Primary Mathematics Education: A Cross Country Comparison
StartFragment
Elementary education is often underrated in its importance. But, why? Your early education laid the base for the rest of your life. Where would you be if you couldn’t read? How would you pay for your coffee without being able to count your dollars and pennies? Elementary Mathematics education sets the base for students’ future success inside the classroom and in the workplace of the rest of their lives.
It is important to educate teachers and parents about the various techniques and structures available, so they can make educated decisions about how best to educate students mathematically and avoid math anxiety. The truth is that there are numerous ways to teach early math; and these techniques differ between countries and regions.
International comparisons and assessments comparing primary mathematics scores between countries show higher grade and score averages among countries that have similar themes. It is important that the success of an education system is not identified based solely on assessment scores. Many of these top performing countries, among which are Finland, Singapore, and Japan, also, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and development, or OECD, also have higher ratings among citizens in regards to satisfaction with their educational system. Japan, Singapore, and Finland are similar in their themes support of child-centered teaching, their encouragement that students focus on the process and conceptual understanding of working through a problem instead of just trying to find an answer, highly trained teachers, an overall trust in teachers from society and the government, and cultural support of educational practices.
The United States, while displaying some of those characteristics, is lacking in others. In the U.S. teachers generally follow a regular setup for math lesson, they introduce the topic, let students try it, help students work through problems, and go on to the next topic. There is an introduction, work time, and a conclusion. While many teacher education programs and professional development programs are working to enact new systems and a constructivist, child-centered approach, there have been few new nationwide programs with strong success, and many new programs are focused on Reading and English skills. In the United States, these educational decisions have mostly been left up to the states, which leads to great variability in systems across the country, and a general distrust from the general populace toward teachers and schools and their success.
In contrast, Japan’s system of education has had growing success and popularity, especially in the past two decades. Japanese Lesson Study is a collaborative and enquiry focused cycle. Most of the process actually takes place outside of the classroom. Teachers start by researching a topic, and setting goals for their class and what they want students to learn. Teachers then meet together to create or to revise a lesson plan, keeping in mind their goals, possibilities of student thinking, how they will collect data, and what the best approach is. This stage in lesson study is extremely collaborative. It is a social system and teachers build off of each other, working together to produce a lesson that will best benefit their students. Next, is the actual lesson. A typical lesson study research lesson lasts approximately an hour. In the first five to ten minutes, the teacher is presenting a problem to students. Unlike the US, the teacher does not solve it for them, or complete the task, but instead presents the problem. Students then branch off into a problem solving period where they work independently trying different methods, and searching for a solution to the problem with which they have been presented. They work with the problem for ten to 20 minutes and then come together to engage in comparison and discussion; they share their solutions and how they reached their answer. With this collaboration, students are given the opportunity to see what their fellow classmates have tried, and are exposed to different and new ideas. The lesson than concludes with the teacher wrapping up the discussion, adding closing points, and perhaps modeling an alternative method or an explanation of the meaning behind the problem. Following the research lesson, teachers again meet and collaborate to reflect on the lesson and its success, and to discuss what they could do differently. They then either teach the lesson again, implementing changes, or go back through the cycle, moving forward.
Singapore has many similarities to Japan in characteristics, but has less of a defined structure. Another important aspect of the Singapore education system is that the Ministry of education makes a point of describing that society is adapting, and the educational system must continuously change and update to meet the needs of a changing society. The math education system in Singapore is characterized by practice to develop skills, a strong emphasis on providing lower-achieving students with alternate routes and assistance, preparing highly trained teachers, placing importance on high order thinking skills, and using more challenging tests. There is a focus on the process of developing skills and understanding concepts instead of just getting it ‘right.’
Finland is another country which has had recent success in international primary grade mathematics comparisons. Finland has a very child-centered approach to teaching, and teacher licensure is at the master’s level. Especially in primary grades, Finland schools have a strong focus on providing a safe and comfortable environment for learning and promoting students growth, not just in the classroom but also in general. The overall attitude in Finland is one of strong support for education.
So why doesn’t the United States simply duplicate lesson study, or try copying a Singaporean mathematics lesson?
The truth is we, and many other countries, have tried. Select schools across the US and other countries have tried to incorporate Japanese Lesson study into their classes or to duplicate a singapore or finland lesson style, but with limited success. It is not the individual parts that work in these countries, but the systems as a whole. It is not just the lesson of lesson study that works, but also the teacher planning and reflection period as well as the support that teachers have to work through the lesson. Finland does not just have a successful education program because of what happens in the classroom, but also because there is an extreme respect for teachers in their culture. Teachers go through extensive training, and licensure is earned at the Master’s level. Teachers are viewed on level with doctors and trained professionals, given the trust and freedom to do what they have been taught, to teach. In contrast, the United States’ have been coming out with specific standards and guidelines that teachers have to meet, instead of trusting them to best help students. The Common Core in the United States outlines specific standards that teachers are supposed to help their students reach by the end of the year. But this takes the lesson away from a child-centered approach and teaching students in a way that is most relevant to them.
Studies also show that having students explore a problem and “having children communicate their own thinking about a particular problem provides one of your best clues to math success, which is a characteristic of Japan, Finland, and Singapore.
There is much that lower or average performing countries, such as the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, and the United States, could learn from looking at other countries successful pedagogies and models. The first step towards improvement is creating awareness that there are alternate possibilities available and to continue to try new things. Many countries with successful systems culturally place great respect and importance on education, as they should. Education is a process of learning, and with an ever changing world, it is essential to remember we can always be learning and adapting for the improvement of our future society.
EndFragment