Irish primary school students have scored above average in major international tests of literacy, mathematics and science published today. However, Ireland did not make it into the top performing countries in any of the three tests.
The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study tested primary school pupils in the equivalent of fourth class in reading, mathematics and science in over sixty countries. The pupils who took part were, on average, just over 10 years old.
The PIRLS report shows that in reading, Irish students were ranked 10th out of 45 participating countries. Students in only five countries performed significantly better than Irish students: Hong Kong, Finland, Singapore, the Russian Federation and Northern Ireland. Irish students scored significantly higher than students in 31 other countries, including Germany, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand.
The TIMSS 2011 test covered mathematics and science. Irish students scored above the international average in mathematics. Ireland was placed 17th out of 50 participating countries. Irish students scored significantly below countries such as Singapore, Korea, Japan, Northern Ireland, Finland, England and the Unites States, and at about the same level as students in Germany, Lithuania and Portugal.
In science, Irish students again scored significantly above the international average and were placed 22nd out of the 50 participating countries. Irish students scored significantly below countries such as Korea, Singapore, Finland, Japan, the United States, Sweden and England. Ireland’s score did not differ significantly from ten countries including Italy, Northern Ireland and Australia.
Welcoming the publication of the reports Education Minister Ruairí Quinn congratulated Irish pupils and teachers on the good results that they had achieved.
This is the first time that we have these international comparisons in reading, maths and science available to us at the primary level. While encouraging, they demonstrate the real need to work on the issues we are seeking to tackle in the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy. We need to build on the good work in reading going on at primary level into second level, especially at junior cycle. Clearly, we also need to improve our teaching of mathematics and science at all levels. However, I am especially delighted to see that Ireland has a reduced proportion of lower-performing students in reading than other countries.
Read the full press release
here.