Month: December 2024

The ERC is pleased to publish the results for Ireland from TIMSS 2023 in a new report: TIMSS 2023: Insights into mathematics and science achievement in Ireland (https://doi.org/10.70092/2009137.1224). 

TIMSS assesses the mathematical and scientific knowledge and skills of students in Fourth Grade and Eighth Grade (Fourth Class and Second Year in Ireland). TIMSS 2023 is the eighth cycle of the study and included 656,360 students from 65 countries. 

This national report focuses on trends in overall achievement in Ireland, as well as the distribution of achievement (performance at various percentiles), student performance at the TIMSS International Benchmarks, relative strengths and weaknesses on the TIMSS content and cognitive domains, and teachers’ reports of curriculum coverage.  

Performance in Ireland is explored in the context of selected countries; compared with previous cycles of TIMSS where data are available (since 2011 for Fourth Class and since 2015 for Second Year); and, where applicable, examined by gender and by socioeconomic status at both individual level and at school level (DEIS status). 

Some key findings from the report include: 

• The mean achievement of mathematics and science at both Fourth Class and Second Year is similar to 2015 and 2019, indicating stability in mathematics and science achievement since 2015. 

• There were no significant differences in the achievement of boys and girls at Fourth Class, while boys significantly outperformed girls in mathematics and science at Second Year. 

• At primary level, pupils in DEIS Urban Band 1 and Urban Band 2 schools had significantly lower mean mathematics and science achievement than pupils in non-DEIS schools. Similarly, at post-primary level, pupils in DEIS schools had significantly lower mean mathematics and science achievement than students in non-DEIS schools. 

The full report can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.70092/2009137.1224 

Summary infographics are available here.