Different national characteristics can make it dangerous to assume that other country's educational ideas - or performance - are 'better', according to research.

It says cultural attitudes have a big impact on pupils' attitudes to learning, the way they learn and are taught, and what they get expect of and get from their education.

So transposing a teaching method that apparently produces good results in one country does not mean you will get an improvement in educational performance in another country - and it could do more harm than good.

The researchers from the University of Bristol studied 400 English and 400 French children aged between nine and 11. They report their findings in a book, Promoting Quality in Learning.

The two countries were chosen as having superficially similar but in many ways fundamentally different education systems.

The authors say that English teachers typically made much more effort than those in France to motivate children - but it was French children who were noticeably more positive about school.

Assumptions

"Despite experiencing a typically more formal and authoritarian classroom, they were more likely to see teaching as helpful and useful to them and appeared to be more highly motivated towards educational success and academic goals," they say.

This appears to be a cultural thing: In France, there is a "nationally-derived assumption that educational success is based on effort, rather than ability" and "negative feedback is perceived in relation to the quality of the work and the effort expended, rather than to the pupil's very self."

In England, there is an emphasis on innate ability, so that "lack of progress is more likely to be perceived by pupils as a result of their being 'thick' or 'dummies'."

"Equally, the strong French tradition of national conformity may help to explain the absence of the fear of being a 'goodie' in French primary schools which is such a characteristic feature of the same schools in England."

Tests were derived to measure pupils' performance in maths and language.

These took account of cultural factors. So, perhaps not suprisingly, each national sample out-performed the other at its 'own' test.

Different strokes

But English pupils out-performed French pupils in items from the French maths test which involved interpreting geometric language, area and perimeter and visualisation.

And French pupils out-performed English pupils on those items in the English maths test which involved the application of the four rules of number and decimals.

There was evidence that many English pupils "had not grasped the concepts of multiplication or division" though they were stronger than French pupils at handling data and in applying maths.

When it came to the language tests, English pupils performed significantly better in many aspects of language including spelling, punctuation and creative writing. They were both more able to infer meaning from what they had read - and, significantly, more willing so to do.

To French children, the main goal was to get the answer right - so they would tend not even to try questions about which they were unsure. English children were more likely to devise a strategy for solving an unfamiliar problem.

Have-a-go spirit

"There were significant national differences in pupils' levels of confidence and their willingness to 'have a go' and to take risks. English pupils were much stronger in this respect, whereas French pupils seemed to be constrained by their desire to avoid making mistakes and to refer constantly to authority," the researchers say.

"The overall picture which emerged from the assessment results was that English pupils had a more individualistic approach to maths and language which could be categorised as 'thinking for themselves', over a wider range of topics."

The other side of this coin was English pupils' tendency to use non-standard and inefficient approaches to maths questions - a problem which the authors say the national numeracy strategy in English primary schools is intended to address.

But what the authors conclude from their study is that there are significant creative and problem-solving strengths in the English primary education system which the national curriculum tests do not assess.

They say it also raises questions about the validity of international league tables of comparative national performance.

Head start

"At the very time when English teachers are being urged to adopt the methods of their allegedly more successful Asian counterparts, the latter are being urged to become more like their English colleagues," they say.

"Countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong are looking to increase the proportion of co-operative group work within the curriculum and to encourage a greater degree of critical thinking."

They argue that government policy towards the system is "obsessed with driving it back to familiar and reassuring educational territory" just as other countries are challenging that.

The English tradition is risky, because it makes pupils vulnerable to a sense of failure.

"Nevertheless, in a world of lifelong learning, it is arguably only by engaging pupils emotions, as well as their minds, that the necessary empowerment of learners will be achieved.

"In this respect, English teachers and pupils arguably have a head start."