UK worst at giving lessons in 3Rs.

UK is worst in the West at giving lessons in 3Rs

By DANIEL MARTIN
Last updated at 10:40 PM on 22nd October 2010

British pupils aged 12 to 14 spend fewer hours on English lessons than any other industrialised nation. (Picture posed by models)

Pupils in England spend less time learning the 3Rs than almost anywhere in the Western world, an international league table has revealed.

Children aged between 12 and 14 spend fewer hours on English lessons than any other industrialised nation  -  leading to a situation where one in five teenagers leaves school functionally illiterate.

Despite the billions poured in by Labour to improve literacy, they actually spend less time on it now than they did when Tony Blair entered Downing Street.

The report also shows that secondary schoolchildren in England spend much less time learning about mathematics than in most other European countries. 

The revelation that England still treats basic educational attainment in core subjects as such a low priority were seized upon last night by critics of Labour's 13-year stint in charge of schools. 

They blame the party for making headteachers fill timetables with subjects such as citizenship and sex education, rather than getting the basics right.

The league table was compiled by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which represents industrialised nations, as part of its Education at a Glance report published earlier this month. 

No data was collected for Scotland and Wales.

It shows that in 2008, English 12-to 14-year-olds spent just 11 per cent of their time on reading, writing and literature, down from 12 per cent a decade before.

The 2008 figure compares with 16 per cent in France and 28 per cent in Ireland, and is the lowest across the entire OECD, below countries such as Mexico and Hungary.

England's pupils fare little better on maths, spending just 12 per cent of their school time studying the subject, one of the lowest levels in the OECD.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1322982/Were-worst-West-giving-lessons-3-Rs.html#ixzz138ECxniP