Debate contribution: Programme for International Student Assessment Report
Debate contribution by Mr Paul Givan on .
- MLA
- Mr Paul Givan
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 6 October 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Programme for International Student Assessment Report
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5776901
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank Mr Kingston for the question.
I welcome the latest programme for international student assessment, commonly known as "PISA", results for Northern Ireland. International studies such as PISA provide essential insights on our system’s strengths and highlight opportunities to learn from approaches that are used in other high-performing countries. While our pupils continue to perform relatively well internationally, the findings highlight significant challenges, particularly declining attainment in reading and mathematics and persistent gaps linked to disadvantage and gender. Literacy and numeracy are fundamental to educational success, yet the proportion of pupils failing to reach the baseline level 2 standard has increased substantially over the past decade. It is particularly concerning that outcomes for lower-attaining pupils have deteriorated and that Northern Ireland is now outperformed across all three PISA domains by England and the Republic of Ireland. Those results reinforce the need for ambitious reform and targeted support, especially for disadvantaged learners. Through the Department's TransformED programme, we are focusing on improving teaching and learning, as high-quality teaching remains the single most important in-school factor in raising standards. While Northern Ireland remains a strong-performing education system by international standards, we cannot be complacent. Our priority must be to raise standards for all learners, close attainment gaps and ensure that every young person develops the literacy, numeracy and wider skills needed to succeed in a rapidly changing world.
227 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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