BBC 6分钟英语 Which country has the best schools

6 min English from BBC learning english dot com.

Hello, this is six minute English from BBC Learning English.

I'm fine, 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'd

you think of the British education system?

Do you think it could be the best?

Um, 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.

What in this program 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 organization every three years.

The tests attempt to show which countries are the most effective at teaching maths, science and reading.

But it's really possible to measure Well, here is former BBC Education correspondent Sean Cofflin talking to BBC World Service program the global story when they were in she 1st.

Thought that was a very contentious idea, because people said, how can you possibly compare big countries?

How can you compare America to Luxemberg, or to, you know, or to parts of China, or whatever?

Shun said that the tests were contentious.

If something is contentious, then it's something that people might argue about, it's controversial.

So at 1st, peace tests were contentious because not everyone believed it was fair to compare very different countries.

Well, 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 2nd?

Was it A, the USA? B Island, or see the UK?

I think it might be B Island.

Okay, well, we will find out if that's correct at the end of the program.

A common pattern in the Peaser rankings is that the most successful countries tend to be smaller.

Talking to BBC World Service Program The Global Story, sean Cocklin tells us that many large countries from Western Europe don't score that highly in the rankings.

They're big outpace without performed by these fast upcoming countries, a Singapore or Estonia or or um Taiwan, or those sort of places, which, if we should then historically think of as being economic rivals.

But I suppose the argument for the Peace of Test is if you want to have a knowledge and an an economy based on skills, this is how you measure it.

We heard that many large European countries are being out pasted by smaller nations.

If someone out paces 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 had smaller nations are outperforming large 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 Program the Global Story.

Sean Cocklin tells us that those countries that prioritize getting everyone to a certain level do well.

We also hear from Randocoustic, an Estonian school principal countries, which make sure that all their pupils get through a certain level of education to certain standard, regardless their background, do well.

If you are teaching them by a different level of 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, by the stone, 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 there something else is not important or not a problem.

Randocoustics 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?

Ah, I asked you which out of the USA Island and the U-K came 2nd for reading in the 2022 PSA rankings.

You said Island, and that was the correct answer.

Walton, OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned in this program about education rankings, starting with contentious, argued about

or controversial. If you're out paced 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 I-T, finance or advanced engineering.

If something happens, regardless of a 2nd thing, the 2nd thing has no impact on it happening.

And finally, if people are segregated, different groups of people are separated and kept apart.

Once again, as 6 min are up, remember to visit our website, bbc learning english dot com, where you'll find a worksheet and quiz related to this program.

And we'll see you again soon for more trending topics and useful vocabulary.

Here it's six minute English. Goodbye for now.

Bye. 6 min English from BBC. Learning English dot com.

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