The latest international test results bring good news for New Zealand primary school science teachers.
Trends in international mathematics and science studies (TIMSS) data shows that the average performance of 5th grade students tends to increase. For grade 9 science, the overall results remain stable.
Administered once every four years, the TIMSS is one of the few checks New Zealand currently undertakes to measure progress towards equity and excellence in education. These new results are based on 2023 data.
New Zealand is, however, middle of the pack among other countries. A worrying gap is emerging between the results of 9th grade boys and girls. And the achievement gap between students from different socioeconomic statuses remains a problem.
In 2023, 71 education systems participated in the study. While it is great news that average grade 5 science scores increased compared to 2019, 21 countries (out of 58) performed better than our grade 5 students in science. And 16 (out of 43) performed better than our 9th graders in science.
In both cases, students achieved better average scores in Australia, England, Ireland, the United States, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Macau and the Republic of Korea.
New Zealand still has work to do to be competitive on the international stage. At the same time, the current intersecting global social and environmental crises require the country to carefully consider the role of school science education in contributing to the future.
The socio-economic gap
As well as improving New Zealand’s performance relative to other education systems, efforts are still needed to address issues of socio-economic inequity within our education system.
Fifth-year students from more economically advantaged backgrounds performed better on the TIMSS on average than students from more economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
New Zealand has one of the largest gaps in achievement between those who are more economically disadvantaged and those who are economically better off – only six countries have larger gaps.
It is important to note that there are low-performing countries and advanced countries within each socio-economic group. In other words, students can excel regardless of their economic situation – but they can’t succeed either.
However, the risk profile of failing to achieve changes with an economic benefit, as demonstrated by 5th grade science achievement. This is particularly problematic given that 21% of our students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
System Information
In addition to assessing students’ abilities in science knowledge, application, and reasoning, TIMSS collects a wealth of other data.
Although New Zealand’s education system needs to be fairer and better internationally, the vast majority of primary school teachers should be generalists. This means they teach in all areas of the curriculum while meeting the diverse needs of students.
According to TIMSS data, fewer Year 5 students in New Zealand are taught by a teacher with a bachelor’s degree (or higher) in primary education with a science major – 11% of new students -Zealand, compared to an international average of 31%.
Furthermore, only 28% of year 5 teachers in New Zealand report regularly using scientific concepts to explain phenomena (28%), well below the international average of 49%.
Program update
The findings of the TIMSS study – both encouraging and worrying – are particularly striking in light of the recently discontinued development of the new scientific program.
The next international assessment New Zealand will participate in is the 2025 Agenda for International Student Assessment (PISA). This study assesses the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds from 81 countries.
The PISA 2025 scientific framework is already available and identifies five main topics that will be used in the assessment. These are health and disease, natural resources, environmental quality, dangers and the frontiers of science and technology.
It remains to be seen how these themes – and their eventual outcomes – will guide future changes in science curricula. But regardless of the pause in curriculum updates, it’s clear there is still work to be done when it comes to science education in New Zealand.