Preparing for the world of work: 1. The British pattern

In December 1977 an international comparison of the arithmetical abilities of 14–15 old school children was released by the National Foundation for Educational Research. England and Wales with a mean score of 34% compared badly with Japan at 70%, as did Germany, Denmark, Scotland and the USA (25, 33, 35 and 40% respectively). The survey also showed that for 1970–77 the averages for England and Wales together, and Scotland separately, fell by 12% and 5%, while Germany registered a slump of 27%. The European figures suggest that people may have been seeing a totally superficial connection between Britain's economic performance and the academic standards of school leavers — a claim made in 1977 by the President of the National Association of Head Teachers.