NZ ranked eighth in global education study

Published: 9:48AM Saturday December 01, 2012 Source: ONE News

New Zealand's education system has been ranked eighth in the world in a report published by an education firm.

The global education study called The Learning Curve was published by Pearson and written by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The report covered 40 countries and examined the cognitive skills and educational attainment levels of children in reading, writing and maths, the quality of teaching and cultural respect for education.

The annual report found that teachers mattered greatly, with the company saying that "the impact of good teachers extends beyond positive educational outcomes and can be linked to positive societal factors, such as lower levels of teenage pregnancy and a greater tendency to save for retirement".

The report said that creating excellent teachers went beyond paying them a good salary.

"The best performing countries attract top talent, train teachers throughout their careers and allow them freedom too."

The top performers were Finland and South Korea, which were described as "education superpowers", followed by Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Britain, the Netherlands and then New Zealand.

Thailand, Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia were the bottom four countries. Australia did not feature in the top 10 ranked countries, coming in at 13 on the list.

Pearson says the report is aimed at helping policymakers, educators, academics and other specialists to identify the factors that seem to lead in some countries to outstanding educational performance.