco, las clases dictadas con tiza y tablero, para darle paso a procesos educativos en los que los profesores convierten las TIC en aliadas y protagonistas en la formación de sus estudiantes.

Es cierto que en este mundo de la tecnología todo evoluciona a un ritmo acelerado, y es evidente que este programa no es la excepción. Computadores para Educartuvo sus inicios hace casi 30 años con el Conpes 3063 de 1999 y el Decreto 2324 de 2000, y sin duda ha evolucionado.

Pasó de ser un programa previsto para recolectar y reacondicionar computadores para ser donados a escuelas del país, a convertirse tanto en uno de los programas del gobierno nacional de mayor impacto social a través de las TIC, como en un referente de aprovechamiento de residuos electrónicos a nivel latinoamericano.

Su continuidad, estoy convencido, debe asegurarse y su evolución no debe detenerse. Este programa, por ejemplo debe adaptarse a la aparición de nuevas tecnologías o tecnólogas emergentes como la Inteligencia Artificial, el Internet de las Cosas (IoT), el Big Data, llevándolas a las aulas educativas de Colombia. A través de esta iniciativa, el país debe seguir fortaleciendo el ecosistema educativo y lograr que los estudiantes colombianos desarrollen las habilidades y el conocimiento para enfrentar los retos de un mundo en el que la tecnología es el nuevo lenguaje. Por eso su nombre debería evolucionar y pasar a llamarse Tecnología par Educar.

Si no fuera por este programa cientos de miles de niños y niñas del país, especialmente los que viven en las zonas rurales y veredas, jamás hubiesen siquiera tenido la oportunidad de conocer un computador, ni acceder al mar de información que a través de ellos es posible explorar. Su vida hoy ya no es la misma y no tengo duda de que podrán tener mejores oportunidades para su desarrollo personal, familiar y profesional. Su futuro podrá ser mejor.

Me quedo con las palabras del profe Juan Carlos: “Cuando todos nos esforzamos en que un niño aprenda es posible hacer cosas que parecen imposibles, como encender una tableta en medio del desierto”. Razones sobran para seguir haciendo esta apuesta, que nos permite lograr un país donde la educación y el acceso a la información no es un privilegio de unos pocos en las ciudades, sino un derecho garantizado para los niños y las niñas en todo el territorio nacional.

Fuente del artículo: http://caracol.com.co/radio/2018/08/14/tecnologia/1534248893_866720.html

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El liderazgo asiático en educación

Alieto Guadagni

Por Alieto Guadagni

Este siglo XXI es el siglo de la ciencia y la tecnología, los avances son cada vez más acelerados, por ejemplo en el área de la robotización de los procesos industriales, de la comercialización y los servicios. Año a año se destruirán cada vez más empleos no calificados y aumentará la demanda por más recursos laborales de alta preparación. Esto significa que el nivel educativo de un país será esencial para determinar el ritmo de crecimiento del futuro nivel de vida de su población.

Las naciones que avanzan y reducen la pobreza, mejorando al mismo tiempo la equidad en la distribución del ingreso, lo hacen siempre fortaleciendo el proceso de acumulación de capital. Pero en una visión integral del proceso de desarrollo, el capital es algo más importante que la mera acumulación de bienes materiales, como máquinas, fábricas, puertos, rutas, oleoductos, trenes, centrales eléctricas, minas y pozos petroleros. En este siglo el capital humano es más importante que este capital físico, ahora bien, este capital humano es aportado esencialmente por la educación.

El avance económico de una nación hoy no depende principalmente de la existencia de abundantes recursos naturales (agro, minería, pesca, hidrocarburos), sino del nivel de calificación de su fuerza laboral. Por esta razón es importante prestar atención a los resultados de la denominada Prueba TIMSS (Estudio Internacional de Tendencias en Matemáticas y Ciencias Naturales), que periódicamente realiza una evaluación internacional de los conocimientos de estas asignaturas. Esta prueba comenzó a implementarse en el año 1995, y se aplica cada cuatro años. La ultima prueba tuvo lugar en el año 2015 y participaron alumnos del nivel primario y secundario de 56 naciones, de todos los continentes.

