The EU's 15-year olds have seen only slight improvements in their reading, science and maths skills since 2009, with worse scores in reading than US students and in all three subject areas than their Japanese counterparts.
The programme for international student achievement (Pisa), published on Tuesday (4 December), indicates the EU is likely to miss its 2020 target of reducing low-achievers to less than 15% in maths.
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