Australia has a world-class education system, according to the latest results from the Programme for International Student Assessment, as Sue Thomson explains. In 2006, more than 14 000 15-yearold students from 356 schools across Australia took part in the third cycle of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Schools were randomly selected from all schools in Australia and about 50 students were randomly selected for participation in each school. These students represented Australia in what has become known as the world’s biggest assessment, with a total of 400 000 students in 57 countries participating in PISA 2006, including all countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and 27 others, ranging from Azerbaijan to Uruguay.