England's 15-year-olds' reading is more than a year behind the best
GCSE pupils' reading is more than a year behind the standard of their peers in Shanghai, Korea and Finland, research reveals today.
Fifteen-year-olds in England are also at least six months behind those in Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and Australia, according to the Department for Education's (DfE) analysis of the OECD's 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study.
To match the attainment of pupils from Shanghai in the reading assessment:
- The proportion of England's pupils achieving five A*-C grades (including English and maths) at the end of Key Stage 4 would need to increase by 22 percentage points.
- For all maintained schools in England this would be an increase from 55 per cent of pupils achieving the threshold measure (in 2010) to 77 per cent.
The DfE's PISA 2009 Study: How Big is the Gap? highlights how far England has slipped behind other nations in reading.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb said that the Government was taking urgent action to ensure England could match those countries which had closed the gap between the achievements of rich and poor pupils, while raising the attainment of all.
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... (DfE - 12 October)