England has one of the world’s largest gaps between highest and lowest performers in primary maths
Around 90,000 more primary pupils need to achieve the expected standard at the end of primary for England to be considered “world class” in maths, new research says.
The analysis, published by the Education Policy Institute and UCL Institute of Education, also revealed that gap between those who are doing well and struggling at primary school is one of the largest in the world.
The report English Education: world class in primary? uses data from the 2015 Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in which ten-year-olds in England were ranked tenth in the world.
The authors, John Jerrim, professor of social statistics at UCL Institute of Education, and Natalie Perera and Peter Sellen, both of the EPI, found that while England compared reasonably well with other nations, there is a “long tail of underperformance”.
“The biggest cause for concern is the huge gulf between England’s top performing primary pupils, and those lagging behind at the bottom – one of the largest out of all developed countries,” Natalie Perera, executive director and head of research at the Education Policy Institute, said.
“If we want to match standards in some of the world-leading nations and secure greater equity in our education system, more must be done to raise the attainment of our lowest, and often most vulnerable, pupils.”
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