Poland has recorded the joint best result among EU countries – equal with Finland – in an international index assessing reading comprehension among school pupils. It also has one of the largest gender disparities in results, with girls performing much more strongly than boys.
The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is conducted every five years by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA).
The latest results, from 2021 but released today, are the fifth time the study has taken place. The findings are based in each country on a standardised reading comprehension test taken by a nationally representative random sample of approximately 4,000 fourth-grade students from 150 to 200 schools.
IT’S HERE! The highly anticipated PIRLS 2021 International Results in Reading is now available! Visit https://t.co/NanyqitbsK to learn about fourth grade reading achievement around the world!#PIRLS2021 #literacy #20YrsPIRLS #edData@iea_education @bclynchschool pic.twitter.com/Gl7JpXEL3d
— TIMSS & PIRLS (@TIMSSandPIRLS) May 16, 2023
Among the 41 countries and two Chinese special administrative regions that were included, Poland ranked joint fifth, with a reading score of 549. It was behind only Singapore (587), Hong Kong (573), Russia (567) and England (558).
Among the 18 EU member states in the report, Poland and Finland (which also has a score of 549) ranked highest, followed by Sweden (544), Bulgaria (540) and the Czech Republic (540).
The worst EU performers were Belgium (494 for French speakers and 511 for Flemish), Cyprus (511) and France (514).
Poland has improved considerably in the ranking, rising from 29th in 2006 and 28th in 2011 to sixth in 2016 and now fifth. Each version of the report, however, had included a slightly different mix of countries.
The 2021 study also found that in Poland, like in every country, girls scored higher (560) than boys (540). However, Poland’s gender difference of 20 points was among the highest: ninth overall and first among EU countries.
The findings from the PIRLS study mirror those from another major international ranking of educational achievement, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
In the most recent PISA ranking, conducted in 2018, Polish schoolchildren were found to be the third best in Europe at maths and science, and fourth best at reading comprehension.
Poland has continued its rise towards the top of the PISA education rankings, where it is now third in Europe for maths and science and fourth in reading comprehension https://t.co/Qt9l9wfCdo
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 3, 2019
Main image credit: Tomasz Pietrzyk / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
