Primary school students in Ireland have recorded a major improvement in maths in recent years and now rank ahead of high-achieving countries such as Finland, new research shows.
However, the under-performance of high-achieving students compared to pupils in other top-ranking countries has emerged as a source of concern.
The findings are contained in the 2015 results of Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, an international comparison of student achievement at primary and secondary level.
Improvements have been greatest among the lowest achieving students at both levels.
In addition, no significant gender differences were found among students for maths and science.
Maths
In maths, Irish fourth class students ranked ninth of of 49 countries, up from 17th place in 2011.
This placement ranked ahead of high-achieving countries such as England, Belgium and Finland, but behind east Asian countries such as Singapore and China.
Irish second-year maths students also ranked 9th out of 39 countries. Their performance is a significant improvement on the last time second-years were tested in 1995.
Science
In science, fourth class students ranked 19th out of 47 countries, a slight improvement on its ranking of 22nd place in 2011.
Second-year science students ranked 10th out of 29 countries.
Minister for Education Richard Bruton said that while the results were encouraging, there was still room for improvement .
“It is very encouraging to see children who are weak have shown very significant progress. That reflects an investment we’ve made in resource teaching, special education and disadvantaged schools,” he said.
“It shows at the other end that we are not stretching children enough in the curriculum content and teaching methods. We need to now address that, but in no way do we wish to diminish the progress we made with children who struggle in some of these subjects.”
International study
The study is part of an international study which takes place every four years which is co-ordinated in the US.
The Irish research partner was the State-funded Educational Research Centre based in Drumcondra.
By assessing students’ maths and science performance, the study provides detailed comparisons on the strengths and weaknesses of participating countries.
Dr Aidan Clerkin, one of the report’s authors, said the improvements in maths and science performance, compared to previous studies, were encouraging.
“Improvements are particularly notable among lower-achieving students. However, there is room to improve among higher-achieving students, who appear to be under-performing in Ireland relative to their counterparts in some other countries,” he said.
Rachel Perkins, another of the authors, said a level of consistency in the strengths and weaknesses of primary and post-primary students in Ireland were emerging,
For example, students in Ireland were showing relative weaknesses in geometry and physics, and relative strengths in biology and earth science.
