Latvian students' performance has weakened in maths and reading, improved in sciences - PISA

RIGA - Over the past four years, Latvian students' performance in mathematics and reading has declined, while their performance in sciences has improved, according to the first results of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2022), released on Tuesday.

The 2022 research cycle focused on schoolchildren's success in mathematics, assessing their mathematical competence, or the ability to think mathematically and to formulate, apply and interpret mathematical problems in various life situations.

Results of the 2022 study show that the Latvian students' mathematical competence has declined by 13 points compared to the results in 2018 - this year, the average score in mathematics was 483 points. According to the PISA study, the Latvian students' performance is "statistically significantly higher" than the OECD average of 472 points and does not differ much from the average results shown by their peers in the UK, Poland, Austria, Australia, Czechia, Slovenia, Finland, Sweden and New Zealand. 

The highest average maths score - 575 points - was shown by students in Singapore. Macao, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Estonia and Switzerland also score above 500 points.

The average science score of Latvian students is 494, above the OECD average of 485.

PISA researchers note that Latvian students' science literacy in the last three cycles of the research program has been in line with the group of countries whose performance was not significantly different from the OECD average. Meanwhile, in 2022, with a seven-point increase in average achievement, the Latvian students demonstrate a good and stable level of quality in long-term science knowledge in the last stage of primary education. Low performance in science was shown by 16.5 percent of Latvian schoolkids, below the OECD average of 24 percent.

However, the average achievement of the Latvian students in reading is in line with the OECD average of 475 points. Compared to 2018, the latest score is four points lower (compared to 16 points lower across OECD countries). Meanwhile, the Latvian students' performance has remained virtually unchanged since the 2009 survey. At the same time, the percentage  of high-achieving students in reading in Latvia is 4.2 percent, below the OECD average of 7.2 percent.

The average achievements of students in Latvia are on part with the performance of students in Italy, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Norway, Croatia, Spain, France, Israel, Hungary and Lithuania. 

The PISA 2022 study was carried out in 37 OECD member states and 44 partner countries, assessing around 690,000 15 years old students representing around 29 million peers in 81 public schools.