Ireland’s students perform very well in latest PISA statistics
- Published: 05 December 2019
The 2018 OECD PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) results were announced on Tuesday 3rd December and contain some very encouraging results, as well as some areas for concern.
Key findings include:
- Ireland ranks 4th out of 36 OECD countries and 3rd out of 27 EU countries for reading literacy
- Ireland ranks 8th out of 77 countries/regions involved in PISA 2018 for reading literacy.
- Ireland has significantly fewer low-performing students (11.8% below level 2) and significantly more high performers (12.1% at levels 5 and 6) than the OECD average.
- In Ireland, the difference in performance between schools is lower than the OECD average
- Irish post-primary schools can be considered relatively equitable, as well as having above average performance in the 3 assessment domains of Literacy, Mathematics and Science.
- In Ireland, 84% of Irish students attained Level 2 or higher in Mathematics (OECD average 76%). When measuring Level 5 attainment, 8% of our students attained the top level compared with 11% OECD average
- In Ireland, 83% of students attained Level 2 or higher in Science (OECD average 78%). In Ireland, 83% of students attained Level 2 or higher in Science (OECD average 78%). 6% of Irish students attained the top level compared with the OECD average of 7%.
PISA is steered by member governments through the OECD, on the basis of shared, policy-driven interests. Since 2015, PISA has been managed by a consortium of 5 institutions under the direction of the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in the United States. In Ireland, PISA is implemented by the Educational Research Centre (ERC) on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills. For the main study, a representative sample of 157 schools in Ireland was selected to participate in PISA 2018. The criteria included enrolment size, sector (Secondary, ETB/vocational, community/comprehensive) and gender. In each school, up to 44 students aged 15 years (those born in 2002) were selected to participate.
For further information on PISA 2018 in relation to Ireland, please follow this link
Click here to view the DES Press Release
