The millions of pounds spent attempting to raise the standard of English in primary schools has had almost no impact on children’s reading skills, according to a devastating critique on the education system.

Pupils feel anxious about school tests and are losing their love of reading in the drive to improve literacy levels, according to a review published today by the University of Cambridge.

There was no strong evidence to support the Government’s claim that national testing in primary schools drives up standards, the review concluded. It added that the current system could be giving up to a third of children the wrong grades.

The researchers, who include some of the country’s leading educationalists, called for a significant overhaul of primary school testing and recommended that national standards should be monitored using a sample survey of pupils instead of collecting results for every child in the country at ages 7 and 11.

The research by academics at the universities of Bristol and Durham and the National Foundation for Educational Research represents the latest findings of the Cambridge Primary Review, the biggest inquiry into primary education for decades.

The Durham University study, led by Peter Tymms, concluded that the National Literacy Strategy, which includes the “literacy hour” daily English lesson, had made a “barely noticeable” impression on reading standards, which had barely improved since the 1950s.

The report said: “£500 million was spent on the National Literacy Strategy with almost no impact on reading levels.” The apparently dramatic rise in primary school test results “exaggerated the changes in pupils’ attainment levels and were seriously misleading”.

Professor Tymms has in the past criticised ministers for suggesting that tests do not reflect the true nature of rising standards. But the independent statistics watchdog has backed his conclusions.

Wynne Harlen from the University of Bristol gave warning in his report that primary school national tests were too narrow. “There is considerable research evidence that high- stakes tests put teachers under pressure to increase scores, which they do by teaching to the tests, giving multiple practice tests and coaching pupils in how to answer questions,” he said. “There is firm evidence that this results in considerable stress for pupils.”

The report calculated that pupils spend about nine school days in Year 5 and 13 school days in Year 6 practising for and taking tests. “This is time that teachers and pupils could use in other ways,” it said.

Despite these concerns, a third report in the series — this time from the National Foundation for Educational Research — found that standards in English primary schools compared favourably with other countries’ results.

In reading, English primaries are still in the top group of countries, outperforming France, Germany, Italy, and the US. In maths, there has been significant improvement from 1995 to 2003, with England surpassing schools in the United States, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Norway and eight other countries. In science, English schools were also among the top performers in the world.

Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said that the testing system must be changed. “There is every reason to act to dismantle a testing system whose only effect seems to be to create stress for pupils and teachers,” he said.

Nick Gibb, the Shadow Schools Minister, said: “Millions of pounds have been spent on education but we haven’t seen improvements. As a result, many children, particularly those from poorer backgrounds, are not getting the opportunities they deserve.”

But Lord Adonis, the Schools Minister, rejected the findings, stating that primary standards were at their highest levels. “This is not an opinion, it is fact,” he said.

Offering more parental choice — ranging from comprehensives and partially selective schools to trusts and academies — is leaving the most disadvantaged children socially excluded because their parents are less skilled at exercising choice, the National Union of Teachers says in its new manifesto. It wants spending on state pupils brought up to private sector levels by 2014, schools in poor areas to get more cash and pupils to have more say. It also wants every teacher to be entitled to a one-term sabbatical for research every seven years.

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