KEY POINTS:
Kiwi 15-year-olds are maths and science whizzes but are struggling at reading, an international report shows.
More than 400,000 students from 57 countries took part in the Programme for International Student Assessment, an OECD education report.
The study involved a two-hour exam for 15-year-olds with open and multiple-choice tasks.
Students also answered a questionnaire about themselves and their principals answered a questionnaire about their school.
Parents in some countries completed a survey about their investment in their children's education.
Korea took out the highest percentage for students at the top level in reading, at 22 per cent, with New Zealand the next highest with 16 per cent.
But New Zealand's average reading score was brought down by having a large number of readers at the lower end of the scale. About 15 per cent of Kiwi kids scored at level one or below. As a comparison, only 5 per cent of Finland's 15-year-olds scored in the lower grouping.
However Kiwi teens achieved a respectable score in maths, with a ranking of 11th and performances consistently over the OECD average.
In science, Finland was the highest-performing country with an average of 563 score points on the science scale.
Six other high-scoring countries, including New Zealand, had average scores between 530 to 542 points which was above the OECD average of 500 points.
New Zealand and Finland were three times more likely than other countries to be able to explain and apply science to everyday life situations.
More than one in six New Zealand students, or 18 per cent, and one in five in Finland, 21 per cent, reached the top level five ranking.
The OECD average was 9 per cent.
PPTA president Robin Duff said teachers needed to be congratulated for the overall positive results.
"NCEA also has to be given some credit for this result," Mr Duff said.
But he said poor behaviour in classrooms, funding levels and classroom sizes might mean the results were short-lived, particularly in science.
"But despite some of those challenges, it seems to be working well," Mr Duff said.
He said New Zealand could not rest on its laurels and had to keep striving for high standards.
Education Minister Chris Carter said overall the results were pleasing given New Zealand's mean performance was better than 46 other countries including the UK.
"It's also pretty good that there were no gender differences in the performance of students in science and I think that means programmes aimed at increasing girls' interest in, and study of, science have had some success."
But he said he was concerned that Maori and Pasifika students were still over-represented at the lower end of the scientific literacy scale and there were still too many students achieving at a low level.
The triennial study collects data on students, their family and institutional factors that can help to explain differences in performance.
TOP 10
Range of rank of countries/economies on the reading scale
Korea - 556
Finland - 547
Hong Kong-China - 536
Canada - 527
New Zealand - 521
Ireland - 517
Australia - 513
Liechtenstein - 510
Poland - 508
Sweden - 507
Average OECD score - 492
