Could It Happen Here?

Nick Gibb—now Sir Nick Gibb—has written a book that describes, as the subtitle explains, why and how English schools have improved since 2010. Gibb should know, since he was the government official who was most instrumental in sparking and guiding that improvement.1

The book’s title, Reforming Lessons, appears to be two-fold. England reformed the “lessons” delivered in its classrooms. Gibb also hopes other countries will derive “lessons” from England’s reform experience so they can replicate its success.

I’m happy to accept that challenge, at least in terms of figuring out why education reform appears to have succeeded so spectacularly in England but bombed in the U.S. to the point that few people even talk about improving public schools anymore.

Comparing education systems internationally is a tricky business because contexts vary widely. But England and the U.S., along with some other countries, have long shared a similar problem: Education orthodoxy conflicts with what cognitive science tells us about teaching and learning.

Orthodoxy vs. Science

In both countries, prospective teachers have been told they should serve primarily as facilitators, allowing children to direct their own education as much as possible through inquiry, discovery, and free choice. It’s considered more important for students to acquire skills—for example, in reading comprehension or critical thinking more generally—than to acquire any particular knowledge. Some argue that requiring students to retain factual information is not only unnecessary but harmful.

Cognitive science, on the other hand, indicates that when learners are new to a topic, what works best is explicit instruction that incorporates lots of teacher-directed interaction with students. And studies show that learners need to acquire knowledge through a content-rich curriculum in order to apply “thinking” skills. The more information you have about a topic stored in long-term memory, the better able you are to understand a text on that topic or to think about it critically.

As a result of the divergence between education theory and scientific evidence, schools in both England and the U.S. have a history of failing the most vulnerable students. Those who end up thriving—mostly the students from more highly educated families—are the ones who would probably do well in any system.

Change in England

Gibb, who was Schools Minister under the Conservative government for over 10 years, off and on, details how things have changed in England since he first