This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Scots near top in international tests
08/06/2004
Scotland is performing well by international standards
in education but must have ambitions to do better,
according to Education Minister Peter Peacock.
The Minister was commenting on the latest findings of
the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA),
which analyses Scotland's performance in detail for the
first time, alongside 28 other countries.
Key results include:
* Scottish pupils were in the top six in the
international reading literacy rankings
* Scottish pupils were in the top five in the
international mathematical literacy rankings
* Over 40 per cent of Scottish pupils showed the
highest two reading levels. This is over 10 per cent higher
than the OECD average, ahead of the rest of the UK and only
four other countries did better than Scotland.
Mr Peacock said:
"Reading is a key skill for young people to develop and
can open doors for them throughout their lives. I welcome
this report which shows that Scottish youngsters score well
in international tests, but I want them to do even
better.
"Driving up literacy standards is vital to ensure our
young people are as good as anywhere in the world. That is
why we have a range of measures to improve standards - such
as the home reading initiative, Building Bridges in
Literacy project, development officers responsible for
raising attainment - and why we will reduce class sizes
further in key stages.
"These measures are all designed to develop pupils'
literacy skills further and ensure that they have the
chance to achieve their full potential.
"The survey also highlights the positive ethos in our
schools, with the vast majority of pupils feeling that they
got on well with their teachers and would get extra help if
they needed it. Scottish classrooms were better managed
than elsewhere with Scotland in the top three showing the
lowest levels of disruption.
"Scottish pupils ranked 9th in scientific literacy test
scores and those who read a large amount of fiction and
spoke regularly with their parents, scored highest in the
reading tests. Two thirds of young Scots read for pleasure
and our school libraries are better rated than the vast
majority.
"The international PISA survey is a very important
benchmark for us and how we are performing internationally.
I want to see Scotland firmly in the top flight of nations
and with our performance improving all the time - that will
be secured by long term investment of the kind we are now
making."
PISA was set up by the OECD (Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and
Development) to assess the performance of
15-year-olds in reading, mathematical and scientific
literacy in its members countries.
The first phase took place in 2000, the second was in
2003 and the third will take place in 2006. First results
from PISA 2003 will be published in December.
Initial results of PISA 2000 were published by OECD in
2001 and there have been two further thematic reports.
Scotland took part as part of the UK and the international
reports did not break down the UK results. Initial Scottish
results were published in January 2002.
The
latest findings are now available.
The Executive's initiatives to improve literacy
standards include:
- A commitment to reduce S1/S2 Maths and English
class sizes to 20.
- The Home Reading Initiative which, in its first
year, provided over £350,000 to groups throughout
Scotland to encourage parents and carers to read to
children from a young age.
- The Building Bridges in Literacy project which
'twins' secondary schools with associated primary
schools to review reading and writing teaching in
P6-S2, improving transition arrangements
- Appointing three literacy and numeracy development
officers to promote raising attainment in literacy and
numeracy.