Asian countries dominate the top tier of the second edition of the Learning Curve report, compiled for Pearson by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Last released in 2012, the report includes a global education league table, with South Korea in top place while Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong follow close behind.
The Pearson index, which aims to compare countries’ education participation and attainment levels, includes data on literacy and graduation rates combined with information about reading, mathematics and science scores from the PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS studies.
According to the accompanying report, the success of the top-performing Asian education systems reflects a culture in which education, schooling and authority are highly respected, and in which “teachers, students and parents take responsibility for education”.
Confirming the strength of Asian education systems
As well as providing overall scores, the index also awards each country a separate score for the two main categories assessed: cognitive skills and educational attainment. In the first of these, based on the PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS studies, the leading Asian education systems particularly stand out. In this category, Singapore comes first overall, with South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan all scoring comfortably above any other assessed nation in this category.
The next closest contender to these leading Asian education systems is Finland, which was the overall leader in the 2012 edition of the index, and which now places fifth overall. It’s followed by the UK, which ranks sixth overall but second in the educational attainment category, behind South Korea. Other European countries within the overall top 10include the Netherlands, Ireland and Poland, the last of which ranks third for educational attainment. While Canada is within the top 10 (7th overall and 6th for cognitive skills), the US doesn’t appear until 14th place, with Australia and New Zealand following consecutively.
Cultural differences in attitudes to education
Sir Michael Barber, chief education advisor at Pearson and the man responsible for the launch of this global education league table project, suggests that it’s helpful to interpret the results in light of different cultures and attitudes towards education. He suggests that the gap between Asia’s big-hitters and other leading countries can be linked to a tendency in many parts of the world for people to believe they are either “born bright” or “not academic”. This means parents are less likely to push their children to succeed at school, whereas families in many Asian countries are more likely to believe that success is achieved through hard work rather than contingent on natural aptitude.
“The rise of Pacific Asian countries, such as Singapore and Hong Kong, which combine effective education systems with a culture that prizes effort above inherited ‘smartness’, is a phenomenon that other countries can no longer ignore,” Sir Michael concludes.
While this global education league table is designed to assess education systems across all levels, the newly released QS University Rankings: Asia provides additional evidence for the strong upwards momentum of many Asian education systems at tertiary level. Reflecting the results and many of the key messages of Pearson‘s Learning Curve report, the rankings show Singaporean and South Korean universities in particular continuing to strengthen their international reputations, research impact and global appeal.