A group of high performing East Asian economies have once again topped the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings. In the past, other countries have been going up and down when it comes to the rankings but the East Asian countries consistently dominated particularly China, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. And if you are wondering how they have done it, here is where the gap comes in.

Culture

East Asian students have been raised with a principle where education is valued, and that the success of a person relies not on his or her innate abilities but on the efforts they exert into learning. The students from these countries also get intensive after school study habits where they spend a few extra hours after school to study in the evening.

High quality educators

In East Asia, the quality of education is maintained by means of making sure that the teachers do not have so much workload than they can handle. They also have longer time allotted for their classes so that teachers can have ample time for planning or ample time for students who need it.

Differences in their approach to learning

The East Asian students value learning as if it is the most important thing in life and it is not significant to make a person smarter but to make a person better. They also believe that learning is an endless process.

Increased importance on scores and school rankings

The students spend most of their waking time studying. They even get tutors to help them review their lessons for the day and do advance study for the coming lessons at school. When it comes to the honor list, competition is really very stiff because these are the things they take pride on.