Britain plummets in world league tables for reading and maths

British teenagers have a poorer grasp of the three Rs than their peers in much of the developed world, education league tables show today.

The UK has tumbled from eighth to 24th and is now "below average" in international rankings that show whether 15-year-olds have mastered basic maths.

And when reading skills are tested, British teenagers fell from seventh to 17th place between 2001 and 2007.

The results are from the Programme for International Student Assessment tests set by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

About 400,000 students in 57 countries took the two-hour exams, which are seen as one of the world's most accurate indicators of education standards.

The OECD drew attention to the massive difference social class and family wealth made to British pupils' scores.

In a finding that will cheer supporters of comprehensives, the OECD said that when social class and wealth factors were stripped out, there was no difference in performance of pupils from private and state schools.

In the 2007 report, it said: "In mathematics, the UK has a below-average proportion of top performers." Britain was ranked equal 24th with Poland, and behind countries including Slovenia, Estonia and the Czech Republic. The world's top performers - led by Taiwan, and followed by Finland, Hong Kong and South Korea - are about a year ahead of British teenagers in their mastery of maths.

In reading, Britain is now ranked behind New Zealand and Australia as well as several European countries including Ireland and Poland. Top for reading was South Korea, followed by Finland, Hong Kong and Canada.

In a finding that will be even more worrying for the Government, the OECD said British teenagers in the middle of the ability range had also lost ground.

Britain's decline will put Labour ministers under renewed pressure over education policies.

Last week the OECD said the UK's science ranking had plummeted from fourth to 14th since the 2001 student assessment test results.

The OECD said that in Britain, new immigrant pupils were close to a year behind their native-born classmates in science. More than half this difference was accounted for by their "less advantaged social, economic and cultural status".

However, the report added: "This is much more than on average across the OECD, where this accounts for little over a third of the performance lag." The analysis also delivered a blow to people who believe British private schools are light years ahead of their state sector rivals in terms of quality of education.

Although the OECD conceded that in science, privately educated pupils were the equivalent of more than two years ahead of those from state schools, it insisted this difference could be attributed to the effects of family background.

"Once the socioeconomic intake of students and schools is accounted for, there is no performance difference between public and private schools," the report stressed.