Use and Impact of TIMSS
Northern Ireland took part in TIMSS for the first time in 2011, following evidence from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey that showed a decline in reading and mathematics from significantly above the OECD average in 2000 and 2003, to average in 2006 and 2009.40 TIMSS 2011 showed that attainment in mathematics in Northern Ireland was higher than in any other English-speaking country, and out of the 50 participating countries, students in Northern Ireland were outperformed significantly by only five countries. The average score for science was lower than for mathematics, but above the international average.
The Department of Education has been keen to improve on the results obtained in 2011, and in 2015 it commissioned an analysis of seven education systems (the Czech Republic, England, Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the Slovak Republic) that outperformed Northern Ireland in the TIMSS 2011 science assessment. The report noted that comparator countries tended to teach science as a separate subject in primary education, and suggested that attainment in science potentially could be improved by raising the profile of science within the subject area The World Around Us. It also suggested that attainment in science potentially could be improved by increasing the amount of formal monitoring of science learning, using classroom or external assessment.41