UWCSEA Teachers

The most motivating factors are getting genuinely better at something, and getting recognised by those around us. Mastery and relationships motivate most.

we’re bribing students into compliance instead of challenging them into mastery

Tangible rewards substantially undermine intrinsic motivation,

The Finnish fan club rarely talks about its mathematics performance in TIMSS, an international survey focusing more on curriculum-based knowledge – which plummeted over the last decade.

Others questioned whether it represents a victory at all since important knowledge had been sacrificed along the way.

while Finland scores well on PISA, this particular league table is designed to test everyday rather than curriculum-based knowledge. This means that it lacks key concepts of importance for further studies in mathematically intensive subjects, such as engineering, computer science, and economics. This is an obvious defect: such subjects are likely to be crucial for developed countries’ future economic well-being.