English children best at math in Europe

English children are the best in Europe at science and maths but don’t enjoy their lessons, international research indicates.

The report, published yesterday, showed that England had risen up the league table and was kept from the top only by Far Eastern countries, notably South Korea, Japan and Singapore. But pupils’ enjoyment of maths and science plummeted over the same period, raising questions about whether high attainment was being achieved by drilling for tests and at the expense of imparting a passion for the subjects.

Christine Blower, the acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “The obvious question is whether test and examination hot-housing is actually turning off young people’s enjoyment of those subjects, despite their undoubted attainment.”

The research was conducted for the four-yearly Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, covering 425,000 pupils aged 10 and 14 in almost 60 countries.