Opinion: England’s Michaela model offers education lessons for Canada

Skip to Content News Archives Economy Energy Oil & Gas Renewables Electric Vehicles Mining Commodities Agriculture Real Estate Mortgages Mortgage Rates Finance Banking Insurance Fintech Cryptocurrency Work Wealth Smart Money Wealth Management Investor Personal Finance Family Finance Retirement Taxes High Net Worth FP Comment Executive Women Puzzmo Newsletters Financial Times Business Essentials More Innovation Information Technology FP500 Podcasts Small Business Lives Told Tails Told Shopping Financial Post Store Obituaries Place a Notice Advertising Advertising With Us Advertising Solutions Postmedia Ad Manager Sponsorship Requests Classifieds Place a Classifieds ad Working Profile Settings My Subscriptions My Offers Newsletters Customer Service FAQ News Economy Energy Mining Real Estate Finance Work Wealth Investor FP Comment Executive Women Puzzmo Newsletters Financial Times Business Essentials This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.HomeFP CommentOpinion: England’s Michaela model offers education lessons for CanadaStudents at a London, U.K. school that has gone back to basics get results rivalling those of peers at England's most famous private schoolsLast updated 14 minutes ago The example of Michaela Community School in the U.K. demonstrates the importance of traditional approaches to instruction and discipline, values generally supported by most Canadian parents Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images“Hooray!!” That was the one-word tweet from Katharine Birbalsingh, “Britain’s strictest headmistress,” as students at the Michaela Community School, located in the shadow of London’s Wembley Stadium, received their “A-levels” — exams that would determine which university they went to. Significantly more students at her school (about 70 per cent) achieved top grades (A or A*) compared with the national average (28.5 per cent). A remarkable feat for a government-funded school with a sizeable portion of its students coming from financially disadvantaged backgrounds.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLYSubscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLESSubscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLESCreate an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.The Michaela School was controversial when it launched, but its story has been one of unqualified success. Could the Michaela model hold lessons for education reform in Canada?Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againCanadian students continue to fare better than those in the average developed country, but performance has been declining. According to newly-released OECD test results, the slide in student scores on key subjects (particularly reading and math) is so bad that today’s 15-year-olds are testing at the level of 14-year-olds in 2006.Although the pandemic and social media affected results around the world, Canada’s negative trend spans decades. It’s no coincidence that it coincides with the K-12 system shifting away from traditional teaching approaches. For example, instead of “structured literacy” with an emphasis on sounding out words (phonics), kids were increasingly taught to use cues and clues to guess words. Math moved away from times-tables and rote memorization to “discovery math,” where kids had to invent their own approaches to problem-solving. A decline in literacy and math skills was inevitable. To make matters worse, an increasingly lax approach to discipline led to an “epidemic” of school violence.This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.Against the backdrop of similar challenges in the U.K., Headmistress Birbalsingh understood that this approach didn’t work, and founded the Michaela Community School in 2014 following a raft of reforms that expanded school choice. Established as a free-school academy, Michaela is funded by the government but operates as a non-profit. It can determine its own curriculum and teaching methods, set different hours for teaching and exercise some control over its budget. Michaela took advantage of these freedoms to focus on traditional instruction (the teacher is there to teach), strict discipline (detention if you’re late or unruly) and longer school days (extra-curricular activities take place after school hours, not during).The result? A school for ordinary and even disadvantaged kids with grades rivalling those at England’s most famous private school, Eton.Canadian parents may not be familiar with the Michaela model, but polling data indicates they generally support its approach. A recent survey found over half of respondents want schools to return to traditional teaching methods (only about one in four support the new methods), while over 70 per cent favour a return to traditional responses to student misconduct (unruly behaviour results in suspension, marks are deducted for late assignments, etc.). In essence, parents want schools to get back to basics.This advertisement has not loaded yet.This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.Several independent schools in Canada do follow this approach, but many of them may be financially out of reach to many families. Which raises the question: Can the Michaela model — government-funded schools not beholden to government diktat — be replicated here?Alberta has something similar to England’s “free schools” — namely, charter schools. Funded by the government, charter schools are run by non-profits with independent boards. Unlike Michaela, they do not have full autonomy over the curriculum, but they can focus on specific topics and teach as they see fit. For example, the STEM Innovation Academy in Calgary focuses on science, technology, engineering and math, while the Calgary Classical Academy focuses on classical education (art, arithmetic, Latin, history and so on).Recent analysis by SecondStreet.org comparing provincial test scores on key subjects found kids at charter schools regularly outperform their peers at other government-run schools. Last year, students at these schools scored 10.5 percentage points higher on average than those in regular government-run schools, and 9.5 percentage points higher than students in government-funded Catholic schools. That’s essentially a full letter-grade difference on average. No wonder waitlists for these schools go into the tens of thousands and the majority of parents outside Alberta (56 per cent) want their province to copy this approach.This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.The example of Michaela Community School in the U.K. demonstrates the importance of traditional approaches to instruction and discipline — values generally supported by most Canadian parents. As regular public schools grapple with the question of whether and how to revisit these tried and tested approaches, the very least provincial governments could do is embrace Alberta’s charter school model, which performs demonstrably better than other government-funded options. Our children’s futures depend on it.Bacchus Barua is research director at SecondStreet.org, a Canadian think-tank.We apologize, but this video has failed to load.This advertisement has not loaded yet.Notice for the Postmedia NetworkThis website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.