Year four students in Fiji had mixed performance across the PILNA subjects compared with PILNA 2018. The 2021 students in Fiji scored lower in numeracy, lower in reading, and higher in writing than PILNA 2018 students. Average scores in numeracy (483) and reading (454), were, however, higher than the scores across the region, although the average score in writing (479) was lower than the region (numeracy, 479; reading, 444; writing, 484).

Many year four students are not meeting the minimum expected proficiency standards in numeracy and reading. Only 66% of students were at or above minimum expected proficiency levels in numeracy and only 48% were at or above minimum expected proficiency levels in reading. Minimum expected proficiency levels for writing have not yet been established, but writing scores are lower than the regional average, although writing performance is increasing.

In year four, girls tended to score higher than boys in numeracy (girls, 490; boys, 476), reading (girls, 466; boys, 441) and writing (girls, 488; boys, 471). Also, more girls were meeting the minimum expected proficiency levels than were boys in numeracy (girls, 71%; boys, 62%) and reading (girls, 54%; boys, 41%).

Year four students from urban schools tended to score higher in reading than students in non-urban schools (urban, 462; non-urban, 441). There were no differences in the writing (urban, 482; non-urban, 476) or numeracy (urban, 485; non-urban, 480) scores of students from urban and non-urban schools.

Experiential and environmental data, as outlined in the contextual sections, may provide some insights into the reasons for these performance trends.