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The deepening  recession won't alter one truism. In today's world of 'knowledge economies', if countries want to compete they have to have an edge in education. 
The problem that ministers face, however, is knowing which direction to take.
More than US$2 trillion is spent by governments around the world on education each year and yet, according to a global report by McKinsey  & Company,  the performance of many school systems has barely improved in decades.
The politicians may pore over the results of international comparative tests for proof of which country's methods should be emulated. But the truth is that many ambitious attempts at reform have failed.
For Hong Kong, which has consistently come near the top in such tests in recent years,  comparisons provide even fewer incentives to make widespread reforms. But, in an ever-changing world, standing still is not an option.
The only cast-iron conclusion one can make by examining the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment  results, the main means of making international comparisons, is that improving education is not only about  investing money.  
As The Economist has pointed out, Australia has almost tripled education spending per student since 1970 with no evident improvement in results.
Yet, within each country, there are examples of innovative state schools that have transformed achievement, even in the most socially disadvantaged areas.
The dilemma for governments is to decide which aspects of these schools  offer the best model for developing education for future generations and how can they be adopted across the whole system.
The challenge for teachers and parents is to press for their school to learn from the experience of the most ground-breaking schools around the world.
'If you want to know what schools  will be like or should be like in 10 or 15 years' time,'  said Brian Caldwell,  an  international expert on the transformation of schooling, 'just look at what the cutting-edge schools are doing now.'
These schools have been given the freedom to innovate and are raising achievement through strong leadership, targeted funding, constantly improved teaching, tailoring learning to individual pupils' needs and to changes in society, widespread community involvement and adherence to a coherent set of values.
Professor Caldwell, a professorial fellow and former dean of education at Melbourne University, recently completed an international study of dramatically improved schools in six countries: Australia, China, England, Finland, the United States and Wales. 
'The conclusion I would draw from the study and from the McKinsey report,' said Professor  Caldwell, 'is that if you look at the best-performing schools in the public sector in international studies, there is no reason why any school, no matter who owns and operates it, can't be as good as the best. It's a matter of getting the policy settings right and providing the necessary support.'
In this series over the next six weeks, the South China Morning Post will report on how 'schools of tomorrow' are demonstrating how radical improvements in education can be achieved.
Brendan O'Malley is former international editor of The Times Educational Supplement  and works as a freelance consultant for Unesco brendanomalley.journalist@googlemail.com 
McKinsey report: How the world's best-performing school systems come out on top: www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/socialsector/resources/pdf worlds_school_systems_final.pdf 
Caldwell's International Project to Frame the Transformation of Schools: www.educational transformations.com.au/index.php?option=com _content&task=view&id=117&Itemid=29



Freedom to innovate provides basis to boost education standards