Imagine being the global leader in education and spitefully sticking a punitive VAT onto your best industry, intentionally hobbling it purely for the vibes, and adding friction to the thing you are best at.

Welsh kids would be embarrassed if they could read this

Another reminder that left-leaning ideas in education seldom work. A big win for conservative thinking.

England might be exceptionally good at fudging the numbers by undercounting weak students.

It's a pity that England's figures can't be trusted though, isn't it?

I don’t think Englands stats can be trusted.

Why say Scotland education has ‘failed’, based on a selective few PISA scores? OECD say you are wrong. They say ‘Scotland better at ‘social and emotional’ scores.👇 Why not report that? youtu.be/xA_8MMsRnY0

My 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 daughter is at a 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 university. She found the first year easy because the curriculum had to allow for the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 students to catch up. A Levels seem to be more academically rigorous than Highers.

How much of the decline then could be attributed to the pisa test not being compatible with these new teaching approaches?

What do you mean by ‘tried-and-tested disciplines and methods’, John?

Education departments appear to be staffed by those who hate education.

That’s so limiting and offers zero evidence of success post school. If it’s measuring the amount reaching University, well that hasn’t changed significantly in the recent times. I believe schools should help prepare for life post school with emphasis on skills and knowledge

So @michaelgove is the only guy to come out of the 14 years of disastrous Tory rule with a positive record then? Interesting.

How have other countries ‘failed’, John? Why would you use only those very narrow PISA questions? And ignore the widespread criticism of PISA, including gaming?👇

Maybe they should use the same methods as England.

Of course, what’s missing from these types of studies is any context asking what’s the purpose of education in the 21st century. I know its purpose for the 19th and early 20tg centuries but in 2026, how does one arrive at educational success? If it’s simply attainment then 1/2

But the Lockdown effect is real. An absolute betrayal of children, who were never at risk.

Is it though

PISA scores aren’t everything. If England is achieving these outcomes by a relentless rise in authoritarian schools that’s not great. 1/2 schools.h-farm.com/en/news/t…

Teaching speed differenciated by aptitude. School contest at 10 years old to enter Grammar School makes a difference...

England's stats are being questioned today by genuine experts, John

Gove might have had a point? Ouch. Interesting then that UK NEET is so high esp in comparison to other countries. Is there regional PISA data that could be mapped across? - variation within England that might track? And what lesson should the new England Ed Sec take from this?

The results for the UK are factitious. The UK is afflicted with atrocious exam boards, and fewer students are engaging with English, the most important subject. That is one aspect of my warning about these worthless “literacy assessment” style tests. Not only are they not teaching tools as they need to be to avoid crippling opportunity costs, they are also masking severe underperformance as in the UK. Another factor leading to chaos in the UK is the massive, absurd 11-month teacher education programs, as at UCL. You can’t coin a teacher proficient in a curriculum in that short period of time. It takes a minimum of two years with extensive professional development. National testing has to be based on a precise national curriculum. You have to teach these texts minutely, page by page, reading out loud, in teacher education programs and in schools: Romeo and Juliet (Cambridge School Shakespeare) Macbeth (Cambridge School Shakespeare) Othello (Cambridge School Shakespeare) King Lear (Cambridge School Shakespeare) Hamlet (Cambridge School Shakespeare) Shakespeare’s Sonnets (Poetry Foundation): 1, 15, 18, 30, 33, 60, 64, 65, 73, 97, 98, 104, 116, 129, 130.

Amazing things can happen provided you exclude enough data.

Avoiding this is only half the story. The other story is that England failed to close the gap on leading nations like Singapore and England's results are basically over twenty years

Isn't it the case that cross country comparisons don't give a true account as selection of schools/pupils differ eg England selects small number of quality schools, other countries, Scotland included, use larger and more representative samples?

Our average results have gone down since 2006 - this is the vast success you trumpet!

given ucas read across entry points exactly the same for northern ireland and england. explain how for exactly the same pisa cohort, northern ireland smashed england on 2026 gcse results, yet pisa have them well down. i'd ponder this before writing up anything conclusive

Yep. By fiddling the numbers...

Nah for 2000 years the English have been pulling the celts out of the bog.

The 15 yr olds of 2025 lost 6 mths of school across primary 5 & 6, and then had many more months of disruption, losing out on foundation skills in maths & reading that they may never have recovered from. My 15 yr old needed 2 years of private maths tuition to catch up. So I ….

England’s PISA results are stronger than Wales’s. But are we comparing like with like? England educates more pupils with significant difficulties outside mainstream schools, while Wales is more inclusive. How much of the gap is education, and how much sample composition?