Byron Auguste, Paul Kihn, and Matt Miller of McKinsey & Company in their report of September 2010, "Closing the Talent Gap: Attracting and retaining the top-third graduates to careers in teaching," state that these nations with the top education systems in the world, share something in common. Their common strategy is that each nation recruits and retains the top-third + talent into teaching. The result is that their students score higher than Americans in math, reading and science.
Getting the Best Teachers in Singapore
Sing Kong Lee, Director of Singapore's National Institute of Education, states that any nation would want to have a top quality teaching force. "To get there, you have to do two things. First attract the best people to the profession. Second, once there in, you give them the best training."
Lou Cheng Yang, Director of Personnel in the Ministry of Education, states that you really need to make a difference to these top students who have many career choices. Lou Chen Yang feels that you must present a strong compensation package to these prospective student teachers. Then, when you get them into a teaching program, you must help them develop their passion for teaching. In another words, you help new teachers discover how rewarding it is to be a great teacher.
Teacher retention is very important in Singapore. The government wants its teachers to have comparable incomes to their college peers by the time they are in their 40's and 50's. For a 30 year teaching career, a teacher can expect a $10,000 to $36,000 bonus payout every three to five years. This helps explain why teacher attrition in Singapore is only 3% yearly, compared to 14% in the U.S. and 20% in many of its high poverty areas.
Getting the Best Teachers in Finland
Finland has one of the world's top performing school systems. Additionally, Finland has practically no low performing schools. An official at the National Board of Education in Finland was asked for the reason Finland has a great education system. He replied, "Three words...teachers, teachers, teachers."
Students aspiring to become teachers must complete a five year program that leads to a Masters Degree. Applicants are usually taken from the top 20% of high school graduates. About one in ten students is accepted to become a teacher. The acceptance level of the elementary education program at the University of Helsinki is one in 15. Because teaching carries such high prestige, teaching is even more popular among students than law and medicine.
Teachers have strong decision making authority regarding school policy and management. A national curriculum framework indicates what students must learn, but teachers have the authority to decide how these educational priorities will be learned. Teaching in Finland is very competitive and quite prestigious.
Getting the Best Teachers in South Korea
Getting the best teachers in education is a top priority in South Korea. Auguste, Kihn, and Miller state in their report that a Korean official remarked, "The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers." Additionally, South Korea places great importance on having the highest teaching salaries in the world.
Teaching is the most popular profession in South Korea. Job security, great pay, social prestige, and good vacations are the main reasons why teaching is so popular. Elementary education is given the greatest emphasis by education officials. Primary school teachers must get a four year undergraduate degree in education at one of the 12 national universities of education or one private university.
Admission to these universities is very competitive. Universities only take those students that score on the top 5% of a college entrance exam, a SAT equivalent. The government monitors the number of new students entering its teaching programs; thus, insuring job security.
Nations with the Top Education Systems in the World
The students of Finland, Singapore and South Korea test superiorly in math, science, and reading compared to students in the United States. Unlike the educational system in the U.S., these countries with the top education systems in the world, bring to the teaching profession a strong compensation package, quality selective training, job security, and prestige to the teaching profession. Within the next decade, over half of teachers in the United States will be retiring. It is time for the leaders in U.S. education system to seriously consider the potential worthiness of creating a strategy that will attract the top "one-third +" teachers.
John A. Marinchek - John is a student and writer of Social-Economic issues, the Human Potential movement, and Martial Arts. His specific interests deal with ...
