The secret of China's schooling success? Pushy parents and even pushier teachers Chinese pupils are racing ahead of their British counterparts in school league tables The city topped the table despite spending just 60 per cent of international average on education By the time British children reach the age of 15, they are already languishing three years behind their Shanghai equivalents in maths. It is just one marker of how the Chinese city is racing ahead of Britain - and the rest of the world. Shanghai is top of the international league table in maths, reading and science for the second time. The city triumphed despite spending just 60 per cent of the international average on education - $49,000 (£29,852) over a pupil's lifetime compared to the average of $83,382 (£50,793). Hard work: Many of Shanghai's pupils study for nine hours a day In Britain, the spending per pupil is $98,023 (£59,719) - yet the investment does not bear fruit. The disparity in academic standing cannot be blamed on large class sizes, as the average number of pupils in Shanghai's nearly 3,000 state schools is 35.4, compared with 25 in the UK. The key difference between Shanghai and Britain appears to be pushy parents - and even pushier teachers. In the Chinese city, 45.9 per cent of parents got in touch with teachers to discuss school performance compared with 18.9 per cent in the UK. This was also the case in other top performing countries such as Vietnam and Poland. The teachers also phone parents regularly, telling them how to improve their parenting as well as checking on how hard the children are working at home. Pressure and expectation seem to bear results - 80 per cent of Shanghai's 1.8million pupils enter higher education. Vietnam claimed 17th place in the league tables despite spending much less than Britain. The average number of children in a class is 41, making a mockery of the idea that education depends on low pupil-teacher ratios. Vietnam had the highest proportion of parents - 49.2 per cent - who got in touch with teachers to check on their child's progress. The OECD's Andreas Schleicher, in charge of the PISA tests, highlighted Vietnam's "star performance" in its first appearance in the international tables. It was in the top ten for science and outperformed many much wealthier western education systems, including the United States. Top performing high school students in Vietnam are expected to study additional courses and parents often use tutors to help children at underfunded state schools. The average monthly salary of state teachers is between £35 and £60 a day, so many supplement their income with private tuition. Britain spends 14 times as much as Vietnam on each pupil. Estonia's pupils also outperform their British equivalents in every subject area, despite it spending $55,520 or £33,824.78, around half of what the UK spends on education. But it had just 20.6 pupils per class. The "pushy parent" effect could be a result of China's one child policy or perhaps the fact that 80 per cent of Shanghai's youngsters have some form of private tuition in addition to mainstream schooling. Other reasons for the city's success include the intensive training given to teachers throughout their careers and a culture of sharing and competition in the classroom. Most children spend long hours in school, studying in bursts, before continuing with plenty of homework and extra-curricular activities later. The OECD study said: "Top performers, notably in Asia, place great emphasis on selecting and training teachers, encourage them to work together and prioritise investment in teacher quality not classroom sizes. They also set clear targets and give teachers autonomy in the classroom. Children whose parents have higher expectations perform better. Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's education expert, added: "Teachers call up parents at least fortnightly - they ring them on their mobile to check on how their children are working. They also tell them how to improve their parenting. The pupils in Shanghai have agile, mobile schools and a lot of parental pressure. The length of the academic day varies between schools, but having children work for nine hours is not uncommon. Classes are highly selective and competition is actively encouraged. Mr Schleicher said the system is intensely meritocratic, adding: "If you are better than others, you're going to get better chances. That's the underlying belief. However, while Shanghai and Hong Kong, which also performed well, are China's economic power-houses, the results for the rest of the country are likely to be much more patchy. Figures for the whole of China were not submitted for the OECD survey. Shanghai's teachers are paid relatively modest salaries but have the incentive of 30 per cent of their earnings being based on performance. Falling behind: British teenagers are lagging behind their Chinese counterparts