By Sean Coughlan
BBC News education correspondent
Secondary school pupils in the UK are falling behind their international counterparts, according to a major survey from the OECD.
Pupils have slipped down a global league table in reading, maths and science, based on two-hour tests taken in 65 school systems around the world.
Finland and South Korea, as last time, achieved the best results
Education Secretary Michael Gove said the survey showed the "urgent need to reform our school system".
Within the UK, Wales performed significantly less well than England, Scotland and Northern Ireland in all three subjects.
Education Secretary Michael Gove: "It is a reflection on what has been happening under the last government"
Slipping back
The latest findings of the PISA survey - the Programme for International Student Assessment - show the UK tumbling down the rankings, according to the results of tests taken last year by an international sample of 15-year-olds.
The survey by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) is designed to compare standards between different education systems around the world.
In 2000, when 32 countries took part in the survey, the UK came 7th in reading skills - but the figures for 2009 show that out of 65 countries and regions, the UK has fallen to 25th place.
Countries such as Poland, Estonia, Canada, Norway and Singapore are above the UK in reading ability, in a table headed by South Korea and Finland.
The study also includes regions within countries - and the Chinese school systems in Shanghai and Hong Kong are among the most successful.
If Shanghai had been a country, it would have been the single most successful in this global survey.
A quarter of pupils in Shanghai were able to tackle complex maths problems, compared with an average of 3% across the OECD survey.
In maths, between 2000 and 2009 the UK has fallen from 8th to 28th and in science from 4th to 16th.
International lessons
The results for the UK's teenagers have not declined significantly across these years, says the OECD - it is more the case that they have failed to keep up with the improvements of pupils in other countries.
"The UK's performance is about average," says the OECD's Michael Davidson. "The question is whether the UK thinks that 'average' is good enough?"
TOP 10 EDUCATION SYSTEMS BY READING SKILLS
Shanghai (China)
South Korea
Finland
Hong Kong (China)
Singapore
Canada
New Zealand
Japan
Australia
Netherlands
Source: OECD
Mr Gove said the rankings showed that the previous government had not achieved value for money from its investment in education.
"I'm also daunted by the scale of the challenge, because other countries have been improving rapidly and despite massive investment over the last 13 years we haven't been improving at the rate we should have been," said Mr Gove.
The education secretary said that his forthcoming school reforms for England were being influenced by the lessons of successful school systems in other countries.
He said the survey showed the benefits of school autonomy, parental choice, transparency of performance and investing in supporting disadvantaged pupils.
Shadow education secretary Andy Burnham said: "Schools improved under Labour, and more students now leave with good results. People forget how bad things were: in 1997, half of all schools failed to reach the basic benchmark of 30% of students getting 5 GCSEs graded A*-C, including English and maths - that number is now fewer than one in 12."
The 2009 tests also showed that boys continued to achieve lower results than girls, with boys trailing girls in reading in every country - on average falling a whole year behind.
The survey highlighted factors that were seen as characteristics of successful systems.
It found that the "best school systems were the most equitable", in which pupils could succeed academically despite a disadvantaged background.
It also pointed to the importance of good discipline and high status for teachers.
The PISA survey is held every three years, with the results published the year after the tests are taken. In the 2009 survey, about half a million youngsters took the tests, which are designed to provide an objective measure of their ability in these three key areas.
The UK did not take part in all the previous surveys, so there are not continuous figures from 2000 through to the latest published results.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
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How to simplify… your CV (for maximum impact)
Finding a new job in the current atmosphere of recession is not easy, but getting your CV working for you will make the chances of securing that all important interview much greater.
The recruiter who receives your CV will probably have dozens and dozens to sort through, and very little time to do so, so your CV will have to showcase your relevant experience, skills and qualities in less than ten seconds. Simplification is the key to success.
Less haste, more success.
The golden rule for job applications is not to rush. Give yourself ample time to collate the information for your CV. If you dash something off the night before a deadline and it leads to your application being discounted, all your experience and hard work will be wasted.
Structure your CV.
The most important information – usually your skills and recent experience – should be clearly laid out at the very beginning of your CV, as it’s this that will get you long-listed for an interview. Don’t assume the recruiter will search through reams of information to find out if you’re qualified for a position – they won’t!
Keep it short.
Whilst there’s no hard and fast rule for the length of a CV, a couple of pages are usually regarded as the norm unless you’ve had a very long career or the recruiter specifically asks for a more detailed CV. Keep it punchy, get your foot in the door and save the more involved explanations for your interview.
Keep it sweet.
Your CV should not become a confessional, a list of mishaps or a series of excuses. Exorcise any references to failure – whether that’s examination, marital or business. Write positively and present your best face to the world, concentrating on the experience and achievement that equips you for a bright future.
Make it look good.
Decorative patterns and eccentric formatting can often detract from your message. Keep your CV uncluttered with short sentences, big margins around your text and key points emphasised. Bullet points can be useful in moderation.
Tailor your CV.
A sure-fire way to boost your chances of getting an interview is to tweak your CV for each application you make. Do your research on the business or organisation – what type of language do they use on their website to describe their staff and their outlook? Can you mirror this in your CV? Go through the job spec with a fine tooth comb, making sure to include examples proving relevant experience for all requirements of the role.
Don’t leave suspicious gaps.
Any unexplained gap in your employment history will be regarded with suspicion by recruiters, so make sure to plug those holes. Even times of unemployment can be adequately justified if you focus on the development of soft skills such as project management, communication or teamwork.
Check, check, check. And then check again.
Any spelling or grammatical mistakes in your CV are going to create a negative perception in the mind of the recruiter – why would they want to employ someone slapdash? Whilst spell-checkers can be useful they don’t catch everything and can often end up erroneously altering words to American spelling conventions. Get as many people as possible (who can spell) to go over your CV for typos and grammatical errors.
Ditch the snapshot and personal info.
Unless specifically asked to provide a photo of yourself, leave it out. The skills, achievements and experience you describe should carry weight with the recruiter, not your hairstyle. In the same way, you should not provide recruiters with age, weight, height, religion or marital status unless strictly relevant to your application.
Be honest.
Never, ever embellish the truth in your job application, no matter how well you think you can cover it up. It only takes a quick phone call for the recruiter to discover that your First in Biochemistry from Oxford is actually a NVQ in Food Science from your local community college. Highlight the positives in your CV, but don’t include blatant lies – even in the section on your leisure activities.
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