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The gender gap in maths has widened significantly in England, an international study shows.

Follow-up research to the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2023 (Timss) reveals that girls in both Year 5 and Year 9 performed significantly below boys in maths.

This is the first time since Timss began in 2003 that a significant gender gap has existed for Year 9 maths in England, and only the second time for Year 5 maths.

The report produced for the Department for Education analysing the performance of England’s pupils in the study warns that there is an “urgent need” to assess why a gender gap has re-emerged, “especially given the large-scale initiatives in place to address this in mathematics and science”.

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There was a six-point gap in the average score of boys (549) and girls (543) in 2015 for Year 5 maths. The gap narrowed slightly in 2019 but has now widened to 18 points, with boys scoring an average of 561 and girls 543.

Timss: the gender gap in maths

At Year 9, the gap between boys’ and girls’ average point scores in 2023 was 26. This is the largest gap observed for any of the 64 countries that participated in 2023.

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Boys also performed significantly above girls in Year 9 science for the first time since 2003. Boys scored an average of 538, while girls scored 524. There was no significant gender difference observed for Year 5 science performance.

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For Year 9 science and both year groups in maths, boys were significantly more likely to report they were very confident in their maths or science skills. Girls were significantly more likely to report they were not confident.

The research was carried out by academics at the UCL Institute of Education and published by the DfE. It examines performance in Timss 2023 by pupil characteristics and experiences of learning and teaching.

• Timss 2023: All you need to know
• School attendance: How England compares with the rest of the world
• Explainer: What is Timss and why do we take part?

Researchers also found that pupils who reported being tired or hungry at school performed worse on average than their peers.

In Year 5 maths, more than two-fifths of pupils reported they were hungry when they arrived at school every day or almost every day. Nearly a third of Year 9 maths students reported this.

For both age groups, pupils reporting this had significantly lower average scores than their peers who sometimes or never felt hungry. The same association was found in science.

Some 55 per cent of Year 5 maths pupils said they felt tired when they arrived at school every day or almost every day. These pupils scored significantly below their peers who were never tired or sometimes tired on average, and it was the same for Year 5 science.

Researchers also found that pupils reporting bad behaviour or bullying at their school were more likely to have lower scores across both age groups.

Teachers’ questionnaires also revealed that more than 80 per cent of Year 5 pupils were taught by teachers who said they were affected by there being too much material to cover in class, having too many administrative tasks, needing more time to prepare for class and needing more time to assist individual pupils.

England was above the international average in terms of teachers having these concerns. For example, on average across the 66 jurisdictions that took part in Timss, 63 per cent of Year 5 pupils were taught by teachers reporting they had too many administrative tasks. In England the proportion was 86 per cent.

There was some evidence of an association between lower absence rates and higher performance across maths and science. A Tes analysis of international absence rates when Timss data was initially released found that English pupils were less likely to report themselves as regularly absent than the majority of other participating jurisdictions.

Researchers also found that for both age cohorts in maths and for Year 9 science, the proportion of pupils with access to digital devices in lessons was below the international average.

Several exam boards have published plans to digitise exams in the past year, but Ofqual’s chief regulator has warned that this would not make sense without wider digitisation of education to tackle England’s divide in terms of access to digital devices.

In 2023, 8,330 pupils at 267 schools completed the Timss assessments in England.

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