Best education in the world:Finland, South Korea top country rankings

By Brian Salter

The UKs education system is ranked sixth best in the developed world， according to a global league table published by education firm Pearson.

The first and second places are taken by Finland and South Korea.

The rankings combine international test results and data such as graduation rates between 2006 and 2010.

Sir Michael Barber， Pearsons chief education adviser， says successful countries give teachers a high status and have a “culture” of education.

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.

The two education superpowers—Finland and South Korea—are followed by three other high-performing Asian education systems—Hong Kong， Japan and Singapore.

The UK 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 maths， science and literacy—and so present a picture lagging by several years.

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 says that spending is easier to measure， but the more complex impact of a societys 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.

Looking at the two top countries—Finland and South Korea—the report says 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”.

根據培生教育公司公布的全球教育排行榜，英國的教育系統在發達國家中排在第六位。

第一名和第二名被芬蘭和韓國占據。

這一排行榜結合了國際性考試成績以及2006年到2010年間的畢業率等數據。

培生公司的首席教育顧問邁克？巴伯爵士說，在教育成功的國家，教師地位都很高，而且這些國家都有自己的“教育文化”。

對教育進行全球性比較變得日益重要——這一排行榜是在一系列國際性考試成績以及上大學人數等教育系統評價指標基礎上得出的。

排名緊隨芬蘭和韓國這兩個教育大國其后的是亞洲的中國香港、日本和新加坡，它們也擁有出色的教育系統。

英國是教育水平位于平均線以上的國家中排名最靠前的，其他教育水平中上的國家還包括荷蘭、新西蘭、加拿大和愛爾蘭。

其后是排名居中的國家，包括美國、德國和法國。

排名最靠后的國家是墨西哥、巴西和印度尼西亞。

評比數據來源于每三或四年舉行一次的考試成績，涉及的領域包括數學、自然科學和讀寫能力，因此呈現出的結果也比現實情況落后了幾年。

從這些成功的教育系統來看，該研究得出結論說，教育支出很重要，但是更重要的是有支持學習的文化。

研究指出，用教育支出來衡量成果更容易，而社會對教育的態度產生的影響雖然較復雜，但意義很重大。

報告指出，從亞洲國家在排行中的成功可以看出他們對教育的高度重視和父母們的高度期許。當這些亞洲國家的家庭移居到其他國家后，這種高度重視的態度依然會對孩子的教育產生影響。

報告稱，排名居首的兩個國家——芬蘭和韓國有許多很大的不同，但是它們的共同點是全社會都認為教育很重要，而且認為教育還有“潛在的道德教化目的”。