Thousands of teens in Wales to face important new test next term

PUPILS in secondary schools across Wales will sit a test next term to assess how well the education system here performs compared to other UK countries and internationally.

- ABBIE WIGHTWICK Education editor [e-mail]

Previously, Wales’ schools system has been ranked the worst in the UK five times running in the international Pisa tests.

‘The Program for International Student Assessment, or Pisa Test, is the only like-for-like comparison about performance to contrast attainment.

With the new curriculum and exam system in Wales now differing evermore widely from those across the border, exam result comparisons are problematic. For example, the pass rate for this week’s GCSEs rose slightly in Wales but fell in England, with exam bosses saying this could not be directly compared because of differences in the two systems and exams.

For this reason, Pisa results are widely seen as a gauge for how well Wales’ diverging education system is performing.

Next term, teenagers in more than 100 schools across Wales will sit the same Pisa tests on literacy, numeracy and science as their peers in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and other participating countries, including across the EU, the USA, China and Asia.

The tests, run by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development ( OECD ) are taken by 15-year-olds every three years to assess education systems against one another to see what's working. The last time the tests were sat in 2022 only 89 schools in Wales took part post-pandemic.