An international study of adult skills has shown that the literacy level of teachers is average and generally the same as that of university graduates. But teachers from Japan, South Korea, Canada and the UK showed high results in mathematics.
The essence of the study and results
The study assessed the knowledge of literacy and mathematics in participants aged 16 to 65 years. Experts study how the level of education affects the ability to solve everyday problems.
The researchers divided the participants into two groups: in one - representatives of different professions, in the other - only teachers. Teachers were studied separately, since it is generally accepted that the level of their literacy has a direct impact on the results of students. To confirm or refute the hypothesis, the researchers compared the test results of teachers and their students.
It turned out that the higher the knowledge of teachers, the better results their students show! Only two countries did not confirm the researchers' hypothesis: schoolchildren from Singapore and Korea know mathematics better than their teachers, and in Chile, on the contrary, the knowledge of teachers is higher than that of their students.
In order for talented and qualified teachers to work in schools, the authorities need to increase teachers' salaries and provide better working conditions. With the involvement of good teachers, the performance of students will also grow.
