The BBC on Tuesday carried a most thought-provoking interview with Andreas Schleicher, the man responsible for the highly-influential Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) tests.

Pisa is the leading benchmark for measuring pupils’ skills in reading, numeracy and science globally.

In the article headlined ‘China: The world’s cleverest country?’, Schleicher was quoted as saying China’s results in international education tests – which have never been published – are “remarkable”.

Pisa tests are taken by 15-year-olds in reading, maths and science.

Previous leaders in these subjects had been South Korea (reading), Taipei (maths), Finland (science) in 2006. However the surprising results in 2009 were Shanghai (reading), Shanghai (maths), Shanghai (science) – a clean sweep.

What is the secret of Shanghai’s success?

BBC News’ education correspondent Sean Coughlan explores why the Pisa 2009 tests came to show that the Chinese city topping the international education rankings.

It is most eye-opening to read how China possesses an education system that is overtaking many Western countries, and the why of it. Pisa interprets the “incredible resilience” of the Chinese people as providing the answer.

Schleicher explains: “The idea of Pisa was to take away all the excuses. People say you can only improve an education system over 25 years – but look at Poland and Singapore, which have improved in a very short time, we’ve seen dramatic changes.”

Elaborating on what the findings indicate, Schleicher states, “Education is a field dominated by beliefs and traditions, it’s inward looking. As a system you can find all kinds of excuses and explanations for not succeeding.”

What is most significant about the 2009 Pisa results is the culture of Chinese schools which is reflective of the larger culture of the Chinese. Anyone can create an education system where a few at the top succeed, says Schleicher, but the real challenge is to push through the entire cohort.

Describing his recent trip to a poor province in China, Schleicher tells the BBC reporter how he saw that schools were often the most impressive buildings there. In the West, it is more likely to be a shopping centre.

What the results reveal, according to Schleicher, is a picture of a society investing individually and collectively in education. This is a most significant insight into how the world’s soon-to-be number one superpower is teaching her next generation.

Pisa tests are held every three years by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the next one in the series is this year.

CPI recommends the BBC article as a must-read. Click here.