Desarrollo de la Propuesta

explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”

William A. Ward

The quality and quantity of teachers is possibly the issue that most threatens the UK’s drive towards becoming a global technological powerhouse. This section highlights several compelling pieces of research that underpin the validity of this categorical statement.

The Maintaining curiosity report undertaken by Ofsted looked at science education in schools. It found (selected relevant findings)34 _that: • Curiosity was driven by determined subject

leadership that put scientific enquiry at the heart of science teaching and coupled it with substantial expertise in how pupils learn science.

• Where disadvantaged pupils study academic GCSEs, they achieve as well as other pupils when teachers hold the same high expectations for all. GCSEs provide the greatest range of routes for pupils to access further science study at 16. However, too few 16-year-old girls continue studying physics nationally.

• Uninspiring teaching was one reason pupils gave to inspectors to explain why they did not wish to continue studying science. Another was not seeing the purpose of what they were studying, other than to collect examination grades.

• In the best schools visited, teachers ensured that pupils understood the ‘big ideas’ of science. They made sure that pupils mastered the investigative and practical skills that underpin the development of scientific knowledge and could discover for themselves the relevance and usefulness of those ideas.

• Timetables in a significant minority of the primary and secondary schools visited did not allow enough time for teaching science through regular, enquiry-based learning. This limited pupils’ opportunities to develop the practical skills necessary for future work in science, technology or engineering. This included restricting science to irregular ‘science days’ in primary schools, and limiting the teaching time for the three separate science GCSEs to the same amount as for a double science award in secondary schools. The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) found that the quality of post- 16 courses in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) is being undermined by a lack of time for staff to develop their skills and knowledge in line with the pace of change in their subject areas.35 _{The two key challenges}

relating to the capacity of the STEM education and training workforce were:

• difficulties related to the recruitment and retention of technically skilled staff including those with engineering, manufacturing, ICT and physics expertise, technicians and science assessors and, more recently, suitably qualified mathematics teachers

• updating the knowledge and skills of staff – it was an ongoing challenge for staff to keep their knowledge and skills up-to-date due to lack of time and difficulties in engaging employers – particularly SMEs. Staff found it difficult keeping up-to-date with the fast pace of change within industry and with new and emerging technologies

Independent analyses of data from the OECD’s

Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) shows the importance of teacher quality. It found that if teachers are split into three equal-sized groups – below average, average and above-average – students taught by an above-average teacher make 50% more progress, and those taught by a below average teacher make 50% less progress than students taught by average teachers.36 _{The most effective}

teachers are therefore at least three times as effective as the least effective.

This relationship to high-quality teaching is reinforced and quantified by the work of the

Sutton Trust, which showed that being taught over a two-year course by a high-quality teacher adds 0.565 of a GCSE point per subject. It also found that, “over a school year, these pupils can gain 1.5 years’ worth of learning with very effective teachers, compared with 0.5 years with poorly performing teachers.” In other words, for poor pupils the difference between a good teacher and a bad teacher is a whole year’s worth of learning.37 _{This plainly emphasises that}

the effects of high-quality teaching are especially significant for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Recruitment and teacher status obviously impinges on this issue as it is recognised within STEM subjects there are serious shortages for qualified teachers and lecturers. Consequently some of the key findings from The Global Teacher Status Index38 _{make for interesting and}

Countries in the Far East such as China and South Korea show that there are areas of the world where teaching retains its respected position (Figure 1.3). The report concludes that if we want future generations to have the right values and the best life chances, then part of the answer is simple: we need to recruit the best and brightest teachers into the profession, and look at the ways in which we can retain them. Finland, which comes top of the PISA rankings, has made teaching so well regarded that the very best graduates compete for the job – all of whom have master’s degrees.

In terms of the future recruitment of teachers (which is highlighted within Section 1.1.5) the

Global Teacher Index finds that there are significant contrasts between countries over the extent to which they would encourage younger generations to become teachers (Figure 1.4):39 • While 50% of parents in China provide

positive encouragement, only 8% do so in Israel.

• Parents in China, South Korea, Turkey and Egypt are most likely to give encouragement to children to become teachers.

• Parents in Israel, Portugal, Brazil and Japan are least likely to provide positive

encouragement.

Finally, as is shown in detail by the Institute of Physics case study,40 _{the effect of improving the}

confidence and knowledge base of the teachers is to increase progression to A level physics for both boys and girls but with an improved gender ratio. It is possible to increase numbers of young people studying physics.

Fig. 1.3: Teacher Status Index

Source: Global Teacher Status Index

0 _{10 20 30 40 50 60 80 90}

100

70

Teacher Status Index (Index of 100) China Greece Turkey South Korea New Zealand Egypt Singapore Netherlands UK Finland USA Spain Switzerland Japan Czech Rep Israel France Portugal Germany Italy Brazil

Fig. 1.4: Would you encourage your child to become a teacher

Source: Global Teacher Status Index

Maybe encourage

Definitely encourage Probably encourage Probably not encourage Definitely not encourage

0.0% _{10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0% 80.0% 90.0%} 100.0% China Greece Turkey South Korea New Zealand Egypt Singapore Netherlands UK Finland USA Spain Switzerland Japan Czech Rep Israel France Portugal Germany Italy Brazil