Title page

Contents

Acknowledgements 2

Executive Summary 6

About PIRLS 6

Impact of COVID-19 on PIRLS 2021 6

Key highlights from PIRLS 2021 7

Overall reading performance 8

The attainment gap in reading performance 9

Reading performance and prior attainment 9

Reading performance differences by pupil characteristics 10

Pupils' attitudes towards reading 11

Teacher and school characteristics 12

Educational policy in England and PIRLS 13

1. Introduction to PIRLS 14

1.1. What is PIRLS? 14

1.2. Interpreting data from PIRLS: a reader's guide 18

1.3. Overview of the report structure 28

2. Reading performance 31

2.1. Overall reading performance 31

2.2. Trends in overall reading performance 35

2.3. Overall performance according to International Benchmarks 39

2.4. Contextualisation: Average PIRLS performance in European education systems 42

3. Performance in reading purpose and process scales 44

3.1. Performance in reading purposes 44

3.2. Performance in reading comprehension processes 50

3.3. Contextualisation: Reading for Literary Purposes and curricula in Ireland and Northern Ireland 56

4. Reading performance of higher and lower performing pupils 59

4.1. Distribution of reading performance 59

4.2. Trends in performance of lower and higher performing pupils 61

4.3. Contextualisation: Achievement of higher and lower performing pupils in Singapore 67

5. Reading performance by prior attainment 70

5.1. PIRLS performance by prior performance in phonics screening checks 71

5.2. PIRLS performance by prior performance in key stage 1 reading 74

5.3. Contextualisation: Approaches to reading screening across education systems 76

6. Reading performance by pupil characteristics 79

6.1. The relationship between PIRLS performance and pupil characteristics 80

6.2. Performance by gender 84

6.3. Performance by pupil age 95

6.4. Performance by ethnic group and English as an Additional Language (EAL) 97

6.5. Performance by socioeconomic background 98

6.6. Contextualisation: Changes in the magnitude of the gender gap over time 99

7. Reading performance by pupils' motivations 102

7.1. Scales for pupils' motivations towards reading 103

7.2. Pupils' confidence in reading 103

7.3. Pupils' liking of reading 109

7.4. Pupils' engagement in reading lessons 115

7.5. Time spent reading outside of school 122

7.6. Contextualisation: The relationship between reading enjoyment and reading achievement in Norway 124

8. School environment and teacher characteristics 127

8.1. Teacher characteristics and teaching practices 128

8.2. School characteristics 136

8.3. Parental involvement 141

9. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic 146

9.1. Introduction 147

9.2. Impact of COVID-19 on data collection 147

9.3. Impact of COVID-19 on school operations 148

9.4. Expected performance trends 2016-2021 vs observed performance trends 2016-2021 151

10. PIRLS and England's educational policy context 156

10.1. Current and past policy developments in England 156

10.2. Concluding remarks on policy changes in England and PIRLS 162

References 163

Appendix A: Methodology 176

Appendix B: Missing data from the NPD 181

Appendix C: Test languages in PIRLS 2021 182

Appendix D: Teachers' perspectives on parental involvement 185

Table 1. Education systems participating in PIRLS 2001-2021 17

Table 2. England's PIRLS 2021 sample characteristics relative to national data 20

Table 3. Comparison of data collection periods in PIRLS 2021 23

Table 4. Performance of education systems in PIRLS 2021 relative to England 32

Table 5. Performance of delayed-assessment education systems in PIRLS 2021 relative to England 34

Table 6. Overall scores of top 15 performing systems in PIRLS 2021, including systems with delayed assessment 35

Table 7. Statistically significant changes in overall PIRLS score from 2016 to 2021 36

Table 8. Statistically significant changes in overall PIRLS score from PIRLS 2016 to PIRLS 2021 for education systems with delayed assessment 37

Table 9. Overview of PIRLS 2021 International Benchmark criteria and scale scores 39

Table 10. Performance of England and comparator systems on the Literary Purpose and Informational Purpose Scales relative to overall performance (2021) 45

Table 11. Performance of England and comparator systems on the reading comprehension process scales relative to overall performance (2021) 51

Table 12. Average scores at the 10th, 50th and 90th percentile for England and comparator systems (2021) 60

Table 13. Description of pupil characteristics variables explored in the regression analysis 82

Table 14. Regression analysis of pupil characteristics relative to PIRLS 2021 score in England 83

Table 15. Average performance of girls and boys in England and comparator systems in PIRLS 2021 85

Table 16. Performance of girls and boys in England and comparator systems on the Literary Purpose Scale in PIRLS 2021 89

Table 17. Performance of girls and boys in England and comparator systems on the Informational Purpose Scale in PIRLS 2021 90

Table 18. Performance of girls and boys in England and comparator systems on the Retrieving and Straightforward Inferencing Process Scale in PIRLS 2021 92

Table 19. Performance of girls and boys in England and comparator systems on the Interpreting, Integrating and Evaluating Process Scale in PIRLS 2021 92

Table 20. Performance of England's PIRLS 2021 cohort by ethnic group 97

Table 21. Performance of England's PIRLS 2021 cohort by English as an Additional Language (EAL) status in the past 6 years 97

