British pupils 'lead the western world at maths' - but Borat's glorious nation of Kazakhstan puts us to shame



Children in comedy character Borat's nation of Kazakhstan performed better than English children at maths

Primary school pupils lead the western world in maths skills, according to a new survey.

Our ten-year-olds have outstripped their peers in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand as well as the rest of Europe, including Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden.

But the news from the international comparison of 425,000 youngsters was not all good.

English children have been passed in their turn by youngsters from Kazakhstan, the former Soviet Republic portrayed as a nation of barely-civilised simpletons by Sacha Baron Cohen's comic creation Borat.

Experts said a traditional curriculum and a belief in the importance of maths and science were behind Kazakhstan's success.

Though poverty is widespread in the oil-producing country, it has an emerging middle class keen on rigorous academic education.

The improvement among English

children follows the introduction of a daily numeracy lesson in primary schools, which put renewed emphasis on times tables and arithmetic.

The survey, known as Timms (Trends in International Maths and Science Study), is held every four years.

Our ten-year-olds were 17th of 26 countries in 1995 but seventh of 36 last year, while 14-year-olds were seventh of 49 - up from 25th of 41 in 1995. Among ten-year-olds England was decisively outperformed only by countries on the Pacific Rim, including Japan and South Korea.

The result contrasts sharply with two similar studies last year which showed Britain plummeting down the world rankings.

Schools Minister Jim Knight said the findings of Timms were unambiguous.

'Our teenagers are leading Europe,' he said. 'We can be really proud of our position in maths and science.'

But Shadow Children's Secretary Michael Gove said: 'It hardly gives confidence that we will compete in hard subjects that count when countries with all Kazakhstan's disadvantages are outstripping ours'.

'I'm happy to have- have met you': Borat may have broken English, but his nation's skills at maths are near the top of the chart

Education expert Professor Alan Smithers warned: 'We have been here before. We did well in maths in a different international survey in 2000.

'When the dust had settled, it became clear this was because of a low response rate and an over-representation of leading schools including independent schools.

'We don't know yet whether this year's results are the start of a welcome trend or just another blip.'

The Buckingham University professor pointed out that many countries who usually do well in surveys were absent this time, including Finland, Canada and Belgium.

In science, England's ten-year- olds slipped from fifth place in the 2003 survey to seventh last year.

Fourteen-year- olds rose two places, but their level of knowledge was no better.

The survey, co-ordinated by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, highlighted weaknesses in some aspects of maths in England, particularly algebra and number computation.

There was also evidence that schools do not stretch the brightest children. Improvements were mainly among 'middle attainers'.

Worryingly, the study found a sharp decline in children's attitudes to both maths and science. They were less likely than in the past to enjoy the subjects, amid claims that teachers spend too much time drilling them for tests.