 Since the turn of the millennium the percentage of pupils obtaining 5 or more good GCSEs has increased by about 30%, while independent tests performed as part of the OECD PISA and IES TIMSS studies have reported Literacy, Maths and Science scores in England and Wales having fallen by about 6%, based on their own tests

In SJune 2012, "The Telegraph" reported that teenagers' maths skills are no better than 30 years ago, despite soaring GCSE passes.The article is based on a 2009 paper by Jeremy Hodgen, of King's College London, who compared the results of 3,000 fourteen-year-olds sitting a mathematics paper containing questions identical to one set in 1976.He found similar overall levels of attainment between the two cohorts.