Clever Lands
This week my school (The King Alfred School in London) were pleased to welcome Lucy Crehan, author of Clever Lands, to speak to us about different education systems around the world. Lucy has visited some of the 'top performing' schools around the world (based on PISA results). Lucy visited Finland, Japan, Singapore, Shanghai (China) and Canada. It was incredibly interesting to listen to Lucy's findings, which challenged many of the stereotypes associated with the education systems in the countries she visited and researched. For example, in Finland much of the curriculum is delivered through text books. These text books are of high quality and developed by experienced teachers and based on research of what works best in terms of helping children understand concepts or learn the skills being delivered. Lucy shared three key commonalities between the education systems she researched that she believed could lead to improved teaching and learning and increased pupil perfo...