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7 December 2010
Last updated at 05:01 ET
Welsh teenagers are performing below international and UK averages for reading, maths and science.
The results from a standard international assessment of 15-year-olds show Wales has fallen further behind since the last tests in 2006.
It is now below average on all three measures and has scored worse than before in every category.
Wales again ranked lowest of the UK countries and is now cast adrift from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Up to 10,000 15-year-olds are tested by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in reading, maths and science.
The Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) tests are designed to measure whether students nearing the end of secondary school are well prepared to meet the challenges they will encounter in future life.
Some 67 countries participated, with China, South Korea and Finland dominating the upper rankings while Peru, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan propped up the tables.
In 2006, Wales scored average results for science and below average for maths and reading.
However, the latest tests, which were conducted in 2009, show the country is now below average on all three measures and has scored worse than before in every category.
By contrast the scores of the other UK countries are either average or above average.
Continue reading the main story Analysis
Ciaran Jenkins, BBC Wales education correspondent
These are two-hour, international standardised tests in reading, maths and science.
They are taken by up to 10,000 15-year-olds in each participating country and they are taken by member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - so industrialised, high-income, developed countries.
They are also taken by a growing number of developing countries who want to compare their education systems with the best in the world.
All the children take the same tests so they are benchmarks if you like for what children should be able to do when they leave school.
The tests don't just measure what children know but also how they apply what they know - how prepared they are to succeed in the real world.
Michael Davidson from the OECD said Wales' performance showed the country faced a challenge compared to the rest of the UK.
"[Wales is] performing at about the same level in reading as the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic, below the average," he said.
"I'm sure Wales would want to perform better than that."
With performance falling further behind the rest of the UK, the results may make uncomfortable reading for the assembly government.
David Reynolds, professor of education at Plymouth University, said the country had good schools but lacked consistency.
"It's not that we don't know how to educate children, it's just that we don't do it reliably across the system," he said.
The results are likely to renew calls from teaching unions to close the funding gap, which sees £527 more spent per pupil in England than in Wales.
However, Mr Davidson said the UK tends to be one of the highest spenders per student.
"There are only six countries in the OECD that spend more per students than in the UK," he said.
"We know there isn't a particularly strong relationship between levels of expenditure and performance.
"What's more important and is very evident from the data is how that money is spent."
Earlier, after warnings the results were likely to be a "disaster," Rex Phillips, Wales organiser of the NAS/UWT union said they should not be used "as a stick to beat teachers with".
He added that the education minister should avoid knee-jerk reactions "and work with the teaching profession and not against it".
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The results from a standard international assessment of 15-year-olds show Wales has fallen further behind since the last tests in 2006.
It is now below average on all three measures and has scored worse than before in every category.
Wales again ranked lowest of the UK countries and is now cast adrift from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Up to 10,000 15-year-olds are tested by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in reading, maths and science.
The Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) tests are designed to measure whether students nearing the end of secondary school are well prepared to meet the challenges they will encounter in future life.
Some 67 countries participated, with China, South Korea and Finland dominating the upper rankings while Peru, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan propped up the tables.
In 2006, Wales scored average results for science and below average for maths and reading.
However, the latest tests, which were conducted in 2009, show the country is now below average on all three measures and has scored worse than before in every category.
By contrast the scores of the other UK countries are either average or above average.
Continue reading the main story Analysis
Ciaran Jenkins, BBC Wales education correspondent
These are two-hour, international standardised tests in reading, maths and science.
They are taken by up to 10,000 15-year-olds in each participating country and they are taken by member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - so industrialised, high-income, developed countries.
They are also taken by a growing number of developing countries who want to compare their education systems with the best in the world.
All the children take the same tests so they are benchmarks if you like for what children should be able to do when they leave school.
The tests don't just measure what children know but also how they apply what they know - how prepared they are to succeed in the real world.
Michael Davidson from the OECD said Wales' performance showed the country faced a challenge compared to the rest of the UK.
"[Wales is] performing at about the same level in reading as the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic, below the average," he said.
"I'm sure Wales would want to perform better than that."
With performance falling further behind the rest of the UK, the results may make uncomfortable reading for the assembly government.
David Reynolds, professor of education at Plymouth University, said the country had good schools but lacked consistency.
"It's not that we don't know how to educate children, it's just that we don't do it reliably across the system," he said.
The results are likely to renew calls from teaching unions to close the funding gap, which sees £527 more spent per pupil in England than in Wales.
However, Mr Davidson said the UK tends to be one of the highest spenders per student.
"There are only six countries in the OECD that spend more per students than in the UK," he said.
"We know there isn't a particularly strong relationship between levels of expenditure and performance.
"What's more important and is very evident from the data is how that money is spent."
Earlier, after warnings the results were likely to be a "disaster," Rex Phillips, Wales organiser of the NAS/UWT union said they should not be used "as a stick to beat teachers with".
He added that the education minister should avoid knee-jerk reactions "and work with the teaching profession and not against it".
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