Britain will learn nothing by trying to emulate China’s schools | Simon Jenkins

It was a myth that Beijing perfected the art of teaching. The nation’s success has little to do with maths

One third of England’s secondary schools are “failing”. In some places half of them are “bad”. A total of 170,000 pupils are in “inadequate” institutions – 70,000 more than two years ago. Fifty more schools are in “special measures” than last year.

This is the verdict of the nation’s schools inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw. Half a century of incessant centralised reform and upheaval, of res...