Este año se publicaron los resultados de esta última TIMSS. Un importante indicador de esta prueba es el porcentaje de alumnos de nivel primario que obtuvieron un puntaje que los ubica en el nivel “avanzado” en Matemáticas. Los cinco primeros lugares le corresponden en este caso a países asiáticos (Singapur, Hong Kong, Corea, Taipei y Japón).

Lo mismo ocurre en el caso del nivel secundario, ya que los cinco primeros lugares, también le corresponden a estos cinco países asiáticos.

El liderazgo asiático en el nivel de conocimientos de los alumnos, tanto del nivel elemental como el medio se viene afianzando ya desde hace tiempo. Esta mayor acumulación asiática de capital humano, pero también de capital físico, fortalecerá año a año aún más el avance de las economías asiáticas comparado con el antiguo mundo “occidental”. En las próximas décadas el centro del poder económico mundial estará en el Asia.

Fuente del artículo: https://www.elimparcial.es/noticia/192713/opinion/el-liderazgo-asiatico-en-educacion.html

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The Guardian view on higher education: more egalitarianism please

The Guardian

By The Guardian

The UK government’s review into post-18 education must recognise that it is clearly a good that would benefit society if more widely available

Has the engine of education concentrated ability of a certain kind under the latest changes? It would certainly seem so. Students in England receiving their A-level results on Thursday were the latest to do so under a revamp wrought by Michael Gove when he was education secretary. They are part of a move away from grades awarded on the basis of coursework to marks based on a final exam in such subjects as geography and drama. The result seems to be the persistence of trends in educational achievement – with girls continuing to outperform boys in most subjects and sciences attracting more entries. This will encourage the backers of this approach to laud it.

Adopting this outlook means considering the downsides. We must beware of sieving people according to education’s narrow band of values. After all, 1.5 million children took A-levels and 3.8 million people took vocational qualifications. To the government’s credit, it has belatedly realised that there needs to be a serious look at post-school technical and academic options. When Theresa May launched her wide-ranging review in February of post-18 education, it was expected to take a year. However, with the chaos in government engendered by Brexit, no one is sure where Mrs May’s review is going.

Higher education is clearly a good, and one that benefits society if more widely available. Tuition fees were trebled to a maximum £9,000 a year in 2012 – so that universities could use the income to cover large cuts to the direct public funding of teaching. Students take out state loans to finance these costs. Graduates pay the loan back with a 9% tax on their salary above £25,000. The loans are not cheap: from this autumn the interest charged will be 6.3%. If students earn less than £25,000 they do not pay back the loans and the taxpayer picks up the bill. As almost half of those in England are expected to have entered advanced studies, the system has expanded access.

Students are desperate to get the seal of approval that a degree confers. But the problem with trying to turn universities into institutions that compete for students is that they cannot all be right in their aspirations. Today each university is encouraged to borrow and spend capital on expectations that uncapped student numbers and research revenue will rise. Universities that get their sums wrong run the risk of failing, perhaps even going bust. The marketised system also does not allocate resources effectively. Since 2012 the arts and humanities have seen a 40% increase in funding; the smallest – 6% – has been for sciences.

Michael Young’s brilliant satire The Rise of the Meritocracy was published 60 years ago this year. It painted a picture of a society obsessed with talent. In Young’s book, by the year 2034 psychologists had perfected IQ testing. However, rather than promoting a harmonious society by focusing on smart folk, this had produced social breakdown. The losers from the brain games were unhappy twice over: they were told not only that they were failures – but that they deserved to be so. Eventually they revolted. With Brexit one is struck by how prescient the book seems. A lack of educational qualifications, say studies, was the “predominant factor” in voting leave. Higher education can advance the economy by increasing labour force skills and lift the store of knowledge. Perhaps most important, higher education has the ability to transmit a common culture and common standards of citizenship. If there was a time when the state should back such a vision, it is now.

Source of the article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/16/the-guardian-view-on-higher-education-more-egalitarianism-please
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