England’s brightest pupils can almost match their Asian peers in maths at the age of 10 but are two years behind by the time they sit their GCSE, a study said on Friday.
The report compiled by the Institute of Education at the University of London, revealed that the gap between the top 10 percent of pupils in England and the highest achievers in countries like Hong Kong and Taiwan widens between the ages of 10 and 16.
“Our results suggest that, although average maths test scores are higher in East Asian countries than in England, differences do not seem to increase between the end of primary and the end of secondary school,” the report said.
“However, the gap between the highest achieving school children in East Asia and the highest achieving school children in England does seem to widen between ages 10 and 16.”
The study also found that the cleverest of English youngsters make less progress relative to their counterparts abroad.
The other nations studied were Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Slovenia, Norway, Scotland, the United States, Italy, Lithuania and Russia.
Ministers had already voiced concerns about England slipping down international rankings.
Education Minister Elizabeth Truss said: “This report is a damning indictment of Labour’s record on education. Based on data from between 2003 and 2009 it shows that our top pupils actually lose ground as they get older, not just with their peers in the Far East, but with those in every country studied. “
But shadow schools minister Kevin Brennan said the report showed the government was going after the wrong priorities.
Researchers analysed two international studies, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) to come to the conclusion.
They studied results of the TIMSS tests taken at age of nine and 10 in 2003 and by 13 and 14-year-olds in 2007 as well as the PISA test for pupils aged between the age of 15 and 16 in 2009.
Maths students in England lag behind Asian peers
