Proof he’s right... pupils’ maths results in reverse after pandemic

THE pandemic has wiped out improvements made by pupils in reading and maths, a survey has found.

The UK remains outside the top ten in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment, behind countries such as Singapore, Japan and Estonia.

The study, based on tests taken by 15year-olds from around the world, revealed that gains seen in the subjects during 2018 were reverted.

Mean – or average – scores in maths fell 13 points from 502 to 489 and in reading the drop was 10 points from 504 to 494.

The UK’s mean score in science in the study confirmed a decade-long decline in performance, dropping to 500 in 2022 from 505 in 2018.

Compared with 2018, mean performance in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries fell by ten points in reading scores and almost 15 points in maths.

A drop of 15 points is the equivalent to three-quarters of a year’s worth of learning, according to the OECD. But despite the lower results, the UK has climbed the rankings in maths to joint 12th – alongside Belgium, Denmark and Poland – up from joint 17th in 2018.

But the UK was well behind both Japan in fifth place and Estonia in seventh.

Singapore topped all three categories in the 2022 assessment.

Andreas Schleicher, OECD education and skills director, said: ‘The drop in UK results is slightly less than across OECD countries. So the ranking has improved but the results did not.

‘The decline in outcomes has been slower than on average. In that sense, the UK has been relatively more successful.

‘High-performing countries, like Singapore and Japan, continued to improve during the pandemic – and that’s certainly not what you can say for the UK.’

The OECD study is usually carried out every three years but the latest round of assessment – which was due to take place in 2021 – was postponed by a year due to Covid. Around 690,000 students took the assessment last year across the 81 countries and regions. Nearly 13,000 UK students participated – each sitting the two-hour tests and each devoted to one subject.

In reading, the UK rose to 13th from joint 14th in 2018. In science, the UK was ranked joint 14th, alongside Slovenia – the same as four years before.

Schools minister Damian Hinds said: ‘There is no doubt that Covid is a big blow, a big blow in England. I think almost every country in the survey is badly impacted.

‘We’ve already got our recovery programme in place – the National Tutoring Programme. But it is a big challenge for England, a big challenge for the world.’

Wales was lowest-performing devolved nation within the UK for all three subjects, with Northern Ireland outperforming Scotland at maths and science and Scotland better than Northern Ireland at reading.