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A snapshot of Australia’s achievement in the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study

Global map with TIMSS participating regions highlighted

What is PIRLS?

PIRLS is an international assessment of Year 4 students that measures how effective countries are in teaching reading literacy.

PIRLS 2021 participants

57
Countries
400,000
Students worldwide
5,487
Australian students
281
Australian schools

Achievement trends

The mean reading scores for PIRLS countries Australia, England, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore over the last 5 cycles where available.

*Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some countries (including Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore) were able to test students during October 2020 to June 2021 as originally scheduled, while other countries (including Australia and England) delayed the assessment until late 2021 to early 2022. ↩

Country 2001 2006 2011 2016 2021*
Australia N/A N/A 527 544 540
England 553 539 552 559 558
Hong Kong 528 564 571 569 573
New Zealand 529 532 531 523 521
Singapore 528 558 567 576 587

International comparisons

A stacked bar chart indicating the countries that performed below, similar to and at a higher level than Australia

6 countries performed at a higher level than Australia
8 countries performed at a similar level to Australia
28 countries performed at a lower level than Australia

Students achieving PIRLS Intermediate benchmark

(Australia’s proficient standard)

Bar chart showing the percentage of students in 10 countries who achieved the PIRLS intermediate benchmark

71% of New Zealand’s students achieved the PIRLS intermediate benchmark. New Zealand’s mean score was lower than Australia’s.
80% of Australia’s students achieved the PIRLS intermediate benchmark.
83% of Italy’s students achieved the PIRLS intermediate benchmark. Italy’s mean score was similar to Australia’s.
84% of Finland’s students achieved the PIRLS intermediate benchmark. Finland’s mean score was similar to Australia’s.
86% of England’s students achieved the PIRLS intermediate benchmark. England’s mean score was higher than Australia’s.
89% of Russia’s students achieved the PIRLS intermediate benchmark. Russia’s mean score was higher than Australia’s.
90% of Singapore’s students achieved the PIRLS intermediate benchmark. Singapore’s mean score was higher than Australia’s.
92% of Hong Kong’s students achieved the PIRLS intermediate benchmark. Hong Kong’s mean score was higher than Australia’s.

Contact

General

PIRLS Information line: 1800 775 305
Email: pirls@acer.org

Media comment

Phone: 0419 340 058
Email: communications@acer.org