Our politicians and their advisers tell us we must emulate those countries whose students outperform ours in international achievement surveys like PISA and TIMSS. That is, we must copy their policies (well, those policies that fit, or can be bent to fit,
our own) in the expectation that standards will thereby rise. Meanwhile, other countries no less exercised by standards are prepared to be more discriminating when in turn they seek to learn from the UK.
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