'Top British pupils fail to keep up with E.Asian counterparts'

The brightest primary students in Britain almost match their counterparts in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan in maths but fall back by nearly two years by the time they are 16, according to a new study.
The top 10 per cent of English children also appear to be losing ground to the most able pupils in other English- speaking and European countries between the ages of 10 and 16, say researchers at the Institute of Education, University of London.
"The highest-achieving pupils in England can almost match the most able children in Taiwan and Hong Kong in maths tests at the age of 10. But by the time they take their GCSEs they have fallen nearly two years behind their Far Eastern counterparts," the study found.

Dr John Jerrim and Dr Alvaro Choi, authors of the IOE research, analysed children's performance in maths tests set by two respected international studies of attainment � the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).
The IOE study looked particularly at England's scores relative to the "tiger" economies of East Asia.
It also examined the performance of a wider group of countries that took part in all three tests -- Scotland, Australia, Italy, USA, Norway, Lithuania, Russia and Slovenia.

The average scores of England's pupils remained broadly similar to those of the other countries between age 10 and 16. However, the researchers found that the highest-achieving English children appeared to make less progress, relative to their peers in all the other countries � East and West � between these ages.

Dr Jerrim said that this finding was worrying. However, he added that it would be wrong to conclude that attention should now focus exclusively on raising standards in secondary schools. Earlier intervention is also required, he says, as pupils in England are already some distance behind those in East Asia � in terms of average maths attainment � by age 10.
He and Choi believe that policymakers should concentrate on reforming mathematics education in the early primary and pre-school years.
Further, Britain must invest more in the skills of children from disadvantaged backgrounds, again with a focus on the primary and pre-school years.

The country also must ensure that the secondary curriculum stretches the best young mathematicians � partly though initiatives such as gifted and talented schemes.
The researchers say that greater attention needs to be paid to the most able students as they will be vital to major British industries, such as financial services. However, they caution against dividing more children into ability groups from an early age, arguing that this could be counter- productive.