Opinion: Why we miss the basics

The 'PIRIS' tests which cover 41 assorted countries revealed, as noted recently in this column, a worrying trend towards mediocrity in UK primary education. What is it that has enabled children in some of the underdeveloped nations to grasp the rudiments of language and mathematics so successfully? Is it because of new teaching methods which have somehow passed us by? Has it been that these countries, many of which are abjectly poor, have been able to throw more money into primary education than us? I suspect not. One of my employees told me a disturbing story last week....