UK education ranked sixth best in developed world Sir Michael Barber, Pearson's chief education adviser, said Britain had made big improvements in education but warned there was still more work to do. "In the last 15 to 20 years we've seen big improvements in Britain's education system but it's not nearly enough for the future, for having all the population of the country ready for the 21st century and the skills that will be demanded from the 21st century economy, so the drive to keep improving needs to continue," he told BBC Radio 4"s Today programme. We have been improving and some very significant things have been done. The quality of teachers coming into the profession is better, we're clearer about accountability, Ofsted is very clear about what it expects so we're getting sharper about what we expect from the school system and we're getting better people into the teaching profession. Those are two big gains that this report would say were the right things to do. The aim of study, carried out independently by the Economist Intelligence Unit, is deigned to help policymakers, school leaders and academics identify the key factors that bring about improved educational outcomes. Called The Learning Curve, it draws on existing data, including statistics on literacy and school and university graduation rates. Finland and South Korea emerge as the clear "education superpowers," it says, although the two more systems could hardly be more different. While South Korea is frequently characterised as test-driven and rigid, with students putting in long hours, the Finnish system is much more relaxed and flexible. But both countries were found to develop high quality teachers, to value accountability and to have a "moral mission" underlying their education efforts. The analysis also found that the level of support for education within a country's culture appeared to be more important than money in determining how well it performed. There was, however, "no substitute" for good teachers, it said. The best performing countries were those that attracted top talent, trained teachers throughout their careers and allowed them some freedom too. Sir Michael said the report showed there were "no magic bullets" and that education required "long-term, coherent and focused system-wide attention to achieve improvement."