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UK has tests in Mathematics and in English for anyone who wants to take teacher training for schools (not needed for 'post compulsory' or pre-school yet). http

UK has tests in Mathematics and in English for anyone who wants to take teacher training for schools (not needed for 'post compulsory' or pre-school yet). http://sta.education.gov.uk/ http://sta.education.gov.uk/ Might be fun to try the practice tests out on colleagues... Helping managers to aggregate pass rates per class into an overall pass rate used to be a fun thing to do many years ago. They are better at data management now because of our focus on targets in the UK. Not so good for holistic education but managers can certainly hack their stats.

madaxe_again 12y ago
I'm in the UK, and I don't think it's fair to be singling out teachers on this. I work with retailers - we make eCommerce systems - and I never cease to be staggered at how many CFOs/finance people/buyers/business owners don't: - Know the difference between "gross" and "net" when talking about prices, tax, or margin. - Know how to calculate a percentage. What's 10% off £90? No idea. - Virtually all fall for the "mark it down by 10%, then mark it up by 10%... same price!" fallacy. - Completely fail to grasp statistics. "Me" is not a statistically significant sample size. So long as Western society treats mathematical literacy with contempt, this will only get worse - and treat it with contempt we do, for if you are able to figure out the average of two single digit numbers in your head, you are a "braniac" or a "geek", which is fucking incomprehensible.
- keithpeter 12y ago
  "Virtually all fall for the "mark it down by 10%, then mark it up by 10%... same price!" fallacy." That is a classic GCSE Foundation Maths exam question: and I have to say most of the teenagers I teach can explain why you won't get back to the same price! I wasn't singling out teachers myself but the OA looks as if it was. There is an honest desire to improve things over the next 10 years in the UK and all main parties agree about the general policy if not the detail so I am slightly optimistic (but teachers have to be)

madaxe_again 12y ago

I'm in the UK, and I don't think it's fair to be singling out teachers on this. I work with retailers - we make eCommerce systems - and I never cease to be staggered at how many CFOs/finance people/buyers/business owners don't: - Know the difference between "gross" and "net" when talking about prices, tax, or margin. - Know how to calculate a percentage. What's 10% off £90? No idea. - Virtually all fall for the "mark it down by 10%, then mark it up by 10%... same price!" fallacy. - Completely fail to grasp statistics. "Me" is not a statistically significant sample size. So long as Western society treats mathematical literacy with contempt, this will only get worse - and treat it with contempt we do, for if you are able to figure out the average of two single digit numbers in your head, you are a "braniac" or a "geek", which is fucking incomprehensible.

keithpeter 12y ago
"Virtually all fall for the "mark it down by 10%, then mark it up by 10%... same price!" fallacy." That is a classic GCSE Foundation Maths exam question: and I have to say most of the teenagers I teach can explain why you won't get back to the same price! I wasn't singling out teachers myself but the OA looks as if it was. There is an honest desire to improve things over the next 10 years in the UK and all main parties agree about the general policy if not the detail so I am slightly optimistic (but teachers have to be)