Mathematics performance has significantly improved for year 5
pupils in England since 2015 but in year 9 science results have
significantly declined, report UCL researchers who have analysed
England’s performance in the Trends in International Mathematics
and Science Study (TIMSS).
The 2019 National Report for England,
written by researchers from the UCL Institute of Education, was
funded by the Department for Education. Testing of 9,595 pupils
in years 5 and 9 across 368 schools in England was carried out
between February and June 2019 by leading learning company,
Pearson.
The report, which includes comparative data from 64
countries, places pupils in England behind those in the
highest-performing group of countries, but significantly above
the TIMSS average scores for mathematics and science. As in
previous years, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Hong Kong, Japan, the
Republic of Korea, Singapore and Russia all performed strongly
across both subjects and year groups.
Co-author Dr Mary Richardson (UCL Institute of
Education) said: “Our analysis of the data means we’ve been able
to look not only at how pupils perform in mathematics and
science, but to what extent gender, socioeconomic status, school
and home environment impact on their educational
performance.
“This year we see England has performed, on average,
significantly above most other countries. Compared to the 2015
results, most notably, England’s performance in maths has
significantly improved at year 5 and decreased significantly in
science at year 9.
“Longitudinal data like this can help us understand
these trends and we will now seek to interpret why these trends
have occurred. For example, the study reveals that, unlike in
2015, year 5 boys’ average mathematics score was not
significantly above year 5 girls’ scores.”
The report also highlighted significant gender
differences in attitudes towards maths and science. In both year
groups and subjects, boys were significantly more confident, and
liked learning more than girls. Boys also valued both subjects
more in year 9 (which was the only year group asked about how
much they valued the subjects). Significantly more girls than
boys were not confident, and/or did not like, mathematics and
science.
For example, looking at year 5 pupils’ confidence in
mathematics, significantly more boys said they were very
confident compared to girls (39% compared to 24%).
Co-author, Dr Tina Isaacs (UCL Institute of
Education) added: “The TIMSS data enables us to draw comparison
between the attitudes of boys and girls in each subject in their
respective year groups and to compare England’s gender
differences with those of other countries.
“Despite social concerns about the differences
between boys’ and girls’ performance, the results show that
they've performed largely at the same level in both subjects and
both year groups. However, girls still are less confident, and
don't much like, mathematics and science.
“There is already a plethora of research underway
into why girls lack confidence in and enjoyment of mathematics
and science, and the data may hold useful findings for
researchers studying these and other behavioural
issues.”
The National Research Coordinator for TIMSS 2019, Dr.
Grace Grima, (Director of Research at Pearson), said: “Pearson
was delighted to be chosen by the Department for Education to
deliver this important, international assessment in mathematics
and science.
“This trends study provides policy makers with rich,
internationally comparable data and information on student
attainment and attitudes that will inform policies and support
the teaching and learning of mathematics and
science.
“Having pioneered the transition to eTIMSS in 2019 in
England, we were pleased to successfully deliver these
assessments using an innovative tablet-based platform in both
primary and secondary schools.”
The TIMSS study, run by the Evaluation of
International Achievement (IEA) takes place every four years and
England has participated in every cycle since its inception in
1995.
