Use and Impact of TIMSS

Malta participated in TIMSS 2011 at the fourth grade (Year 5), and the results in both mathematics and science did not prove satisfactory; an internal analysis of the results followed. Malta has envisaged that the new National Curriculum Framework and the development and implementation of the Learning Outcomes Framework and the related pedagogy would lead to improvement in the TIMSS 2015 results.

In science, the Learning Outcomes Framework was based on the conclusions of the policy document A Vision for Science Education in Malta, published in December 2011. The policy recommended major changes in science education, such as increasing instructional time allocated for science in primary schools and introducing integrated science throughout secondary education, replacing physics as the compulsory science subject during the last three years of secondary education. It also recommended that teachers adopt a pedagogy of inquiry-based learning in their classes.