After the pandemic, primary school students read worse

For PIRLS, children in the fourth grade of primary school are tested on reading. In 2021, nearly 60 countries will participate in the survey, which will be conducted every five years. As part of the 80-minute survey, the children were given texts that asked questions to be answered. Demographic data or the reading attitude of the children were then collected. The results were anonymised and did not affect the figures.

Study postponed due to corona
The effects of the pandemic were already visible when the study was carried out: only 43 countries (including Austria) carried out the tests as planned in the spring of 2021. Another 14 have postponed them for half a year due to the corona. As a result, the data from the latter countries could no longer be compared, as the students tested were then half a year older. For example, the Irish students achieved the best results in Europe, but at the time of the test they had already completed half a school year more than, for example, the Austrians. Comparative data with 2016 was only available for 32 countries because some of the remaining countries had not participated five years earlier.

Deterioration in Austria slightly
Of the 32 countries compared, pupils in 21 achieved worse results than in 2016, in eight there were no or hardly any changes and three even improved. In Austria, the decline was limited: after 541 points in 2016, students achieved an average of 530 points this year – this roughly corresponds to the result of 2011 (529), while 538 points were achieved in 2006.

Such ups and downs in reading results are not uncommon, the study said. For IEA director Dirk Hastedt, the results do reflect the negative effects of the pandemic – “but the losses are likely to be less pronounced than many expected”. Some researchers have heard that an entire school year has been lost and that there is even talk of a “Lost Generation,” Hastedt told the APA.

Corona played a role after all
However, with regard to the overall evaluation, it must be said that Corona certainly played a role, Hastedt stressed. Unlike previous test runs, when points were achieved in the vast majority of states, this time there were declines or stagnations in almost all states.

Leaders from Asia
The best reading performance was achieved by children in Singapore (587) in 2021 – the results were even better than in 2016 (576). Hong Kong (573), Russia (567), England (558), Finland and Poland (549 each), and Taiwan and Sweden (544 each). Austria is also followed by Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Australia (540 each), Denmark, Norway (539 each), Italy (537) and Macao (536). Roughly equal to Austria are Slovakia (529) and the Netherlands (527), followed closely by Germany (524). As with the last survey in 2016, Austria is well above the international average (509) and the EU average (527).

Girls with better reading ability
Further results: Girls achieved an average of 16 points better reading performance internationally. In Austria the difference was 14 points (boys: 523, girls: 537). The difference between boys and girls has increased considerably since the previous tests (2006: 10 points, 2011: eight, 2016: six points). “It’s an ugly development.”

About 20 percent of schoolchildren in Austria are weak readers, which is less than the international average (25 percent). Seven percent, on the other hand, belong to the top group of best readers, which is exactly in line with the international average.