Asia sweeps top spots in global education survey

Asian nations cemented their top positions in an eagerly awaited report on global education today, as their students continued to outshine Western counterparts in maths, science and reading.
Shanghai again ranked first in maths, science and reading in the three-yearly report by the Paris-based OECD, based on surveys of more than half a million 15-year-olds in 65 countries.
Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea rounded out the top five in maths skills.
The so-called PISA report (Programme for International Student Assessment) is the single largest study of global schooling and has been dubbed the World Cup of education.
It is highly influential among education officials, with participating countries representing more than 80 per cent of the global economy and often adapting policy in response to the findings.

Shanghai's top rankings means its students are the equivalent of three years of schooling ahead of their counterparts with average scores, including those of many wealthy Western countries like Britain and France.

This year's survey focused on math skills, with Macao-China, Japan, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and The Netherlands rounding out the top 10.
Lacking a truly national sample in China, the report only includes some of the country's most economically advanced regions, which the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) acknowledges are not representative of the entire country.
"Already strong performers in 2009, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore continued to improve their performances in the three categories," said Sophie Vayssettes, an education analyst with the OECD.

OECD experts said the top scores of Asian nations were down to a strong culture of education and to teacher training.
Their education systems "ask a lot of their students. There is a culture of education: parents, children, teachers -- everyone is working in the same direction," said the OECD's Eric Charbonnier.
Also, "every country that is at the top, which has moved forward, has put teacher training at the heart" of their education system, he said.
The report highlighted Italy, Poland and Portugal for showing improvements in maths skills since the last survey, but noted drops in Sweden and Finland.

Students in Britain scored the exact average of OECD nations in maths, with their counterparts in France only slightly ahead. The United States was further down, wedged between Slovakia and Lithuania.
Peru ranked at the bottom of the list in all three categories, with its students the equivalent of six years of schooling behind students in Shanghai.