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II. Reading

A. Study the following words, use a dictionary if necessary. Make up word combinations and translate them into Russian:

Educational advantage

student training

profes­sional admissions

curriculum a fortune

teacher subjects

quality of needs

salary graduates

testing average

competitive status (high-status)

top standards

pay policy

training performance

school techniques

education teachers

B. Complete the sentences with word combinations from A:

1. The British government has changed every aspect of its _________ policy. 2. Curriculum _______ and ______ admissions have been also changed very much. 3. There are big variations in ________ standards between countries. 4. The quality of teachers affects student ________ more than anything else. 5. The top performers pay no more than _______ salaries. 6. If money were so important, then countries with the highest _______ salaries would be among the best. 7. The lesson seems to be that teacher _______ needs to be hard to get into, not easy. 8. Teaching can become a career choice for _____ graduates without paying a ________ . 9. High status of teaching profession can be a competitive _______ in most countries.10. In many countries, teaching is a _______ profession because it is fiercely competitive.

C. Read the text and match the highlighted words and word combinations with the definitions:

1. funding; 2. governance; 3. assessment (to assess); 4. admission (to admit); 5. to run; 6. to lag behind; 7. a graduate; 8. lack of (money); 9. to match (vacan­cies); 10. ­ a fortune; 11. salary; 12. to hire; 13. supply; 14. performance (to perform); 15. to encourage.

___ A. to hang back or fall behind in movement, progress, development

___ B. to employ

___ C. money for a particular purpose; the act of providing money for such a purpose

___ D. control or authority; the action, manner or system of governing

___ E. to be in charge of a business

___ F. to find an appropriate candidate for a job

___ G. a large sum of money

___ H. shortage or absence of smth

___ I. estimation, evaluation of smb’s achievement

___ J. payment for professional or office work as opposed to manual work

___ K. the right to enter, acceptance for a position

___ L. a person who has been awarded a first degree from a university

___M. to make someone more likely to do something, or make something more likely to happen

___ N. how successful someone or something is

___O. to provide something that is wanted or needed, often in large quantities and over a long period of time

“Who” – Priorities in School Education

The British government has changed pretty much every aspect of edu­cation policy in England and Wales, often more than once. The funding of schools, the governance and runningof schools, curriculum standards, assessment and testing, the role of local government, the role of national government, the range and nature of na­tional agencies, schools admissions have been changed and sometimes changed back. The only thing that hasn't changed has been the outcome. According to the National Foundation for Education Research, there had been until recently no measurable improvement in the stan­dards of literacy and numeracy in primary schools for 50 years.

There are big variations in educational standards between countries. These have been measured and re-measured by the oecd's Programme for International Stu­dent Assessment which has estab­lished, first, that the best performing coun­tries do much better than the worst and, second, that the same countries head such league tables again and again: Canada, Fin­land, Japan, Singapore, South Korea.

Those findings raise what ought to be a fruitful question: what do the successful lot have in common? Yet the answer to that has proved surprisingly elusive. Not more money. Singapore spends less per student than most. Nor more study time. Finnish students begin school later, and study fewer hours, than in other rich countries.

Now, an organization from outside the teaching fold – McKinsey, a consultancy that advises companies and governments – says that schools need to do three things: get the best teachers; get the best out of teachers; and step in when pupils start to lag behind. Schools surely do all this al­ready? Actually, they don't. If these ideas were really taken seriously, they would change education radically.

Begin with hiring the best. There is no question that, as one South Korean official put it, "the quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers." Studies in Tennessee and Dallas have shown that, if you take pupils of average ability and give them to teachers deemed in the top fifth of the profession, they end up in the top 10% of student performers; if you give them to teachers from the bottom fifth, they end up at the bottom. The qual­ity of teachers affects student performance more than anything else.

Yet most school systems do not go all out to get the best. The New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, a non-profit organization, says America typically recruits teachers from the bottom third of college graduates. Washington, dс recently hired as chancellor for its public schools an alumna of an organization called Teach for America, which seeks out top graduates and hires them to teach for two years. Both her appointment and the organization caused a storm.

A bias against the brightest happens partly because of lack of money (governments fear they cannot afford them), and partly because other aims get in the way. Almost every rich country has sought to reduce class size lately. Yet all other things being equal, smaller classes mean more teachers for the same pot of money, pro­ducing lower salaries and lower profes­sional status. That may explain the para­dox that, after primary school, there seems little or no relationship between class size and educational achievement.

The best perform­ing education systems nevertheless man­age to attract the best. In Finland all new teachers must have a master's degree. South Korea recruits primary-school teachers from the top 5% of graduates, Sin­gapore and Hong Kong from the top 30%.

They do this in a surprising way. You might think that schools should offer as much money as possible, seek to attract a large pool of applicants into teacher train­ing and then pick the best. Not so. If money were so important, then countries with the highest teacher salaries – Germany, Spain and Switzer­land – would presumably be among the best. They aren't. In practice, the top per­formers pay no more than average salaries.

Nor do they try to encourage a big pool of trainees and select the most successful. Almost the opposite. Singapore screens candidates with a fine mesh before teacher training and accepts only the number for which there are places. Once in, candi­dates are employed by the education min­istry and more or less guaranteed a job. Finland also limits the supply of teacher-training places to demand. In both coun­tries, teaching is a high-status profession (because it is fiercely competitive) and there are generous funds for each trainee teacher (because there are few of them).

South Korea shows how the two sys­tems produce different results. Its primary-school teachers have to pass a four-year undergraduate degree from one of only a dozen universities. Getting in requires top grades; places are rationed to match vacan­cies. In contrast, secondary-school teach­ers can get a diploma from any one of 350 colleges, with laxer selection criteria. This has produced an enormous glut of newly qualified secondary-school teachers – 11 for each job at last count. As a result, sec­ondary-school teaching is the lower status job in South Korea; everyone wants to be a primary-school teacher. The lesson seems to be that teacher training needs to be hard to get into, not easy.

McKinsey's conclusions seem optimistic: getting good teachers depends on how you select and train them; teaching can become a ca­reer choice for top graduates without pay­ing a fortune; and that, with the right poli­cies, schools and pupils are not doomed to lag behind. (The source: adapted from www.economist.com/node/9989914 )

D. State if the sentences are true or false, correct the false ones:

1. Changes in funding of schools, governance of schools, curriculum standards, assessment and testing dramatically raise the quality of teaching.

2. The best performance of schools greatly depends on money.

3. The following ideas improve education radically: get the best teachers; get the best out of teachers; and step in when pupils start to lag behind.

4. The quality of teachers influences student performance more than anything else.

5. The best performing education systems never manage to attract the best.

6. The top performers pay high salaries.

7. Schools should offer as much money as possible, seek to attract a large pool of applicants into teacher training and then pick the best.

8. A high-status of a teaching profession is of vital importance.

9. Everybody understands that teacher training needs to be hard to get into, not easy.

10. Getting good teachers seem to depend on how they are selected and trained; teaching can become a career choice for top graduates without paying a fortune.

E. Read the text again and answer the questions below:

1. What changes have been implemented by the British government to affect the education policy in the country?

2. Did they bring positive results? Why?

3. Judging by the achievements of the most successful countries in education what measures can improve the state of affaires in education?

4. According to McKinsey consultancy what should be done to turn the situation round in the education policy?

5. What are the most successful experiences in the education policy in the world?

6. What can guarantee success in the sphere of education in different countries?

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