Queensland has second-worst gender gap in primary school maths in Australia

Queensland students are lagging in mathematics compared with students in New South Wales and Victoria, the latest global tests reveal.

And Queensland has the second-worst gender gap in year 4 maths in the country, with boys far out-performing girls.

Since 1995, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) has tracked and compared local performances in the two key subjects.

Boys are outperforming girls in maths in Years 4 and 8.Credit: iStock

Australia’s mean performance in Year 4 maths and science has improved significantly since 2019. However, some other countries still do consistently better.

Since the start of the TIMMS, Queensland’s mean scores have improved by 23 points in year 4 maths and 39 points in year 4 science.

Yet in 2023 Queensland students still had poorer maths and science knowledge than their counterparts in most other mainland states.

For example, in year 4 maths, Queensland students had a lower mean score than in NSW, the ACT, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia.

In year 8 maths, Queensland’s mean score was 498 – 27 points below NSW.

Only 61 per cent of Year 8 Queensland maths students were at or above the national proficiency standard, and 14 per cent were very low performers.

In year 8 science, Queensland students had a lower mean score than in the ACT, Western Australia and Victoria, but were one point ahead of NSW.

Lead report author Nicole Wernert also noted a “disappointing” gender gap in favour of boys in maths and science, mostly due to a higher percentage of boys being high performers.

In Australia, Queensland had the second-biggest gender gap in mean scores in year 4 maths, at 24 points, with only Victoria worse. When benchmarked against the national proficiency standard, 60 per cent of Queensland girls were at or above that mark, compared to 72 per cent of boys.

Internationally, Australia recorded the equal widest gender gap, with France, in year 4 maths.

That means Australia had a bigger gender gap in mean year 4 maths scores than countries such as Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

Overall, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Korea and Japan all outperformed Australia’s mean scores in year 4 and 8 mathematics and science, but Australia did better than students in the US, and much better than South Africa and Morocco.