DE — Research Co-Ordinator for trends in international maths and science study 2015.

Descriptions

The Department of Education (DE) funds a suite of international comparisons studies, including TIMSS. These studies are a vital part of the evidence base, allowing us to benchmark Northern Ireland's performance against other countries, to measure trends over time, to identify and analyse factors that impact on pupil attainment, and to learn from policies and practices in other high-performing countries. TIMSS 2015 is the 6th in a 4-yearly cycle of assessments that measures children's mathematics and science achievement at international grades 4 and 8 equating too Years 6 and 10 in Northern Ireland. TIMSS 2015 will be the second time that Northern Ireland has participated. It will only participate in TIMSS grade 4.The development work for TIMSS is carried out by the IEA's International Study Centre (ISC) at Boston College, USA http://timssandpirls.bc.edu/. However, participating countries are expected to set up National Centres and to recruit National Research Coordinators (NRCs) to run the study at the national level. Northern Ireland is joining the project after the field trial has been undertaken. As such it may be necessary to liaise with the NRC for England/Ireland to discuss findings from their trials. In addition, it is likely that much of the assessment items and survey instruments will be finalised already.