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When there are debates about the most successful education systems in the world, the names that usually come up are Asian powers like Singapore and South Korea or Nordic countries like Finland or Norway.

But with much less recognition, Canada has risen to the top of international rankings.

In the most recent Pisa international test series, Canada was one of the few countries to appear in the top 10 for math, science and reading.

The tests, organized by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), are a major study of academic performance and show that Canada’s teenagers are among the best educated in the world.

They are far ahead of their geographical neighbors such as the United States and European countries with strong cultural ties such as the United Kingdom and France.

At the university level, Canada has the highest proportion of working-age adults with tertiary education in the world – 55%, compared to an average of 35% across OECD countries.

Canada’s success in school exams is also highly unusual compared to other international trends.

The best-performing countries are often cohesive, compact societies, and the current best-performing country, Singapore, is seen as a model of systematic progress, with each element of the education system integrated into an overall national strategy.

Canada doesn’t even really have a national education system, it’s based on autonomous provinces, and it’s hard to imagine a greater contrast between a city-state like Singapore and a sprawling territory like Canada.

The OECD, trying to understand Canada’s success in education, has described the role of the federal government as “limited and sometimes non-existent.”

It is also not widely recognized that Canada has a high level of migrants in its school population.

More than a third of young adults in Canada come from families where both parents come from another country.

But children from newly arrived migrant families seem to integrate quickly enough to reach the same level of performance as their classmates.

When we take a closer look at the most recent Pisa rankings, at a regional rather than a national level, Canada’s results are even more remarkable.

If Canadian provinces participated in the Pisa tests as separate countries, three of them, Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec, would be among the top five places in the world for science, alongside Singapore and the Japan and ahead of Finland and Hong Kong.

So how did Canada surpass so many other countries in education?

Andreas Schleicher, director of education at the OECD, said that “the great unifying theme of Canada is equity.”

Despite the different policies depending on the provinces, there is a common commitment to equal opportunities at school.

He says there is a strong sense of fairness and equal access, as evidenced by the good academic performance of migrant children.

Three years after their arrival, Pisa tests show that the children of new migrants score as high as the rest of their classmates.

This makes Canada one of the few countries where migrant children reach a similar level to their non-migrant counterparts.

Another distinguishing feature is that Canada’s teachers are well paid by international standards and entry into teaching is highly selective.

Professor David Booth of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto highlights Canada’s “strong literacy foundation.”

Systematic efforts have been made to improve literacy, with well-trained staff, resources such as school libraries, and testing and assessments to identify struggling schools or individuals.

Professor John Jerrim, of the UCL Institute of Education in London, says Canada’s high ranking reflects the narrow socio-economic gap in educational achievement.

Rather than a country of extremes, Canada’s results show a very high average, with relatively little difference between advantaged and disadvantaged students.

In the most recent Pisa science results, the variation in scores in Canada caused by socio-economic differences was 9%, compared to 20% in France and 17% in Singapore.

The fair outcome goes a long way to explaining why Canada performs so well on international tests. There is no underperformance, often linked to poverty.

It’s a remarkably consistent system. Aside from little variation between rich and poor students, there is very little variation in achievement between schools, compared to the developed country average.

Rather than seeing high levels of immigration as a potential drag on results, Professor Jerrim says, in Canada’s case it is probably part of its success.

Migrants who come to Canada, many from countries like China, India and Pakistan, are often relatively well educated and ambitious to see their children launch professional careers.

Professor Jerrim says these families have a “hunger” for success and their high expectations are likely to improve their children’s academic results.

Professor Booth from the University of Toronto also highlights the high expectations of these migrant families.

“Many families new to Canada want their children to excel in school, and students are motivated to learn,” he said.

This has been an exceptional year for education in Canada.

As Canada celebrates its 150th anniversary, it can claim superpower status when it comes to education.