UK tumbles down education rankings

Britain slumped from eighth to 24th position for maths skills among 15-year-olds in a major study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

In reading, the UK fell to 17th after previously being ranked seventh, prompting calls for a full-scale review of the Government's education policies.

More than 400,000 teenagers from 57 countries took part in the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) study, which was backed by the Government. The project tried to gauge pupils' ability to apply their knowledge in real life, rather than regurgitate facts and figures.

The top-ranked country for pupils' performance in the maths tests was Chinese Taipei, with an average score of 549. The UK's was just 495, three points under the OECD average of 498.

The UK got 495 points for reading, fewer than Estonia and Poland, among others. Korea was the top-placed country for pupils' reading skills, with a score of 556.

After the first PISA study in 2000, Tony Blair hailed the UK's seventh place in reading and eighth place in maths as a justification of his promise to prioritise education, insisting the country should be "very proud".

On Tuesday, schools minister Jim Knight insisted: "It is pleasing the Pisa report reflects students having strong attitudes towards the importance of mathematics and English."

But Liberal Democrat schools spokesman David Laws said the findings were "a real blow" to the Government and called for a review of education policy.

He said: "British children's attainment has gone down in almost every league table despite a massive investment programme. The reality of these league tables is that compared to pupils in other countries our children are short-changed at school."