The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment or Pisa tests examines the performance of 15-year-old pupils in mathematics, science, and reading.

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Professionalization of a teaching profession that merely focuses on getting better PISA test scores or more efficient teaching of a common core curriculum will do no better than what we have now, and probably worse.

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Florence is the regional capital, but other renowned cities and town such as Pisa and its leaning tower or Lucca with its fortress walls add their own particular history and charm.

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Mr Schleicher acknowledges that the hopeful, or simply naive, sometimes rifle through the PISA studies for shiny new education initiatives to pilfer.

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The principles behind the new design follow the Fibonacci mathematical sequence discovered by Leonardo da Pisa in the 13th Century and echo the spirals at the centre of a sunflower or pine cone.

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