Succesful education models

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David Rabadà

Over recent decades, secondary education in Spain has experienced a gradual erosion in the rigorous transmission of knowledge. This development has coincided with the imposition of certain political ideologies and pedagogical trends that have displaced the central role of knowledge, the teacher and intellectual effort. According to international indicators such as PISA, PIRLS or TIMSS, national educational outcomes remain stuck in a pattern of sustained and repeated decline. Reversing this situation urgently requires an examination of which external education models are proving successful and how they might be applied domestically. As will be argued below, it is essential to open up a space for reflection and debate in order to recover a demanding, solid and knowledge-based approach to education. Without knowledge, there can be no education.

An analysis of the education systems that achieve the strongest results in international assessments such as PISA—countries such as Japan, Singapore, South Korea or Estonia—as well as certain Autonomous Communities within Spain, such as Castile and León or Asturias, or schools with outstanding results in university entrance examinations, reveals a set of structural commonalities that clearly point the way forward. These models place strong emphasis on the long-term—or deep—acquisition of knowledge by pupils. This is achieved through demanding and well-structured curricula, solid reading comprehension skills, and specialist teachers with a rigorous command of both their discipline and the spoken and written language. In short, far removed from fragmented or excessively flexible curricula, these successful regions and countries favour clear, demanding and cumulative programmes of study.

A key factor underpinning all of the above is legislative stability. Successful education systems are not subject to constant changes in the law; rather, they operate within stable regulatory frameworks that allow effective practices to be consolidated over time. This stability goes hand in hand with a clear trust in the teacher’s role as a transmitter of knowledge. As argued in numerous articles published in Educational Evidence, explicit and structured teaching, grounded in direct instruction, is particularly effective, especially in compulsory education.

Moreover, in all successful education models, a culture of effort occupies a central place. In this context, the use of examinations and homework is not viewed as a punitive tool, but as a fundamental pedagogical instrument for reinforcing learning, consolidating long-term memory and fostering self-discipline. Rote learning—understood as a necessary foundation for complex reasoning—is also reclaimed as an indispensable element, in contrast to certain pedagogical approaches that place excessive faith in pupils’ autonomous learning without the guidance of teachers who are experts in their field. Put simply, pupils cannot learn by themselves what they do not yet know, and the role of the expert instructor is irreplaceable. Disregarding this principle has led to the devaluation of the teaching profession and a decline in educational quality. In this respect, the social and economic status of teachers is decisive. The evidence is clear: in countries with the strongest educational outcomes, teachers are subject specialists, selected through demanding criteria and well remunerated.

At this point, it is essential to introduce the concept of the Human Development Index (HDI). This composite indicator condenses measures of health, education and income into a single figure in order to assess the social well-being of a population. In countries with strong educational outcomes, there is a clear correlation between performance in PISA, PIRLS or TIMSS and their HDI. These data demonstrate that what matters is not how much is invested in education, but which educational model is being funded. Singapore is often cited as an example: it allocates around 2% of its GDP to education and achieves excellent results, while other countries with more than double that level of investment, such as Sweden, deliver comparatively mediocre outcomes.

The relevance of the HDI and its associated social well-being goes even further. Countries with very high HDI scores, such as Japan, Singapore or South Korea, share education models based on high expectations, long-term knowledge acquisition and the prestige of the teaching profession. In other words, high-quality education fosters high levels of social well-being. In the Spanish case, with an HDI lower than that of these leading countries and with educational outcomes that leave considerable room for improvement, the need to rethink the education system in order to raise overall human development becomes evident. In this regard, it would be advisable to move away from unproven pedagogical ideologies and to embrace models supported by robust empirical evidence.

In conclusion, reversing poor national educational outcomes requires strengthening a culture of effort, reinforcing the use of examinations and homework as pedagogical tools, decisively improving reading comprehension and written expression, stabilising education legislation, and restoring the status of the knowledgeable, specialist teacher through strong social recognition and competitive remuneration. Only with demanding curricula, expert teachers and an education system firmly grounded in knowledge will it be possible to raise educational standards, enhance social well-being and, ultimately, improve the overall quality of life.

Source: educational EVIDENCE

Rights: Creative Commons