Which country has the best schools? ⏲️ 6 Minute English

Hello, this is 6 Minute English

from BBC Learning English. I'm Phil.

And I'm Beth. So, Beth, we're talking about the best

education systems in the world today. You went to school here in Britain. What do you think

of the British education system? Do you think it could be the best? I think that it's quite good, there's probably a couple of things

that I personally would change about it, but I would say it's quite good,

but maybe not the best in the world. Well, in this programme, we're going

to be talking about the Pisa rankings. The rankings are based

on tests carried out by the OECD, that's an international organisation,

every three years. The tests attempt to show which

countries are the most effective at

teaching maths, science and reading. But is that

really possible to measure? Well, here is former BBC education

correspondent Sean Coughlan talking to BBC World Service programme

'The Global Story'. When they were introduced first of

all, that was a very contentious idea, because people said, how can

you possibly compare big countries... how can you compare America

to Luxembourg or to, you know, or to parts of China or whatever? Sean said that

the tests were contentious. If something is contentious, then it's

something that people might argue about - it's controversial. So, at first,

Pisa tests were contentious because not everyone believed it was fair

to compare very different countries. Phil, I've got a question for you

about them. So, in 2022, Singapore was top

of the reading rankings. But which of these countries

came second? Was it a) the USA,

b) Ireland or c) the UK? I think it might be b) Ireland. OK. Well, we will find out if that's

correct at the end of the programme. A common pattern

in the Pisa rankings is that the most successful countries

tend to be smaller. Talking to BBC World Service

programme, 'The Global Story', Sean Coughlan tells us

that many large countries from Western Europe don't score

that highly in the rankings. They're being outpaced and outperformed

by these fast, upcoming countries, you know, Singapore or Estonia, or

Taiwan, or those sort of places which have which we don't historically

think of as being economic rivals, but I suppose the argument for

the Pisa tests is, if you want to have a knowledge economy,

an economy based on skills, this is how you measure it. We heard that

many large European countries are

being outpaced by smaller nations. If someone outpaces you, they're going

faster than you - at a higher pace. We use the prefix, 'out-' to say

that someone or something is better at doing something. We also heard that smaller nations

are 'outperforming' larger ones - they're performing better. Singapore, Estonia and Taiwan

are described as 'economic rivals' to large European nations. That means that they are competing

with them, economically. We also heard

about a knowledge economy. This is an economy based on service

industries that require workers to be highly educated, such as IT,

finance or advanced engineering. So, what makes countries

perform better in these tests? Let's hear again from BBC World

Service programme, 'The Global Story'. Sean Coughlan tells us that those

countries that prioritise getting

everyone to a certain level do well. We also hear from Rando Kuustik,

an Estonian School principal. Countries which make sure

that all their pupils get through a certain level of education

to a certain standard, regardless

of their background, do well. If you are teaching them

by different level or abilities, then you are segregating them, and

we don't want to segregate any people in the world, why we are doing that in the schools? This one of the main

things why Estonia is successful. Sean said the most successful systems

educate everyone to a particular standard,

regardless of their background. If one thing happens regardless

of something else it means that the something else is not

important, or not a problem. Rando Kuustik said that Estonian schools do not want

to segregate students. 'Segregate' means to separate

and keep apart. So, we've just heard about Estonia, but what about your question, Beth? What about those countries? I asked you which out of the USA,

Ireland and the UK came second for reading

in the 2022 Pisa rankings? You said Ireland, and

that was the correct answer. Well done! OK, let's recap the vocabulary

we've learnt in this programme about education rankings,

starting with, 'contentious' - argued about or controversial. If you're outpaced by someone,

they're going faster than you are. Rivals are competitors. A knowledge economy is one based

on industries that need highly educated workers, such as IT,

finance or advanced engineering. If something happens, regardless of a second thing, the second

thing has no impact on it happening. And finally,

if people are segregated, different groups of people

are separated and kept apart. Once again, our six minutes are up. Remember to visit

our website, bbclearningenglish.com, where you'll find a worksheet

and quiz related to this programme, and we'll see you again soon for more trending topics and useful

vocabulary here at 6 Minute English. Goodbye for now. Bye!