This study by the UCL Institute of Education has found that teenagers in England are performing significantly worse in science than in 2015. The study looked at the mathematics and science performance of 64 countries in 2019.
The percentage of Year 9 pupils in England performing below the low international benchmark in science has more than doubled in four years.
The analysis of England’s performance is from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement’s (IEA) Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019.
The study, which looked at the mathematics and science performance of 64 countries in 2019, found pupils in England performed on average significantly better than most other countries in both subjects.
But pupils from a group of mostly East Asian countries – Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, Republic of Korea and Singapore, along with Russia – have continued to consistently outperform England’s students.