Aussie Year 4 Students Hit New High in Global Assessment

Australian year 4 students whose first years of schooling occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic have achieved Australia’s best-ever result in an international maths and science assessment nevertheless.

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) analysed the performance of Australia’s year 4 and 8 students in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

The report shows that in science, year 4 students performed in the top 10 of 58 countries that took part at this year level. Their achievement was significantly higher than in the previous TIMSS assessment in 2019, with the average Australian year 4 student moving from being able to apply knowledge using only a few scientific concepts to being a high performer in 2023.

The latest result in year 4 maths was also an improvement on the previous cycle, with the number of countries outperforming Australian students dropping from 22 to 14.

“These are really positive results for our year 4 students, particularly since their first years of school were disrupted by COVID-19,” the lead report author Nicole Wernert said.

It also reflects well on teachers and parents that young students were so engaged with their learning in challenging circumstances.

Australia’s year 8 students have maintained the achievement levels set in previous years, with similar results to those recorded in 2019. In 2023, they were outperformed by 8 countries in maths and 7 countries in science, out of 44 at this year level. Singapore was the top performing country overall in both domains and age groups.

Ms Wernert noted there was a ‘disappointing’ gender gap in favour of boys’ achievement across year levels and domains. Internationally, Australia recorded the equal widest gender gap (with France) in year 4 maths achievement.

TIMSS is directed by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). ACER manages the implementation and reporting of TIMSS in Australia.

Australia has participated in all 8 cycles of TIMSS since 1995.

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