UK minister lauds local students

British education officials found that positive attitudes, diligent students and good teaching methods were the key factors contributing to the excellent performance of Shanghai students, especially in mathematics, British Education and Childcare Minister Elizabeth Truss said Tuesday during a visit to the city.

Truss toured three public schools in Shanghai and held talks with teachers and experts from Shanghai Normal University and the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission as part of her trip to learn the secrets behind Shanghai's success on an international test.

Shanghai students topped the rankings for reading, math and science in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) administers every three years, according to the OECD report on the 2012 PISA. The UK ranked 26th on the test's math section.

"One of the messages I want to get across when I am back in England is that mathematics gets you everywhere," Truss said at the press conference.

The key point Truss felt like passing to the children and parents in the UK was how mathematics was important as a subject to the students' prosperity.

Truss also mentioned that a positive attitude matters for a student to command the subject. Through talks with education experts, she was impressed by the attitude that "everybody is capable of doing mathematics" and "diligence makes up from the lack of ability."

"I'm interested in exploring the issues of cultural attitudes and how we encourage positive culture about mathematics," Truss said. It was something that she would like to learn from Shanghai, so that the culture could nurture a new generation of scientists.

Truss found many similarities between students from Shanghai and the UK, but what struck her during a visit to a local mathematics class was the difference in teaching techniques.

"The teacher explains the concept and asks the children to verbalize. Children will speak out about what they understand it means and explain it to the rest of the class. It is interesting to see the students' engagement," Truss said.

Truss also noticed that Shanghai has specialist teachers in different subjects in the primary schools, which made them more focused and specialized in the subjects they taught. In the UK, primary school teachers teach many subjects.

She also saw how Shanghai teachers spent extra time tutoring students who were falling behind.

Truss will fly to Wuhan, Hubei province, Wednesday and then to Beijing.