Shock fall in school results
Kiwi teens rate well in some topics but girls, Asians and wealthier kids show surprising slip Reading Science Maths
Surprising falls in the academic performance of girls, Asian students, and pupils from high socio-economic backgrounds are revealed in an international report.
The results of the 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which measures how well nations prepare their 15-year-olds to meet real-life challenges, was leased last night.
New Zealand’s international ranking increased across science (12), mathematics (21) and reading (10) — up from 18, 23 and 13, respectively.
But compared with 2012 — the last time a PISA study was done — Kiwi students’ scores fell slightly. The biggest drop was in maths, where the average score fell from 500 to 495.
But all were above the Organisation for Economic Co-
HGo to nzherald.co.nz to try the PISA questions yourself re- operation and Development (OECD) average, and the Government praised the results as “pleasing”.
Education Minister Hekia Parata told the Herald she believed the results were “pretty good”, and New Zealand had “stabilised and consolidated” its scores from 2012. But “we’ve got more work to do, absolutely.”
One of those areas was New Zealand’s welldocumented poor educational equity, again highlighted in this report.
It had improved from 2012, with scores for students from low socio-economic backgrounds improving slightly for science, reading and maths.
Surprisingly, scores for students from high socioeconomic backgrounds fell across all three subjects.
Asian pupils also showed a decline in performance, but remained above the OECD average in all three subjects.
NZ has one of the highest average score for NZ students, down from 512 in 2012, but higher than the OECD average of 493 average score for NZ students, down from 516 in 2012, but higher than the OECD average of 493 proportions of 15-year-olds achieving at the highest proficiency level in science and reading, shows the 2015 report.
One in five Kiwi students are among the top performers in at least one subject area, compared with the OECD average of 15 per cent; and 6 per cent are top performers in all three areas, compared with the average of 4 per cent. average score for NZ students, down from 500 in 2012, but higher than the OECD average of 490
But long-term trends across all subjects show a decline in the numbers at higher levels, and a rise at the lower levels.
After a dramatic fall in overall results between 2009 and 2012, achievement levels have stabilised somewhat in 2015, but still show a slight decline.
The average score in maths dropped from 500 in 2012 to 495 in 2015 (with an OECD average of 490), science dipped slightly from 516 to 513 (OECD 493), and reading also saw a dip from 512 to 509 (493).
In science, girls fell from 513 to 511 and boys from 518 to 516.
Reading for girls fell four points compared with the twopoint drop from the boys, while girls’ maths fell by eight points, against a one-point drop in the boys’ scores.
Louise Green, president of primary teachers’ union NZEI, said NZ needed to invest more in tackling under-achievement in areas of poverty.
“There seems to be a really big gap . . . for kids in those low socio-economic areas. That’s basically saying to us, stop the rhetoric and actually get the investment into the areas where it’s needed.
“And also deal with the poverty issues outside school because the link’s really clear, the OECD’s made that really clear.”
Around 500,000 15-yearolds from 72 countries took part in PISA 2015, including 35 OECD countries.