Irish students perform above OECD average in maths, science: report

Irish students are among the best in countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in reading and are performing significantly higher than the OECD average in mathematics and science, according to a report from the think tank on Tuesday.

The Paris-based think tank, which published the latest results of OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), showed that in reading, Irish students ranked third out of 35 OECD countries, second among EU countries, and fifth out of all countries participating in PISA 2015.

In science and maths, Irish students ranked 13th out of 35 OECD countries.

PISA takes place every three years and aims to measure how well students, at age 15, are performing in reading, mathematics and science.

"While it is good to see Irish students performing above the OECD average in maths and science, we still need to make improvements," Irish Education Minister Richard Bruton said.

He said the Irish government has the overall aim of making the country the best education and training service in Europe within a decade.

According to the minister, the government outlined a series of ambitious actions to further improve Irish students' performance in maths and science in particular, including introducing coding and computer science throughout the school curriculum from September this year. Endit