N. Ireland 3rd in World in Reading and Science

A recent BBC News article has stated that the U.K. has dropped down the PISA/OECD league table in reading, but this is very misleading. N. Ireland came 3rd after South Korea and Finland. N. Ireland also came 3rd in science after Finland and Japan. (However, Scotland beat us in Maths, and I'm not sure where we came in that table.) Sounds like a good time to do away with the "backward" educational system of NI, which still has 11-plus's and state-funded grammar schools.

The Republic of Ireland came 7th in reading (if NI is included). Most of the English-speaking countries were in the top-ten for reading, apart from England and the U.S. (It is unclear where Scotland and Wales came.) See the following URLs:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4075903.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7115692.stm