Reading the opinions of James Wills (Gazette, August 24) I would like to challenge him to reveal the evidence to back up his alleged claims about the poor education standards in England.
The 2008 “Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study” states that English ten-year-olds rank seventh in the world in both maths and science, their 14-year-old counterparts ranked fifth in science and seventh in maths; hardly, as he states, “languishing behind Slovenia, Estonia and Liechtenstein”.
The United Nations statistics I found gave Britain an adult literacy rate of 99 per cent. Yes, admittedly behind Kazakhstan with 99.5 per cent, but not the 80 per cent he would like us to believe.
There are some things that over time have improved, for example life expectancy, breast cancer survival rates and infant mortality.
Could it be that standards in education are among that group and should be celebrated?
On behalf of the National Union of Teachers, I would like to send our congratulations to all the students, teachers and supportive parents who worked so hard to achieve the recent wonderful A level results, of which they can be justly proud.
Jean Quinn
King Stephen Road
Colchester
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