'Entire generation' of pupils have failed reading, writing and maths

Almost half moved up to secondary school without mastering the three Rs needed to cope with the curriculum, in the last decade.

The Conservatives, who released the figures, said an 'entire generation' of pupils had been failed.

Between 1998 and 2007, 2.85million children who took national tests for 11-year-olds failed to achieve the desired 'level four' in reading, writing and maths.

Three Rs failure: Three million children are leaving primary school without knowing the basics in reading, writing and maths

The official figures are expected to pass the 3million mark when this year's results are announced later today.

It means pupils would struggle to punctuate basic sentences, spell words with more than one syllable, pick out themes from a text or recall the six-times table.

The true scale of the failure could be even higher because a marking loophole has allowed governments to boast of inflated school standards since 1995.

Pupils' results are expected to fall up to two percentage points this year following a decision to scrap controversial 'borderlining' – where pupils who just missed a grade threshold had their scripts automatically reviewed.

Around 300,000 pupils have seen their scores upgraded. But children who just scraped over the borderline were never rechecked, meaning no students were similarly marked down.

In 1998, only 42 per cent of pupils made the grade in reading, writing and maths, which are assessed through English and maths SATs at the end of primary school.

By last year, the figure had risen to 60 per cent – or 234,000 – amid claims 'teaching to the test' has contributed to improvements.

Polling of local authorities suggests this year's picture will be similar.

Michael Gove, Tory education spokesman, said: 'Pupils who have taken their SATs tests this year were born in the same year Labour came to power.

'Yet hundreds of thousands will not have reached the basic level of literacy and numeracy in the 3Rs, and the gap between the most disadvantaged pupils and the rest continues to grow wider.

'It is a tragedy hundreds of thousands will join the millions who have left primary school unable to master the basics in the 3Rs - basics that are the keystone of future opportunity and success.

• The majority of secondary school teachers believe SATs results exaggerate the abilities of primary pupils because students are coached to pass the tests, a report reveals today.

Tens of thousands of 11-year-olds face being re-examined in English, maths and science when they start new schools in September because staff refuse to rely on SATs scores.

On the day national results are published, a survey of 107 secondary teachers by the Civitas think-tank shows 90 per cent do not believe test scores reflect pupils' true abilities.

Almost 80 per cent believe they over-state the competence of some pupils, with many blaming widespread coaching.

Only 10 per cent said the scores were a fair reflection. Teachers say they face pressure to 'prove' Government initiatives are working, forcing them to devote hours drilling pupils to answer test questions.

This comes at the expense of ensuring children make genuine gains in knowledge and understanding, they claim. One head of science wrote:

'It's like they've been prepared for an MOT – you can pass on the day but not the day after.'

The Department for Children said: 'Standards in our schools are rising, and we do not accept this is the result of teaching to the test.'