Singapore has the highest achieving students in international education rankings, with its teenagers coming top in tests in maths, reading and science.
The influential Pisa rankings, run by the OECD, are based on tests taken by 15-year-olds in more than 70 countries.
The UK remains a middle-ranking performer – behind countries such as Japan, Estonia, Finland and Vietnam.
OECD education director Andreas Schleicher said Singapore was “not only doing well, but getting further ahead”. The tests, run by the OECD and taken every three years, have become increasingly influential on politicians who see their countries and their policies being measured against these global school league tables. Asian countries continue to dominate, with Singapore rated as best, replacing Shanghai, which is now part of a combined entry for China. Finland, Estonia and Ireland are the only non-Asian nations to get into any of the top five rankings across all three subjects. Singapore managed to achieve excellence without wide differences between children from wealthy and disadvantaged families. He described Vietnam’s progress as “quite remarkable”, coming ahead of Germany and Switzerland in science – and ahead of the US in science and maths.