Italy has big male-female, north-south divides in maths

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 4 - Italy has big divides between boys and girls and between the north and south of the country when it comes to attainment in mathematics, according to the TIMSS 2023 International Mathematics and Science Study, which was released on Wednesday.
    It said that Italy is one of the countries with the highest achievement gaps in mathematics and science in the favour of boys: in fourth grade it is around 22 points, in eighth grade it is 16 points.
    The report said Italy as a whole was slightly below the EU average and well above the international average in maths and science.
    It said there was an average difference of 50 points between students in the north and south in the north's favour.
    At the international level boys in year four had higher average scores than girls in 40 countries; girls outperformed boys only in South Africa (by 29 points), and no significant gender differences were observed in the the remaining 17 countries covered by the survey. (ANSA).