The results of the latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2021) were unveiled by the Polish education ministry on Tuesday, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s polskieradio24.pl website reported.
Poland, Finland top EU ranking for children’s reading ability
Deputy Education Minister Dariusz Piątkowski told reporters that “Poland and Finland top the EU’s league table for literacy” among primary-school fourth graders, according to PIRLS 2021.
He added: “Polish primary-school fourth graders scored 549 points in the study, finishing level with their Finnish peers.”
Polish children ranked 5th worldwide in reading ability
Piątkowski also said that the score "gave Poland and Finland fifth place" in the global league table.
"Only four countries in the world earned a higher score," officials announced, listing Singapore, Hong Kong, Russia and Britain.
Poland’s education ministry reported that national scores "decreased compared to PIRLS 2016," with Poland’s result falling from 565 to 549 points, “likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lack of in-person classes.”
PIRLS
The PIRLS 2021 study surveyed over 367,000 pupils of the same age from 12,000 schools in 57 countries and eight additional cities and regions, Poland’s dziennik.pl website reported.
Participants were asked to read one literary text and one non-literary work, and answer some 15 questions, both closed and open-ended, about each text, said Joanna Kaźmierczak, who oversaw the research in Poland.
Besides comparing the reading ability of children in various countries, PIRLS 2021 also interviewed parents, native-language teachers and headteachers, according to officials.
Polish students finish second in European Money Quiz
Also on Tuesday, a pair of Polish students, 14-year-old Barbara Wiśniewska and Przemysław Ćmachowski, finished runners-up in the European Money Quiz 2023, the forsal.pl website reported.
Held by the European Banking Federation, the quiz is the biggest European-wide competition that aims to improve financial literacy among 13- to 15-year-old students, according to officials.
This year, over 37,500 students from 28 European countries took part in the quiz, forsal.pl reported.
In Tuesday’s final, held in the Belgian capital Brussels, Poland’s Wiśniewska and Ćmachowski, who hail from the southwestern city of Głogów, came second, behind a Greek team and ahead of students from Portugal, organisers said.
(pm/gs)
Source: polskieradio24.pl, dziennik.pl, interia.pl, portalsamorzadowy.pl, forsal.pl
Click on the audio player above to listen to a report by Radio Poland's Michał Owczarek.