United Kingdom’s education ranks 6th in global ranking: Report

A global league table published by education firm Pearson declared the United Kingdom’s education system as ranked sixth best in the developed world. The first and second places are taken by Finland and South Korea.

According to the media reports, the rankings combine international test results and data such as graduation rates between 2006 and 2010. International comparisons in education have become increasingly significant and this latest league table is based upon a series of global test results combined with measures of education systems, such as how many people go on to university.

This composite picture puts the UK in a stronger position than the influential Pisa tests from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – which is also one of the tests included in this ranking. The weightings for the rankings have been produced for Pearson by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Apart from two education superpowers – Finland and South Korea, three other high-performing Asian education systems – Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore acquired the next three positions.

The UK – which is considered as a single system, rather than four devolved administrations – is then ranked at the head of an above-average group including the Netherlands, New Zealand, Canada and Ireland. These are ahead of a middle-ranking group including the United States, Germany and France.

At the lowest end are Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia. These comparisons draw upon tests that are taken every three or four years, in areas such as math, science and literary – and so present a picture lagging by several years.

But the intention is to provide a more multi-dimensional view of educational achievement – and create a databank which will be updated, in a project that Pearson is calling the Learning Curve.

Looking at education systems that succeed, the study concludes that spending is important, but not as much as having a culture that is supportive of learning. It stated that spending is easier to measure, but the more complex impact of a society’s attitude to education can make a big difference.

The success of Asian countries in these rankings reflects the high value attached to education and the expectations of parents. This can continue to be a factor when families migrate to other countries, says the report accompanying the rankings.

Looking at the two top countries – Finland and South Korea – the report said that there are many big differences, but the common factor is a shared social belief in the importance of education and its “underlying moral purpose”.

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Posted by Web Desk on Nov 27 2012. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.