FROM THE TELEGRAPH
Primary school pupils slipped from third in 2001 to 19th last year in the authoritative study of 45 countries and provinces. Only the results of Morocco and Romania fell more sharply.
The study comes weeks after a report by Cambridge University labelled Labour's £500 million literacy strategy a waste of money, as reading skills were no better than during the 1950s.
Researchers gave 4,000 children in 40 countries a literacy test. According to a report, Russian children came top with an average score of 565, compared with England's 539.
The results showed England's score had dropped 13 points since 2001. It placed England 19th, although an alternative league table - eliminating Canada, where provinces with different languages are listed separately - put the country 15th.
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