Book review - Clever Lands by Lucy Crehan

 A must read for those interested in education and how different top performing countries run their systems. 

This book is written by Lucy Crehan, a teacher from a London inner city school. Working in an area where they is lots of deprivation, Lucy felt that all the work she was putting in wasn't making a difference to the children. She first hand saw how systematic disadvantages affected many of the children in her school and limited their future options. 

Lucy began thinking about the education systems from around the world that were classed as the top performers (well above the UK). She was curious at what these systems did for students and teachers that puts them above the rest.

Lucy spent a year travelling to 5 different countries, stayed with teachers or families and went into the schools to see first hand how things were done and to explore their education systems. 

 The 5 countries were:

• Finland
• Japan
• Singapore
• China
• Canada

Lucy goes into details about all the systems, about what is expected of children, how parents view the systems, how teachers are viewed and more.

She finishes the book with 5 principles for a top performing education system. 

Coming from the UK where children start school the September after their 4th birthday, the main thing that stuck out for me is that in Finland, Singapore and China children don't start school until they are 7 years old. In Japan and Canada they start at 6. 

What is focused on before this in pre-school is that children learn life and important skills through play. I love this and the fact that these children are out-performing their counter parts in the UK shows that there is no adverse affects in starting formal education a bit later. 

This is a principle that I would love to see implemented in the UK. Children starting formal education at 7 years old. Having taught in the foundation stage and seen some of my children struggling to grasp things at 4 years old, I believe this would hugely benefit children, their mental health, development and their academic progress.