Analytics, Education and Science, Estonia, EU – Baltic States

The test is the innovative part of the PISA 2012 main study that was made public last year, which didn’t test the knowledge of pupils but their ability to cope with situations creatively.

The top positions in this list went to pupils of Singapore, Korea and Japan. Estonia is on the 12th position overall and 3rd position in Europe.

Nearly 85% of Estonian pupils reached at least base or second level. 11.8% were top performers, i.e. at the 5th and 6th achievement level.

There was no major difference between the abilities of boys and girls to solve problems.

Social economic background doesn't influence the ability of children to solve problems but the job position of parents does: children of top specialists or managers coped better with the test.

The best problems solvers study in city schools: pupils in big cities had an average score of 526 points, pupils of county centre schools 518 points and Estonian average was 503, Public Broadcasting noted.

Estonian kids are also very determined and don't give up easily when solving a problem.

A problem is the big difference between scores of pupils of Estonia's Russian and Estonian schools – in schools where teaching takes place in Russian, the average performance was by 49 points lower than in schools that teach in Estonian. The difference affected girls especially. Pupils who don't speak Estonian at home but study in an Estonian school, achieved the same results as Estonian speaking pupils.