By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
South Korean students scored the highest in reading literacy in a global survey on 15-year-olds. They were also placed fourth in math literacy, but their performance in the focus topic ― science literacy ― saw a huge setback compared to previous assessments.
Results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) for 2006 were released Tuesday from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The survey is conducted once every three years among the international organization's members and partner countries. In 2006, the survey was conducted on some 400,000 students in 57 countries including the 30 OECD member countries.
Korean students in the first grade of high school topped reading ability in the surveyed countries, followed by Finland.
It showed consistent improvement given that they ranked sixth in 2000 and came in second in 2003.
The science results ― the country ranked first in 2000 ― are largely attributed to curriculum changes in science at school. In 2002, science classes in secondary school were reduced to three hours a week from four hours.
``There should be a proper discussion on the result, especially regarding the poor performance in science,'' the Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation said.
Recent surveys show most Korean students see science positively but they lack interest in the subject, which requires educational bodies to come up with countermeasures, the institute said.
In PISA 2006, Finish students achieved highest performance levels overall ― they ranked second in reading and first in math and first in science.