Every few years governments around the world compete in global rankings to see which nation is deemed to have the best school system in the world. Schools in Asia often get the best results, and other countries like Estonia and Canada are also highly praised.
But in many parts of the world there are often huge barriers to getting children into the classroom at all - such as poverty, climate change and war.
On today's episode, Lucy Hockings speaks to the BBC's Sean Coughlan and Professor John Jerrim from University College London about which countries have the most successful education systems in the world and what others can learn from them.
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