Three maps of the world by attainment in school

One of the largest cross-national tests of education standards between nations is the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Every three years, it measures reading ability, math and science literacy among 15 year olds in developed and developing countries.

Data compiled by the Pew Research Center, showed that in the latest tests in 2015, the UK placed 16th for science literacy, 26th for mathematics and 21st for reading.

Time to brush up on those times tables and that algebra.

View the below maps for the data:

The top tens for each subject were as follows:

Science:

• Singapore    556
• Japan    538
• Estonia    534
• Taiwan    532
• Finland    531
• Macao    529
• Canada    528
• Vietnam    525
• Hong Kong    523
• South Korea    516

Mathematics:

• Singapore    564
• Hong Kong    548
• Macao    544
• Taiwan    542
• Japan    532
• South Korea    524
• Switzerland    521
• Estonia    520
• Canada    516
• Netherlands    512

Reading:

• Singapore    535
• Hong Kong    527
• Canada    527
• Finland    526
• Ireland    521
• Estonia    519
• South Korea    517
• Japan    516
• Norway    513
• Macao    509

As you'll see, the clever clogs in Singapore put us to shame.

The UK fared well compared to the United States, however, which placed 38th for mathematics and 24th for science.

The next PISA test will take place in 2018, which will be two years into Betsy DeVos' tenure as the United States Education Secretary.

HT Pew Research Center

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