If You Want To Know Why Western Students Are Falling Behind, Just Look At This Graph

One of the most startling global education trends in recent years has been the rise of China and the Far East, but far from being Shanghai’s secret, one simple graph helps explain why western students are falling behind.
There are good reasons to take international education comparisons with a pinch of salt, but from the OECD’s PISA tests in reading, writing and math to the TIMSS and PIRLS tests in maths, science and reading, they show a largely consistent picture.
The Far East dominates the rankings, typically represented in various combinations by Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Chinese Taipei and Japan. Well down the list come the U.S. and the U.K.
In the latest PISA tests, for example, the U.S. ranks 24th in reading and 36th in math, while the U.K. fares little better, 23rd in reading and 26th in math.
The Far East’s stranglehold on the education laurels — and that of Shanghai in particular — has left policy-makers at a loss.
Fact-finding trips to the Far East, importing Chinese teaching methods, even shipping over Chinese teachers – no stone has been left unturned in a desperate attempt to close the gap.
But it may be the answer to China’s success is not such a mystery.
The Varkey Foundation, the charity behind the Global Education and Skills Forum and the $1 million Global Teacher Prize, has compiled what it describes as “the world’s first comprehensive attempt to compare the status of teachers across the world.”

The Global Teacher Status Index is based on polling in 21 countries, asking respondents a range of questions to determine their attitude towards teachers. And the results go a long way towards explaining some of the disparities in educational performance.
As the graph below shows (it can also be found here) China is way out ahead in the status accorded to teachers, with the U.S. and the U.K. mid-table, just as they are in the performance tables.

The status of teachers in selected countries (Source: Varkey Foundation)

The poll also asked respondents to name professions whose status was most similar to teachers. In China, the professionals most frequently cited as equivalent to teachers were doctors, while in the U.S. they were librarians.
The reason this is important is that the quality of teaching is the single most important factor in raising educational standards. One of the most crucial tasks in any school system is to recruit and retain high-quality teachers. And it is hard to see how a profession can become enticing to the best recruits if it is held in low regard.

Schools are already facing a crisis as recruitment falls well short and record numbers are leaving the classroom. Only yesterday a survey of U.K. teachers for the Guardian found that two-fifths of teachers planned to quit in the next five years, while almost nine in 10 schools said students would be severely affected by a teacher shortage.
Of course there is no straightforward link between regard for teachers and student achievement. After all, teachers have a relatively low status in Japan, according to the index, yet Japan is a consistently strong performer in comparisons of achievement.
And of course there are many other factors in play, including teacher workload and pay.
But attitudes towards teachers and education go a long way towards explaining why it is harder to recruit and retain teachers in some countries than in others, and why education in some countries is forging ahead, while in others it is falling behind.