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Why are Shanghai pupils so good at maths?

25 February 2014 Last updated at 16:29 GMT

Education Minister Elizabeth Truss is leading a fact-finding mission to Shanghai to see how children there have become the best in the world.

According to Pisa international league tables, 15-year-olds in Shanghai are three years ahead of their UK counterparts in mathematics.

Ms Truss and a delegation of experts are visiting schools and teacher-training centres in the Chinese city.

They are studying the successful teaching methods with a view to their possible adoption in English schools.

But the Shanghai school system has also faced criticism, as John Sudworth reports.