Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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1056. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if Ireland is going to participate in the next ‘TIMSS Advanced’, which measures STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) preparedness for senior-cycle students; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21071/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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TIMSS Advanced is an extension of the main TIMSS study that has been carried out at an international level periodically but less regularly than the main TIMSS study. TIMSS has taken place every four years since 1995 (so the upcoming 2027 cycle will be the 9th iteration), whereas TIMSS Advanced has taken place three times to date (1995, 2008, and 2015). TIMSS assesses the mathematics and science skills of students in Fourth grade (Fourth Class in Ireland) and Eighth grade (Second Year), whereas TIMSS Advanced is targeted at advanced mathematics and physics for students in their final year of secondary school (Sixth Year). Traditionally, fewer countries have participated in TIMSS Advanced compared to TIMSS – for example, in the respective 2015 cycles, 56 countries participated in TIMSS and 10 participated in TIMSS Advanced.

Ireland has not to date taken part in TIMSS Advanced. Joining any of these studies requires considerable investment of time by Irish researchers. We have a relatively small number of experienced and capable researchers to carry out such work in Ireland and I would want to concentrate their efforts where our priorities lie – PISA, TIMSS, PIRLS, etc.

We have to monitor carefully the overall testing load on students and schools, especially at second level, where the number of schools in the Irish system is small. Over-testing can lead to school and student disengagement.

It is unclear when the next TIMSS Advanced study will be carried out internationally but, to our knowledge, there are no plans to run TIMSS Advanced alongside the upcoming TIMSS 2027 study.