[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-316134-105":59,"doc-detail-316134-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","education-better-results-and-declining-standards-online-briefing","Education - Better results and declining standards? - Online Briefing","","Online briefing assessing whether rising education outcomes reflect genuine attainment improvements or inflated statistics. It links increased education spending since 1999-00 and higher spending per pupil to questions about reliability of national tests at ages 11, 16, and 18. Evidence is compared across Key Stage 2, GCSE, A-level, university outcomes, adult literacy, and critiques from independent studies and academic surveys.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/education-better-results-and-declining-standards-online-briefing/316134/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/education-better-results-and-declining-standards-online-briefing/316134.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Margaret","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-31","2026-09-20",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":39},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What trend in education spending is reported since 1999-00?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Expenditure on education is reported to rise by about 5% in real terms each year, with projections increasing from £45 billion in 2002-03 to £57.8 billion in 2005-06.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why does the briefing question whether attainment is truly improving?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It cites independent studies suggesting headline results can be misleading, including evidence that improvements in reading standards were described as illusory, and concerns that targets were not met.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Which education stages and areas does the briefing cover for evidence of achievement?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It reviews Key Stage 2 (age 11), GCSE and A-level (ages 16 and 18), university degrees, and adult literacy and numeracy problems.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},316134,1790439904,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":39,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},137451207643,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","Education: Better results and declining standards?  \nOnline Briefing  \nDavid Green, Anastasia de Waaland Ben Cackett  \nSummary  \n• Since 1999-00, expenditure on education has risen by 5% in real terms each year. It is projected to increase from £45 billion in 2002-03 to £57.8 billion in 2005-06, amounting to 5.6% of GDP, higher than the European average.  \n• Spending per pupil is also rising rapidly. Since 1999-00, revenue spending per pupil has risen from £3,175 to £4,190 in 2004-05,and by 2007-08 will reach £5,500.  \n• The number of pupils reaching the Government’s achievement benchmarks at Key Stage 2, GCSE and A-level has increased rapidly.Butis the attainment real?  \n• Key Stage 2 (age 11): In 1995 48% achieved the expected standard (Level 4) in English and 44% in maths.In 2005 79% of pupils achieved Level 4 in English and 75% in maths.The official government target was to reach 85% by 2004.Not only has it failed to reach its own target, other measures of attainment suggest that performance has been exaggerated.  \n• The Qualifications and Curriculum authority (QCA) compared literacy at Key Stage 2 between 1996 and 1999 and found that reading standards had fallen.The report concludes that‘some of the recent improvement’in reading results was‘illusory’.  \n• GCSE:In 1997/98, only 46.3% achieved 5 or more A*-C’s at GCSE while 6.6% had no passes.The latest results for 2004/05 show that 55.7% of pupils achieved 5 or more grades A*-C, while 3.7% did not achieve any passes.  \n• In August 2001, Jeffrey Robinson, a senior examiner in GCSE maths for the OCR Examination Board, claimed that pupils achieving As and Bs would have received C and D grades ten years earlier. The pass mark for a C grade had fallen from 65% in 1989 to 48% in 2001.  \n• A-level:Grades A-C at A-level were awarded to 46% of students in 1992 and 69.8% in  \n2005.The proportion of A grades increased from 13% in 1992 to 22% in 2005.Dr Robert Coe has compared A-level results with actual changes in achievement by using the International Test of Developed Abilities (ITDA).In maths, the average ITDA score was 72.3% in 1988, while by 1998 it had dropped to 59.3%. Atthe same time the average A-level score for this subject increased from 3.78 to 5.69.  \n• University degrees:Thirty years ago, less than one student in three achieved an Upper Second or First. By 1998 this figure had reached 50%, rising to 55% in 2004.The numbers gaining Firsts has also risen from 7% in 1995 to 11% in 2004.  \n• The Times Higher Educational Supplement surveyed 400 academics and found that 71% agreed their ‘institution had admitted students who are not capable of benefiting from higher level study’. 48% said they ‘felt obliged to pass a student whose performance did not really merit a pass’and 42% said that‘decisions to fail student’s work had been overruled at higher levels within the institution’, while one in five had turned ‘a blind eye’to student plagiarism.  \n• Adult literacy:In 1998 the Department for Education and Skills established a working group on adult literacy under the chairmanship of Sir Claus Moser.It reported in 2002 that roughly 20% of adults, perhaps 7 million people, had severe problems with basic skills, particularly ‘functional literacy’and ‘functional numeracy’.  \n2  \nIntroduction  \nThere have been dramatic improvements over the last decade in the number of students achieving the expected standard in national tests at all levels. Each year’s rises have been met with pronouncements by Government ministers on how much the education system is improving.1 Michael Barber, Head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit, has been especially vocal in publicising the apparent gains,stating in 2002 that:‘After five years of urgent and determined progress with some hard evidence of improved outcomes, the evidence of progress is clear’.2  \nHowever, strong criticisms have been made.First, independent studies suggest that the headline results present a misleading picture of performance. Se","cbCaigsFc9VoQgD6","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaigsFc9VoQgD6","pdf",150680,26,"English","# Summary\n## Introduction\n## Primary Education\n## Key Stage 2\n## GCSE\n## A-level\n## University degrees\n## Adult literacy","[{\"question\":\"What trend in education spending is reported since 1999-00?\",\"answer\":\"Expenditure on education is reported to rise by about 5% in real terms each year, with projections increasing from £45 billion in 2002-03 to £57.8 billion in 2005-06.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the briefing question whether attainment is truly improving?\",\"answer\":\"It cites independent studies suggesting headline results can be misleading, including evidence that improvements in reading standards were described as illusory, and concerns that targets were not met.\"},{\"question\":\"Which education stages and areas does the briefing cover for evidence of achievement?\",\"answer\":\"It reviews Key Stage 2 (age 11), GCSE and A-level (ages 16 and 18), university degrees, and adult literacy and numeracy problems.\"}]","Education - Better results and declining standards? - Online Briefing | PDF",1789910319,66]