Table 22. Performance of England's PIRLS 2021 cohort by their eligibility for free school meals (FSM) in the past 6 years 98

Table 23. Average PIRLS 2021 score of pupils in England and comparator systems by the number of books they reported having at home 98

Table 24. Pupils' confidence in reading in England and comparator systems in PIRLS 2021 104

Table 25. Pupils' confidence in reading and their performance in PIRLS 2021 in England by gender 105

Table 26. Pupils' confidence in reading and their performance in PIRLS 2021 in England by the number of books at home 105

Table 27. Pupils' confidence in reading and their performance in PIRLS 2021 by eligibility for free school meals (FSM) in the past 6 years 106

Table 28. Pupils' confidence in reading and their performance in PIRLS 2021 by ethnic group 107

Table 29. Pupils' confidence in reading and their performance in PIRLS 2021 by English as an Additional Language (EAL) status 108

Table 30. Pupils' liking of reading in England and comparator systems in PIRLS 2021 110

Table 31. Pupils' liking of reading and their performance in PIRLS 2021 in England by gender 111

Table 32. Pupils' liking of reading and their performance in PIRLS 2021 in England by the number of books at home 112

Table 33. Pupils' liking of reading and their performance in PIRLS 2021 by eligibility for free school meals (FSM) in the past 6 years 113

Table 34. Pupils' liking of reading and their performance in PIRLS 2021 by ethnic group 113

Table 35. Pupils' liking of reading and their performance in PIRLS 2021 by English as an Additional Language (EAL) status 114

Table 36. Pupils' engagement in reading lessons in England and comparator systems relative to their performance in PIRLS 2021 116

Table 37. Pupils' engagement in reading lessons and their performance in PIRLS 2021 in England by gender 117

Table 38. Pupils' engagement in reading lessons and their performance in PIRLS 2021 in England by number of books at home 118

Table 39. Pupils' engagement in reading lessons and their performance in PIRLS 2021 by eligibility for free school meals (FSM) in the past 6 years 118

Table 40. Pupils' engagement in reading lessons and their performance in PIRLS 2021 by ethnic group 119

Table 41. Pupils' engagement in reading lessons and their performance in PIRLS 2021 by English as an Additional Language (EAL) status 120

Table 42. Pupils' time spent reading outside of school each day in England and comparator systems 122

Table 43. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose teachers have reached or exceeded different education levels (2021) 129

Table 44. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose teachers' formal training emphasised different aspects of reading education (2021) 130

Table 45. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose teachers have different amounts of teaching experience (2021) 131

Table 46. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose teachers have participated in different areas of reading-related professional development (2021) 131

Table 47. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose teachers report different levels of career satisfaction (2021) 132

Table 48. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose teachers ask them to complete weekly tasks requiring reading skills A-F (2021) 134

Table 49. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose teachers ask them to complete weekly tasks requiring reading skills G-L (2021) 134

Table 50. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose teachers assign different instructional materials for reading (2021) 135

Table 51. Percentage of pupils in England who reported that their teacher gives them interesting things to read 136

Table 52. Performance of England's PIRLS 2021 cohort by the type of school they attend 137

Table 53. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose teachers believe different levels of emphasis are placed on academic success at the school 138

Table 54. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose teachers report different levels of safety and orderliness at their school 139

Table 55. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose headteachers report different levels of problems associated with school discipline 140

Table 56. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems and the frequency of bullying they experience at school 141

Table 57. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose headteachers believe that parents are involved in school activities 143

Table 58. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose headteachers believe that parents are committed to ensuring that pupils are ready to learn 144

Table 59. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose headteachers believe that parents have high expectations for pupil achievement 144

Table 60. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose headteachers believe that parents support the school in ensuring high pupil achievement 145

Table 61. Number of weeks in which primary school operations were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21 (percent of schools7 by education system) 149

Table 62. Resources offered when normal school operations were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic (percent of schools by education system) 150

Table 63. Trends across 2016 and 2021 PIRLS cycles according to data collection adaptations due to the COVID-19 pandemic 153

Table 64. Key stage 1 and 2 reading comprehension skills and knowledge and their association with PIRLS International Benchmark levels 157

Table 65. Missing NPD data for pupils in England's PIRLS 2021 sample 181

Table 66. Education systems testing in a single language in PIRLS 2021 182

Table 67. Education systems testing in multiple languages in PIRLS 2021 183

Table 68. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose teachers believe that parents are involved in school activities 185

Table 69. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose teachers believe that parents are committed to ensuring that pupils are ready to learn 185

Table 70. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose teachers believe that parents have high expectations for pupil achievement 185

Table 71. Percentage of pupils in England and comparator systems whose teachers believe that parents support the school in ensuring high pupil achievement 186

Boxes

Box 2.1. PIRLS performance in Europe 43

Box 3.1. Northern Ireland and Ireland: Literary reading and national curricula 57

Box 4.1. Singapore: Improving performance and reducing attainment gaps 68

Box 5.1. Screening for reading difficulties in the early years 77

Box 6.1. Changes in gender gaps: boys improving or girls declining? 100

Box 7.1. Norway: High reading achievement, but low enjoyment 126