Sorry Mike but headlines like 'School leavers cannot read and write' are both misleading and unhelpful in situations like this. I think I would realy like to see the facts behind that statement before commenting on it. The statement about grade c in maths and english etc. can be interpreted in so many ways I am not even sure what it signifies and finaly I would be a little reluctant to trust any survey commisioned by Tesco! Once more - don't ask a shopkeeper if you want to know about education:-)

I was aware of the OFSTED report, which Lizzie does not believe in any case. One thing that most reporters failed to mention ws that the incidence of schools in the 'lowest class' increased because many of the schools in the highest class were excluded during this inspection. Even with the skewed figures, one school in ten being in the 'lowest class' hardly amounts to the majority of schools or teachers being bad. If they bring the higher achieving schools back into the survey next time you will see a big performance increase.

Cheers

Dave