A new report reveals the latest global education rankings for school systems around the world that best develop young people’s “future skills” such as creativity, entrepreneurship, communication and collaboration.
As in 2018, Finland has retained its peak position in the global rankings of 50 developed and developing countries - the Worldwide Educating for the Future Index, (WEFFI).
News: Just 2 Asian countries in top ten for future skills
News: UK falls five places in global education rankings
Yidan: Call to reform teacher training to embed research
Sweden, meanwhile, has improved its position, moving from fourth place last year to second in 2019, while New Zealand has remained in third place overall.
Some of the larger, developed countries saw a fall in their ranking overall. The United Kingdom fell from tenth to 15th place, while the US fell to 22nd place from 18th last year. France fell from ninth place to 14th, while Russia fell from 26th to 33rd place.
However, some countries significantly improved their performance, with Peru rising ten places from 34th to 24th place, and Indonesia rising from 43rd place to 28th.
China and India also improved their position since last year, although China’s performance is notably lower than its successes in the global 2018 Pisa rankings - the Programme for International Student Assessment - where it came top.
“The third edition of the index shows that while more economies have incorporated the future skills agenda into their education policies over the past two years, policy implementation still remains weak in many nations,” Georgia McCafferty, editor of the report, said.
“The index assesses whether school systems equip pupils with “future-oriented skills”, such as critical thinking, communication, entrepreneurship and creativity, assessing young people aged between 15 and 24 in 50 countries.
The study was carried out by the Economist Group and commissioned by the Yidan Prize Foundation, which was founded by tech billionaire Charles Chen Yidan.
Country
Rank
Rank (2018)
Finland
1
(1)
Sweden
2
(4)
New Zealand
3
(3)
Singapore
4
(7)
Netherlands
5
(6)
Canada
6
(5)
Switzerland
7
(2)
Australia
8
(11)
Germany
9
(7 - joint with Singapore)
Japan
10
(12)
Norway
11
(14)
Hong Kong SAR
12
(15)
South Korea
13
(16)
France
14
(9)
UK
15
(10)
Spain
16
(23)
Italy
17
(22)
UAE
18
(29)
Poland
19
(27)
Mexico
20
(19)
Chile
21
(13)
US
22
(18)
Philippines
23
(28)
Peru
24
(34)
Colombia
25
(20)
Ghana
26
(25)
South Africa
27
(33)
Indonesia
28
(43)
Israel
29
(23)
Kazakhstan
30
(32)
Vietnam
31
(37)
Turkey
32
(38)
Russia
33
(26)
China
34
(39)
India
35
(40)
Uzbekistan
36
N/A
Brazil
37
(31)
Thailand
38
(36)
Tanzania
39
N/A
Argentina
40
(35)
Ethiopia
41
(44)
Iran
42
(49)
Myanmar
43
N/A
Egypt
44
(46)
Pakistan
45
(50)
Saudi Arabia
46
(42)
Bangladesh
47
(45)
Kenya
48
(41)
Nigeria
49
(47)
DRC
50
N/A
