English children are the best in Europe at science and maths but don’t enjoy their lessons, international research indicates.

The report, published yesterday, showed that England had risen up the league table and was kept from the top only by Far Eastern countries, notably South Korea, Japan and Singapore. But pupils’ enjoyment of maths and science plummeted over the same period, raising questions about whether high attainment was being achieved by drilling for tests and at the expense of imparting a passion for the subjects.

Christine Blower, the acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “The obvious question is whether test and examination hot-housing is actually turning off young people’s enjoyment of those subjects, despite their undoubted attainment.”

The research was conducted for the four-yearly Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, covering 425,000 pupils aged 10 and 14 in almost 60 countries.

England’s ten-year-olds came seventh in maths, up from tenth in 2003 and seventeenth in 1995. There was no assessment at primary level in 1999. In science they also came seventh, down from fifth in 2003.

The 14-year-olds came seventh in maths, up from eighteenth in 2003, twentieth in 1999 and twenty-fifth in 1995. In science they were ranked fifth, a rise of two places from 2003, and up from ninth in 1999 and tenth in 1995.

Ministers hailed the results as proof that standards were rising. Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, said: “England is the most consistently high-achieving country in Europe overall across both age groups and subjects. There’s a little more we need to do to be truly world class.”

He said England needed to learn from Pacific Rim countries. Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore dominated the lists. However, ten-year-olds from Kazakhstan performed better than English children in maths.

But Sir Peter Williams, the Chancellor of the University of Leicester and author of a recent review of maths teaching, said: “I am not surprised by the four or five Asian nations outperforming us in mathematics. I have been at homes of Korean friends when their children have come back from crammers at 10pm to go straight to bed. It’s not a system I would wish to see us copy.”

Teachers’ leaders welcomed the findings. Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: “The doom-mongers who undersell English schools have been proved wrong.” But she agreed that more needed to be done, particularly in changing pupils’ attitudes to maths.

Times recommends

• Parents face rise in independent school fees
• Crisis in primary school places causes councils to cut back other services
• Labour fails working class on education