上海青少年學習素養全球第一

Teenagers from the Chinese city of Shanghai have the best education in the world, according to a major international study of standards in in maths, science and literacy released Tuesday.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's "Pisa" report, released every three years, studied 470,000 15-year-old pupils in 65 countries around the more developed parts of the world.

South Korea and Finland topped the country rankings in the survey but, taken separately from China, the huge city of Shanghai -- taking part in the survey for the first time -- came top in all three of the disciplines.

"More than one-quarter of Shanghai's 15-year-olds demonstrated advanced mathematical thinking skills to solve complex problems, compared to an OECD average of just three percent," the OECD said.

Other Asian countries and regions also scored particularly well, and OECD education expert Eric Charbonnier said the continent's success was a result of educational values that favour equality as well as quality.

"In Shanghai, a city of 20 million, they followed policies to fight against social inequality, to target the schools that were in most difficulty and send them the best performing heads and most experienced teachers," he said.

South Korea came second in comprehension, fourth in maths and sixth in science and Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan were well-placed.

Finland, whose educational system has been hailed by Western experts, remains the best performing European country, coming third in comprehension, second in science and third in maths.

Seven European countries performed better than the OECD average: Belgium, Estonia, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Switzerland. Of these, Poland was praised for making rapid progress through school reform.

The United States, Sweden, Germany, France, Ireland, Denmark, Britain, Hungary and Portugal scored around the average for richer countries, but pupils in Sweden and Ireland performed worse than three years ago.

"Better educational outcomes are a strong predictor for future economic growth," said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria.

根據本週二最新發布的一項針對數學素養、科學素養和閱讀素養的全球調查，中國上海青少年的學習素養位居全球之首。

經濟合作與發展組織（OECD）的此項《國際學生評估項目》針對全球較發達的65個國家或地區的47萬名15歲學生展開了調查。該報告每三年發佈一次。

韓國和芬蘭在國家排名中居首，但首次作爲獨立城市參加調查的中國大都市上海在上述三項評價中均名列榜首。

OECD表示：“超過四分之一的上海15歲青少年展現出優異的解決複雜難題的數學思維能力。而OECD國家中只有平均3%的學生達到這個程度。”

其它亞洲國家和地區也表現不俗。OECD教育專家埃裏克•查本尼耶稱，亞洲的成功源於其教育價值觀認爲平等和質量同樣重要。

他說：“在2000萬人口的上海，人們遵循反對社會不公的原則，關注最困難的學校，給它們派出最優秀的校長和經驗豐富的教師。”

韓國青少年閱讀素養名列第二，數學素養名列第四，科學素養名列第六。香港、新加坡、臺灣和日本排名也很靠前。

芬蘭在歐洲國家中排名居首，青少年的閱讀素養排名第三、科學素養排名第二，數學素養排名第三。西方專家一直對其教育體制讚不絕口。

歐洲有七個國家表現好於OECD的平均水平，分別爲比利時、愛沙尼亞、冰島、荷蘭、挪威、波蘭和瑞士。其中，波蘭因學校改革而進步神速，備受誇讚。

美國、瑞典、德國、法國、愛爾蘭、丹麥、英國、匈牙利和葡萄牙的排名接近於富裕國家的平均水平，但瑞典和愛爾蘭的學生表現比三年前要差。

OECD祕書長安吉爾•葛利亞說：“更好的教育成果預示着未來經濟能取得發展。”

Vocabulary:

hail: to acclaim; approve enthusiastically（讚揚，稱頌）