23rd October 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
A study conducted by the Organisation for Economic cooperation and Development (OECD) has shown that young adults in England have among the lowest literacy and numeracy rates in the industrialised world. The results show that England’s 16-24 year olds are falling far behind their European and Asian counterparts, coming 22nd for literacy and 21st for numeracy out of 24 countries. An analysis of the results which takes into account the socio-economic background of those taking the tests showed that England is the only country where results are actually going backwards. The younger students taking the tests were out-performed by people in the 55-65 age range.
According to the figures, 8.5 million adults in England and Northern Ireland with the numeracy levels expected of 10 year olds. Skills Minister Matthew Hancock responded to the study by saying that the results reflect the education policies of the last government, which ‘dumbed down’ expectations. The government has announced a new maths qualification for post-16 year olds which is designed to improve numeracy for students who did not achieve a good GCSE in the subject.
Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt said that labour was responsible for improving results, and pointed to the significant improvement in GCSE results between 1997 and 2010. He also announced that a future Labour government would require English and Maths to be studied by students to 18, and would ensure that all permanent teachers had appropriate qualifications. Meanwhile The Netherlands and Finland top the list, where formal education doesn’t actually begin until students are six or seven years old. The United States was at the bottom of the list, with education standards having fallen dramatically over the past 15 years.