Australia’s Year 8 maths and science curriculum well aligned globally, TIMSS analysis finds

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS 2023) is a major international assessment that evaluates student achievement in mathematics and science. Administered to Year 4 and Year 8 students, TIMSS is designed around the curricula of participating countries to ensure that international comparisons between systems are fair.

The TIMSS Insights series of reports are released by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) and delve into specific research areas to evaluate the impact of different learning variables on achievement.

The latest report,  Intended, Implemented, and Attained Mathematics and Science Curricula at the Eighth Grade: Findings from TIMSS 2023, examines how curriculum expectations, classroom teaching and student achievement align across participating education systems.

Using the TIMSS Curriculum Model, the report looks at three layers of curriculum: the intended curriculum (what systems expect students to learn), the implemented curriculum (what teachers report teaching), and the attained curriculum (what students know and can do) as measured through TIMSS achievement data.

What does the report say about Australia’s curriculum implementation?

The findings show Australia’s curriculum is well-designed and aligned with international expectations, with some variation in how different subjects are covered across classrooms.

In Year 8 mathematics, Australia’s curriculum covers all TIMSS topics across Number, Algebra, and Data and Probability, and four of the five topics in Geometry and Measurement. Teachers reported very strong coverage of Number topics, at 97%, and strong coverage of Data and Probability, at 90%. Coverage was also high in Geometry and Measurement, at 81%.

Algebra is taught less consistently across classrooms, with Australian teachers reporting that only 58% of Algebra topics had been taught to students. This suggests that more familiar or foundational mathematics content may be receiving stronger emphasis in classrooms.

In science, the intended curriculum is broadly aligned with TIMSS, with variation in how topics are sequenced and covered across the year. Australia’s intended curriculum covered between 64 and 75% of TIMSS topics across Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Earth Science. Teacher-reported coverage was closely aligned in Biology and Chemistry, but larger gaps appeared in Physics and Earth Science.

Overall, the findings highlight that Australia’s curriculum provides strong foundations, with opportunities to support consistent delivery of more complex or abstract areas to ensure all students benefit from the full breadth of the curriculum

What we also see from both the Australian and international data is that teaching a breadth of topics doesn’t necessarily lead to better outcomes. There is only a weak link between how many maths topics are taught and student achievement, and almost no link in science. This suggests that a curriculum that prioritises effective instruction of key concepts, rather than a broad range of topics, will improve the gap between curriculum design and implementation.

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) manages Australia’s participation in the TIMSS assessment on behalf of the Commonwealth, state and territory governments.