Looks like the curriculum changes have delivered some temporary success. Ideology is still driving other policies - turning schools into academies, low teacher salaries and lack of capital investment.
Unsurprisingly, that means we're now higher in rankings in the tests. It also creates fun conversations like "why can this Year 7 give me rote definition of the subjunctive mood but can't grasp writing about their summer holiday" as children transfer from an examined year to the furthest away from a new set of exams.
I have severe doubts success in arbitary, mandatory testing having much correlation with success in a real world context, but a generation of children has had education with a significant constraint on creativity, arts, lateral and logical thinking or fun. Teacher attrition and attracting new staff also reflects this.