reading skills in 2021 stable in France, but below the European average

The reading and comprehension skills of French schoolchildren in CM1 class stabilized in 2021 despite the Covid-19 crisis. However, they remain below the European average, according to the international study Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls) conducted in 57 countries, and published on Tuesday 16 May.

With an average overall score of 514 points, France is above the international average (500 points), but below the European average (527 points), according to this study carried out every five years since 2001. The latter is led by the IEA, an international non-profit association whose members are research organisations. The study tested a total of 400,000 school children on their ability to understand texts.

In the context of Covid-19, the vast majority of countries in the European Union show a statistically significant drop, on average of 11 points compared to 2016. In the 2021 study, 21 countries obtain a score higher than that of France. Singapore (587), Hong Kong (573) and Russia (567) show the best results. The top EU countries are Finland (549) and Poland (549).