Why Maths Performance Matters in 2025: Insights & Context for Parents and Students

Why Maths Performance Matters in 2025

Lisa Bermingham • 8 min read

From Leaving Cert points and CAO choices to career prospects in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), performance in mathematics shapes futures.

In 2025, Ireland finds itself at an important crossroads.

On one hand, our students continue to shine in international assessments, ranking among the best in Europe.

On the other, troubling trends in gender gaps are emerging, raising questions about equity and how we prepare the younger generation for tomorrow’s opportunities.

1. What Is TIMSS & How Do Irish Students Fare?

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is one of the world's biggest and most reliable assessments of students’ maths and science skills. In 2023, it tested more than 650,000 students across 65 countries, including approximately 12,600 Irish pupils in Fourth Class (primary) and Second Year (post-primary) .

The results are clear and consistent:

• Ireland’s average scores in both Maths and Science are significantly higher than the international average.
• For Second-Year students, we're the top-performing EU country in Maths and third in Science.
• Results remain stable over time, unaffected by Covid-19 disruptions.

2. Why These Results Matter

• Accuracy without cramming: TIMSS is designed to avoid last-minute studying, it assesses genuine understanding by testing knowledge, reasoning, and application under standardised conditions.
• Benchmarking progress: Success internationally shows Ireland’s curriculum and teaching remain robust and effective, even through challenges like the pandemic.
• This isn’t just a test, it’s a tool for improvement: TIMSS helps identify strengths and gaps in learning, using input from teachers, principals, and parents to guide policy and practice.

This consistency highlights the strength of our education system. However, beneath the good news, TIMSS revealed a new gender based challenge.

3. A New Concern: The Emerging Gender Gap

For the first time in TIMSS history, Irish boys significantly outperformed girls in both Maths and Science at post-primary (second year) level.

Key insights:

• This is a recent shift! Irish performance was traditionally gender-neutral in TIMSS.
• Authors indicate that girls' mean scores have declined since 2019 in Maths and even earlier in Science.
• Broader surveys suggest that girls’ attitudes toward Maths and Science have also declined, raising concerns about confidence and engagement.

This is not an isolated finding. A closer look at Leaving Cert results shows a similar story:

• Before Project Maths (pre-2012): Boys and girls achieved top grades (H1s) in higher-level maths at roughly equal rates.
• Since Project Maths: The percentage of girls achieving H1s has dropped sharply, down to just 25–30% of the total H1s awarded, even though girls make up nearly half of higher-level maths candidates.
• Covid’s calculated grades temporarily narrowed the gap, but since exams returned, the divide has re-opened.

Evidence suggests that Project Maths may have disproportionately disadvantaged girls compared to boys.

Why?

• Learning style mismatch: Project Maths emphasises real-life scenarios and word-heavy problems. Girls traditionally excelled at procedural accuracy with more traditional, clearly defined problems, so the shift may disadvantage them.
• Confidence: Research shows girls often underestimate their ability in maths. This confidence gap can affect outcomes in assessments requiring risk-taking and interpretation, .
• Assessment design: Questions framed in applied contexts may create extra barriers unrelated to mathematical skill.
  Barriers include unfamiliar contexts (e.g., hobbies or sports examples) and a heavy literacy load, which may disadvantage students with weaker reading comprehension.

Why Gender Gaps Matter

Some may ask: if overall Irish performance is strong, why does it matter if boys are slightly ahead?

It matters because higher-level maths results directly affect opportunities. From bonus CAO points to entry requirements for engineering, technology, and science degrees, maths acts as a gatekeeper.

If girls consistently underperform at the top levels, fewer will pursue maths-intensive courses at third level. The data already shows this trend:

• According to the Department of Education’s 2025 Education Indicators, 42.4% of girls and 89.1% of boys take at least one STEM subject beyond biology at Leaving Cert.
• Only about 10% of girls take two or more non-biology STEM subjects, versus 38% of boys.
• By third level, one in three STEM students is female.

Figures are included in the latest Education Indicators for 2025, published recently by the Department of Education, and based on data collected between the academic years of 2019/20 to 2023/24.

While more women than men now attend university overall, they remain underrepresented in the very fields driving Ireland’s economy and innovation.

• In the workforce, the imbalance grows sharper: only 12% of engineers and 24% of ICT specialists in Ireland are women (Eurostat, 2024).

This drop-off reflects what’s often called the “leaky pipeline” - the steady loss of women at each stage from school to third level to the workforce in STEM.

4. What Can Be Done

• Boosting confidence: Encourage girls to stick with higher-level maths and celebrate effort, perseverance, and problem-solving, not just test scores.
• Balanced teaching: Blend real-life applications with opportunities to practise abstract problem-solving.
• Visible role models: Showcase women thriving in STEM to counter stereotypes. It is hard to be it, if they can’t see it.

5. Looking Ahead: Education Policy + Your Role

• Ireland’s new Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Literacy Strategy (2024-2033), a phased maths curriculum improvement plan with interest in gender based learning differences.
• STEM Passport for Inclusion: Allows girls in DEIS schools to earn a Level 6 university qualification in Transition Year.
  Creating a recognised points pathway into STEM courses at partner universities (currently MTU, ATU and MU).
• The Senior Cycle “Tranche” system will phase in revised subject specifications.
  A key change is that 40% of assessment in each subject will come from classroom-based or project work, reducing reliance on one high-stakes written exam.

Leaving Cert 2.0: Continuous Assessment + Oral Exams

The NCCA’s proposed LC 2.0 reforms (still in consultation) include:

• 40% continuous assessment (CA) across subjects.
• Potential for exploring oral exams in Maths (alternative way of testing reasoning and explanation skills).

Possible effects for girls (based on existing research):

• Continuous assessment (CA): Evidence suggests girls often do better in CA than in high-stakes single exams.

  CA rewards consistency, organisation, and ongoing effort. This could close performance gaps.

• Oral exams in maths:
  • Positives: Girls often perform strongly in verbal reasoning and communication, so it could allow them to demonstrate understanding that isn’t always visible in written exams.
  • Risks: Oral exams can introduce bias (examiner perception, confidence gaps, anxiety).

    Training and standardisation would be essential to make it fair.

Conclusion: Maths Matters Now More Than Ever

Ireland's recent TIMSS results are a testament to strong teaching methods. Our students stand shoulder to shoulder with the best in the world.

However, they also highlight emerging disparities that require action.

Maths performance matters, not just for grades, but for shaping who gets to lead, innovate, and create in the future.

In 2025, the challenge is clear: ensure that every student, regardless of gender, can see themselves in maths and succeed in STEM.