Covid-19 has exposed long-standing problems in our education system which has been performing below the international average for far too long according to Len Shackleton, professor of Economics at Buckingham University and co-author of a recent article on educational underachievement for the Institute of Economic Affairs.
"There are unacceptable differences in performance between pupils, with 15-20% leaving the system with no significant qualifications and what amounts to functional illiteracy.
Extended school days to improve the performance of disadvantaged children, a shorter summer break to improve learning retention, raising the minimum age at which children enter the education system and accommodating teaching practices to take full advantage of new technologies are some of the suggestions put forward by the IEA.
We enclose the summary article, together with a link to the fully published IEA paper beneath it.
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