Finnish pupils are the smartest in the world, according to a survey 15-year-olds in 41 countries, closely followed by three Asian countries.

More than 250,000 students in 41 countries took part in Pisa (Program for International Student Assessment) 2003, the second three-yearly survey of its kind. The survey involves pencil and paper tests lasting two hours, taken in the students' schools, and measures pupils in four areas: mathematics, science, reading comprehension and problem solving.

The results showed the Finns in first place followed by the South Koreans, the Hong Kong Chinese and the Japanese, in fourth place.

The survey, on behalf of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), is based on a series of questions which give an idea of a student’s ability to apply knowledge acquired in the classroom to everyday life. It includes the world’s 30 industrialised nations and 11 partner countries and has become a way for a country to measure the effectiveness of its national education system.

The Finns have been overall top each time the survey was carried out. They came second in mathematics in the latest survey, behind Hong Kong, which was also placed first in 2000. Asian education systems traditionally rank high in mathematics. South Korea and Japan placed third and fifth respectively in 2000.

Bringing up the rear were Tunisia, Indonesia, Brazil and Mexico. Within the European Union, the Netherlands, which was not a part of the survey in 2000, placed fourth in mathematics and sixth in science. The Czech Republic took seventh place in science, while Belgian students were particularly good in mathematics and problem solving (seventh in each category). Data for the United Kingdom are not included, due to insufficient response rates of students and schools. (The Netherlands was excluded from Pisa 2000 for the same reason.)

A drop in ratings can prompt national angst, such as is the case with Austria this year, which slipped significantly in all areas between 2000 and 2003. Austria was the only German-speaking country to show a decline.

While Germany improved its results since the last report, when the country’s education system was severely criticised, it still remained below average among OECD member nations. Germans were only 16th out of 29 in the rankings for mathematics, which is the equivalent of being a year behind the Finns.

High expenditure is not necessarily a key to success: a number of countries do well in terms of "value for money" in their education systems, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Japan, Korea and the Netherlands, while some of the "big spenders" perform below the OECD average.

According to the OECD, the following are crucial to a good education: a good relationship between students and teachers, pupils eager to learn, an environment in which mathematics classes do not provoke anxiety, and constructive rules to enforce discipline.

Girls are generally better students than boys. The gap has narrowed in mathematics but in reading comprehension girls are still solidly ahead.

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