Data di Pubblicazione:
2012
Citazione:
Raising educational standards: national testing of pupils in the UK, 1988-2009 / P. Mattei. - In: POLICY STUDIES. - ISSN 1470-1006. - 33:3(2012), pp. 231-247. [10.1080/01442872.2012.658260]
Abstract:
Raising the basic standards of competence achieved by school children has
become a primary objective of governments across Europe. A high performing
educational system is taken to be fundamental in achieving European economic
competitiveness. Children leaving primary schools with difficulty in reading,
writing and arithmetic or a meagre understanding of science are unlikely to
achieve the qualifications at secondary school required to secure jobs that will
raise them above a poverty line. On one hand, in England, the government has
pioneered a radical school reform programme over the last 20 years, including
national testing of school children at regular intervals. On the other, high stakes
testing was pursued only partially and briefly in Scotland and Wales and then
largely abandoned after devolution. National testing in the UK has been
associated with increasingly marked divergent outcomes in the UK. This article
focuses on the following central question: how far the divergent reform policies in
England, Scotland and Wales reflect differences in social policy objectives and
how far a very different understanding in the means of achieving them? Empirical
findings point to the widening gap in educational attainments across the UK
countries and highlight the critical situation in Scotland where test results have
stagnated in the last 10 years.
Tipologia IRIS:
01 - Articolo su periodico
Keywords:
education reforms; UK countries; basic standards; decentralised education policy;
Elenco autori:
P. Mattei
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