Teenagers in Shanghai and Singapore have retained their leading position in an international test of maths, science and reading, according to new results which cast doubt on teaching methods in higher-spending systems such as the UK and US.
The OECD’s Pisa tests – taken by more than half a million 15 year-olds across 65 countries – show East Asian countries surging ahead while traditionally strong Scandinavian countries plummeted down the league. The UK and US remained in the middle-rankings, around the OECD average, despite spending more than other countries on their education of six to 15 year-olds.
Accelerating declines in maths scores across Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark caused particular surprise.