This isn't to suggest that our education system is perfect (or that league tables are everything) but it appears to be outperforming nations with much higher per-capita income than ours.

Exactly. PISA is a league table run by/for the OECD for econo-political purposes. It measures what it wants to find - inequality of test performances - and manipulates that data into international comparisons.

PISA has nothing whatsoever to do with learning and teaching, it's an education management audit system.

Do you support national league tables?

and my backup DSL connection working the way DSL connections so often work in Pt Chev: that being, not at all.

Whoa...I see your "roll" now seems to extend to the illustrious heights of Telecon.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10477862

Watch out world here comes RussB