Chapter 3 of the book A World-Class Education written by Vivien Stewart discusses the common elements of successful education systems. Stewart (2012) explained that countries like Finland, South Korea, Singapore and Canada are the top leaders in education because of eight elements of their education systems. The eight elements are: vision and leadership, ambitious standards, commitment to equity, high quality teachers and leaders, alignment and coherence management and accountability, student motivation and global and future orientation. Stewart (2012) also explained why the education system in the U.S are not doing as well based on the eight common elements.
Structure
In countries that have a successful education system, their schools …show more content…
In countries like Singapore and Finland, their school systems have a set of ambitious standards that all schools use. The set of standards cover a small number of topics in greater depth, which allows student to truly learn the content before moving on to the next standard. However, the Stewart (2012) describes the U.S education system as having too many unfocused learning standards.
The quality of teachers and leaders are different in the school systems of the education powerhouses. These countries place importance on the recruitment, preparation, support, distribution, compensation and evaluation of teachers (Stewart, 2012, p.88). Teachers are viewed as the front lines in education, so they are carefully selected and well-trained. In addition, principals and school leaders are carefully selected and well-trained. Countries with successful education systems believe in order to have high-quality teachers, there needs to be capable people above teachers as well (Stewart, …show more content…
It also makes me wonder why there has not been any positive change in the education system of the U.S. It appears to be common knowledge on the ways the education powerhouses became so successful, but there seems to be little effort on the behalf of the U.S to emulate these countries. It seems like the U.S does not want to take all the steps other countries have taken to revamp their education system. Based on information from this book, leaders in education need to view the purpose and function of education differently, and then try to implement education reform strategies. Until there is a mindset change, I truly believe the education system in the U.S could never be as successful as other countries.
Conclusion
Chapter 3 provided an in-depth analysis of the elements that make education systems successful. The author identified the eight elements and explained how each element contributes to a successful education system. The author also compared how the U.S addresses or does not address the elements, and why the education system in the U.S is unsuccessful. Overall, this chapter created awareness of the areas of focus that can reform education (Stewart,