French students lag far behind their counterparts elsewhere in the European Union in both maths and science, an international report on education released on Tuesday showed, reports FRANCE 24.
France ranked last in mathematics and next to last in science among European Union nations, according to the latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), a comparative report on student achievement.
French fourth-graders scored an average of 488 points in mathematics and 487 in science, below the international average of 500 and the European average of 527 in maths and 525 in science. (Fourth grade is equivalent to Year 4 in the UK, with students 8-9 years old.)
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, education minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem wasted no time in placing the blame for France’s poor showing squarely at the feet of Conservative presidential hopeful and former prime minister François Fillon.
“It was the students who entered kindergarten in 2011 who are – and I am weighing my words carefully – the sacrificed generation,” the minister said. “It is they who have paid a high price for the politics of yesterday – that is to say, the government of Mr. Fillon.”
The students scoring highest in fourth-grade mathematics hailed from East Asia, with Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) and Japan outperforming all participating countries. Northern Ireland, the Russian Federation and Finland followed in sixth, seventh and eighth places. England was ranked number 10 while the United States came in at 14th place and Canada at 29th. France was ranked 35th – just above Turkey – of the 49 countries that took part.