Which country has the best schools? ⏲️ 6 Minute English — Transcript

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1. 0:07Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.
2. 0:11I'm Phil. And I'm Beth.
3. 0:13So, Beth, we're talking about the best education systems in the world today.
4. 0:20You went to school here in Britain.
5. 0:22What do you think of the British education system?
6. 0:24Do you think it could be the best?
7. 0:26I think that it's quite good,
8. 0:29there's probably a couple of things that I personally would change about it,
9. 0:32but I would say it's quite good, but maybe not the best in the world.
10. 0:37Well, in this programme, we're going to be talking about the Pisa rankings.
11. 0:42The rankings are based on tests carried out by the OECD,
12. 0:46that's an international organisation, every three years.
13. 0:50The tests attempt to show which countries are the most
14. 0:53effective at teaching maths, science and reading.
15. 0:57But is that really possible to measure?
16. 0:59Well, here is former BBC education correspondent Sean Coughlan talking
17. 1:05to BBC World Service programme 'The Global Story'.
18. 1:08When they were introduced first of all, that was a very contentious idea,
19. 1:11because people said, how can you possibly compare big countries...
20. 1:14how can you compare America to Luxembourg or to, you know,
21. 1:17or to parts of China or whatever?
22. 1:19Sean said that the tests were contentious.
23. 1:22If something is contentious, then it's something that people might argue about -
24. 1:27it's controversial.
25. 1:29So, at first, Pisa tests were contentious because
26. 1:32not everyone believed it was fair to compare very different countries.
27. 1:37Phil, I've got a question for you about them.
28. 1:39So, in 2022, Singapore was top of the reading rankings.
29. 1:45But which of these countries came second?
30. 1:48Was it a) the USA, b) Ireland or c) the UK?
31. 1:53I think it might be b) Ireland.
32. 1:56OK. Well, we will find out if that's correct at the end of the programme.
33. 2:01A common pattern in the Pisa rankings is
34. 2:03that the most successful countries tend to be smaller.
35. 2:08Talking to BBC World Service programme, 'The Global Story',
36. 2:11Sean Coughlan tells us that many large countries
37. 2:15from Western Europe don't score that highly in the rankings.
38. 2:19They're being outpaced and outperformed by these fast, upcoming countries,
39. 2:23you know, Singapore or Estonia, or Taiwan, or those sort of places
40. 2:29which have which we don't historically think of as being economic rivals,
41. 2:33but I suppose the argument for the Pisa tests is, if you want to have
42. 2:36a knowledge economy, an economy based on skills,
43. 2:39this is how you measure it.
44. 2:41We heard that many large European countries
45. 2:44are being outpaced by smaller nations.
46. 2:47If someone outpaces you, they're going faster than you - at a higher pace.
47. 2:53We use the prefix, 'out-' to say that someone or something is better
48. 2:58at doing something.
49. 2:59We also heard that smaller nations are 'outperforming' larger ones -
50. 3:04they're performing better.
51. 3:06Singapore, Estonia and Taiwan are described as 'economic rivals'
52. 3:11to large European nations.
53. 3:13That means that they are competing with them, economically.
54. 3:17We also heard about a knowledge economy.
55. 3:20This is an economy based on service industries that require workers
56. 3:24to be highly educated, such as IT, finance or advanced engineering.
57. 3:30So, what makes countries perform better in these tests?
58. 3:35Let's hear again from BBC World Service programme, 'The Global Story'.
59. 3:40Sean Coughlan tells us that those countries that prioritise
60. 3:44getting everyone to a certain level do well.
61. 3:47We also hear from Rando Kuustik, an Estonian School principal.
62. 3:52Countries which make sure that all their pupils get
63. 3:56through a certain level of education to a certain standard,
64. 3:59regardless of their background, do well.
65. 4:01If you are teaching them by different level or abilities,
66. 4:06then you are segregating them, and we don't want to segregate any people
67. 4:12in the world, why we are doing that
68. 4:14in the schools? This one of the main things why Estonia is successful.
69. 4:19Sean said the most successful systems educate everyone
70. 4:24to a particular standard, regardless of their background.
71. 4:27If one thing happens regardless of something else it means
72. 4:31that the something else is not important, or not a problem.
73. 4:36Rando Kuustik said
74. 4:37that Estonian schools do not want to segregate students.
75. 4:41'Segregate' means to separate and keep apart.
76. 4:45So, we've just heard about Estonia,
77. 4:48but what about your question, Beth?
78. 4:51What about those countries?
79. 4:53I asked you which out of the USA, Ireland and the UK
80. 4:58came second for reading in the 2022 Pisa rankings?
81. 5:03You said Ireland, and that was the correct answer. Well done!
82. 5:08OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learnt in this programme
83. 5:12about education rankings, starting with, 'contentious' -
84. 5:16argued about or controversial.
85. 5:18If you're outpaced by someone, they're going faster than you are.
86. 5:23Rivals are competitors.
87. 5:25A knowledge economy is one based on industries that need
88. 5:28highly educated workers, such as IT, finance or advanced engineering.
89. 5:34If something happens,
90. 5:35regardless of a second thing, the second thing has no impact on it happening.
91. 5:41And finally, if people are segregated,
92. 5:44different groups of people are separated and kept apart.
93. 5:47Once again, our six minutes are up.
94. 5:50Remember to visit our website, bbclearningenglish.com,
95. 5:54where you'll find a worksheet and quiz related to this programme,
96. 5:58and we'll see you again soon
97. 5:59for more trending topics and useful vocabulary here at 6 Minute English.
98. 6:04Goodbye for now.
99. 6:05Bye!