Nothing will really change in British education until the right people are persuaded to teach in the right schools

BETTER and brighter than ever? Or cheated by a dumbed-down exam system? Every August British teenagers achieve ever more stellar results: a fifth of all GCSEs (the test for 16-year-olds) and a quarter of all A-levels (taken by 18-year-olds) are now awarded the top grades.

To some, this is yet another case of debased government figures. On August 16th the Liberal Democrats called for an independent inquiry into exam standards. In July Sir Peter Williams, who was recently appointed by the government to review primary mathematics teaching, said it was a “testable fact” that A-level maths and physics were getting easier.

The government, predictably, has a more upbeat explanation: “high quality teaching and strong investment”, says Jim Knight, the minister for schools. It is certainly true that many more billions of pounds are being spent—on higher pay for teachers, more support staff and fancy new buildings. But attempts to judge whether this money has been put to good use tend to become circular, with rising exam results invoked as proof.

Mr Knight is right to focus on “high quality teaching”. Research in America has identified the skill of teachers as the most important educational influence on how well children do at school. In July the government agency responsible for teacher training described the latest crop of trainees as “better qualified than ever”, trumpeting that 58% held good degrees (a 2.1 or better), up from 51% seven years earlier.

Read it all at economist.com