It's not really that simple. We like to believe a test taken by other countries will always be on a equal footing, will always be testing the same things and will have an unselected entrance. However, if that were true, then different international tests would produce the same result. But they don't.
The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, a series of international assessments of the mathematics and science knowledge of students around the world, has consistently featured England and Wales in the top ten since their assessments began. The Asian countries always score highest, but there's also a suspicion that not all countries feature random student entrant sets.
Educationalists have long known that it's very unwise to place any reliance on a single set of tests. This has been well observed in IQ testing for many years, where the same person can score up to 25 points differently on different tests.
No, the problem is not that Welsh Education is in crisis at all. There is, however, a well-observed and often negative attitude to education, in particular by boys, across the UK, the reasons behind which are not fully understood, but which are mostly thought to be down to the level and quality of parenting. And that's a whole other issue.
