A recently published Pisa (Programme for International Student Assessment) study shows that England has moved up the rankings as a result of a significant improvement in mathematics and a small rise in reading.
In mathematics, England was ranked 17th, just one place behind Finland and up from 26th in 2015.
However, it was behind countries including Estonia, Poland and the seven top-ranked East Asian systems.
There was a decline in science, shared by some of the highest performing counties in the Pisa study.
