SCIENCE PERFORMANCE AND UPTAKE BY 15-YEAR-OLD PUPILS IN NORTHERN-IRELAND

This paper presents results from the Assessment of Performance Unit (APU) science surveys which relate directly to Northern Ireland and shows that both the performance on the APU tests and uptake of science subjects for 15-year-old pupils from Northern Ireland was worse than those of their English contemporaries. These differences were present throughout the ability range for boys and are extremely large for those pupils studying less than eight O-levels (i.e. mainly those pupils attending secondary intermediate schools in Northern Ireland).