There is no evidence that English schools are slipping behind other countries, new academic research has revealed.

John Jerrim from the Institute of Education has stated that “international tests are not consistent” and that changes are “much more ambiguous than they appear”, BBC News reports.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests are currently used by the Government as a way of monitoring English schools and their progress. It is thought that many education reforms have been introduced after the 2009 PISA rankings for maths, reading and science were published.

The most recent reports from PISA show a fall in England’s rankings, with performance slipping between the years 2000 and 2009, from eighth to 27th in maths, seventh to 25th in reading and fourth to 16th in science.

However, Dr Jerrim says that while the results of the previous PISA reports have shown a fall in England's ranking, there are other tests such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) tests, in which English schools have shown improvement.

Dr Jerrim has also said that "it is very difficult to tell whether England is rising or falling in the world rankings and that school performance is more ambiguous than it first appears. Also, as much as half the apparent English school decline could be because weaker schools opted out of tests in previous years, inflating the earlier results."

One of the teaching unions and it's members have called for the new findings to be taken into account and say that international results need to be “accompanied by a large health warning.”

Brian Lightman, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) commented: "Misleading comparisons and alarmist sound bites about us plummeting down league tables do the teaching profession a great disservice and undermine public confidence in our good and improving education service."

Labour's Education Spokesman, Stephen Twigg, said: “David Cameron and Michael Gove should stop talking down our hard-working pupils. The selective use of statistics to support a dogmatic approach to education structures is wrong-headed. We need an evidence-based not an ideological approach to education reform.”

A Department for Education (DfE) Spokesman defended the PISA results, commenting that it is clear "that our relative performance internationally has declined.”

“We need to equip young people with the skills and knowledge that employers and universities need to compete internationally. Many other countries are improving their schools faster than we are and have much smaller gaps between the achievements of rich and poor than we do.”

For related news stories, follow these links:

• UK schools fall in worldwide rankings
• Report warns of downward spiral in education
• School leaders defend teachers over criticism