Tuesday 06 December 2016 4:39 pm

OECD Pisa education report: Reading and science scores climb as maths struggles

By: Billy Bambrough

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The UK is climbing the world rankings in both reading and science according to the latest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) international student assessments.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is undertaken once every three years and tests 15-year-olds' abilities in the core academic disciplines of reading, maths and science.

It found the UK is still lagging behind leading countries and has made little progress since the survey was done three years ago.

Scroll down for the full results

The maths result will cause some cause for concern, slipping down to 27th place from three years ago, the lowest since it began participating in the Pisa tests in 2000.

In reading, the UK is ranked 22nd, up from 23rd, having fallen out of the top 20 in 2006, while the UK's most successful subject is science, up from 21st to 15th place – climbing seven places in science to its highest since 2006, despite scoring a lower average score overall.

The UK has remained among the mid-table performers since the survey's inception at the turn of the millennium, with Singapore rated at the top and most of the highest places taken by Asian education systems.

Neil Carberry, CBI Director for People and Skills policy, said:

The drop in England’s overall performance will be a concern to businesses as well as to thousands of school teachers across the country who are doing a very challenging job. It’s particularly concerning as in the CBI’s latest report on regional growth our research shows that the fundamental driver of economic performance is education.

Businesses have a key role to play in improving every school across the country through joining governing bodies, offering clear routes to high-quality apprenticeships, careers advice and work experience, regardless of a young person’s background or where they live.

The survey was launched in 2000, with around 540,000 students from 72 countries taking part in Pisa in 2015.

• B-S-J-G (China) = Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Guangdong – Shanghai China was represented individually in 2012 and topped all three league tables. This year it has been combined with Beijing, Jiangsu and Guangdong and has seen a notable decline in the rankings.
• FYROM = Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
• CABA (Argentina) = Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires (Autonomous City of Buenos Aires)