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New SEA-PLM 2024 Writing Snapshot reveals gains and persistent literacy gaps: 2 in 10 children struggling in writing across six Southeast Asian countries
The SEA-PLM 2024 Regional Snapshot on Writing brings new attention to children’s ability to express ideas in writing, showing that while many Grade 5 students can produce simple and relevant texts, large disparities remain across and within countries, particularly by socioeconomic background, gender, and the language spoken at home.
The SEA-PLM 2024 Regional Snapshot on Writing offers a broader view of foundational learning in Southeast Asia by focusing on a skill that is essential, but often less visible in large-scale assessment reporting. Implemented by all six participating countries in the 2024 cycle, the writing domain complements previously released findings in reading, mathematics, and contextual factors, and helps complete the picture of how children are learning across the region.
Regional results show that a significant portion of children, 31.2 per cent of Grade 5 students, were in Proficiency Band 3, meaning they could generally write simple texts with relevant ideas. Another 21.8 per cent reached Band 4, while 5.4 per cent performed at Band 5, where students can write more cohesive and detailed texts using a stronger range of vocabulary. At the same time, 20.2 per cent of students remained in Band 1 and below, and 21.4 per cent were in Band 2, indicating that a substantial share of children still struggle to communicate ideas clearly in writing.
2024 Distribution of Writing Proficiency Levels
The snapshot also reveals wide variation across countries. With 3 countries (Cambodia, Malaysia, and Viet Nam) demonstrating national performance above the regional average, with Myanmar recording a high performance, caution is required in interpreting its results because of changes in the Grade 5 population between survey cycles. The rest of the countries (Lao PDR and the Philippines) performed below the regional average and had a significant share of children in Band 1 and below.
2024 National Average Scores in Writing
The findings also point to persistent inequities in writing achievement. In every participating country, students from the highest socioeconomic quartile outperformed those from the lowest quartile, with score gaps ranging from 21.9 to 56.5 points. Girls outperformed boys in all six countries, with differences ranging from 13 to 22.6 points. In addition, children who spoke the language of instruction at home generally performed better than those who did not, with statistically significant differences observed in four countries.
The report stresses that the 2024 writing results should not be directly compared with those from 2019. SEA-PLM delayed the release of the writing findings after a technical review found that changes in coding, quality assurance, and scoring procedures may have affected cross-cycle comparability. While this means the 2024 results cannot be used to measure trends against 2019, the snapshot confirms that the data remain robust and reliable for understanding writing performance within the 2024 cycle and across participating countries.
Taken together, the findings underline the importance of writing as a core part of foundational learning. It also reinforces a familiar message from across the region: learning outcomes are shaped not only by what children are taught, but by the opportunities and support available to them at home and in school. The full SEA-PLM 2024 Regional Report on Writing, scheduled for release in Q2 2026, is expected to provide further analysis to support more inclusive and responsive education policies.
SEA-PLM Quality Embodied through its 2024 Test and Questionnaire Assessment Framework
The Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) programme strives to achieve the rigor and quality of international large-scale assessments (ILSA) while addressing the unique challenges and contexts of Southeast Asian countries. The 2024 Test and Questionnaire Framework exemplifies SEA-PLM’s commitment to scientific rigor and high-quality development of cognitive tests and questionnaires, serving as an external measurement of education systems in the region.
Considering the unique educational contexts of Southeast Asian countries, the framework emphasizes the relevance of the literacy-based approaches and contents, ensuring the assessment encompasses a broad range of proficiencies of what children can do and their potential for continuous learning. This makes SEA-PLM 2024 instruments responsive and suitable countries’ and local needs.. The assessment framework includes a detailed definition of literacy in reading, writing, and mathematics, and outlines the processes for incorporating emerging skills and 21st century constructs in the questionnaires administered across stakeholders.
The confirmation of the SEA-PLM survey initiative as a cyclic comparative study in Southeast Asia – SEA-PLM 2024 as the second round - offers new perspectives to refine and improve some
components of the original framework developed for the first round of SEA-PLM. The aim is to
maintain a strong and robust foundation, based on many trend items and similar test formats and data collection procedures, to allow comparisons of trends over time between Grade 5 cohorts across the future cycles of assessment.
This document presents the SEA-PLM 2024 test and questionnaire framework to take into account lessons learned, experiences and the latest methodology direction of the survey. Key contents are presented in 5 chapters, SEA-PLM surveys approach (Chapter 1), cognitive test – reading (Chapter 2), writing (Chapter 3) mathematics (Chapter 4), and contextual questionnaires (Chapter 5). The final version of the SEA-PLM 2024 contextual student, parent, teacher and school questionnaires master source version in English are accessible in Annex 1, 2, 3 and 4. The SEA-PLM 2024 assessment framework is designed to be flexible to accommodate future survey iterations.
To gain a deeper understanding of how the SEA-PLM survey has been implemented using this framework and designed tests and questionnaires, SEA-PLM is pleased to publish and invite the education expert to explore the assessment framework document. This comprehensive guide offers insight into the development process, the rationale behind the updates, and the specific methodologies employed. Check the document to see how SEA-PLM continues to advance educational assessment and contribute to the improvement of primary education across Southeast Asia.
You can access the document on the SEA-PLM 2024 test and Questionnaire Framework here https://www.seaplm.org/index.php/sea-plm-2024/frameworks-2024
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For media inquiries and more information, please contact:
Rizky Ashar (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), SEA-PLM Regional Secretariat
SEA-PLM Compendium of items: Advancing foundational skills in reading and mathematics
Creating a roadmap to accelerate foundational learning in Southeast Asia
Siem Reap, Cambodia | Anieluz Pastolero: Back-to-back with the 14th SEA-PLM Regional Steering Committee, the High-Level Regional Conference on Foundational Learning, collaboratively organised by the SEA-PLM Regional Secretariat, SEAMEO Secretariat, UNICEF EAPRO, and the ASEAN Secretariat, spotlighted the enduring crisis in foundational learning as well as the progress, gaps, and opportunities for accelerating foundational learning across the region. Drawing from the findings of SEA-PLM 2019 and other international comparative large-scale assessments, substantial gaps in literacy in reading, writing, and math among primary school students have persisted even before the pandemic, underscoring the urgent need for concerted efforts to support learners across the region.
Several themes and issues were unpacked by the Ministries of Education in the region and foundational learning experts throughout the discussions, ranging from empowering teachers, supporting learners, transforming curriculum, early childhood learning, and financing primary education. The platform provided a rich set of perspectives to key actors in the education arena on the bottlenecks and opportunities to improve the learning crisis, particularly on cultivating foundational learning of children in the region.
The conference concluded with the formulation of the regional priorities for action on foundational learning, aligning with the strategies identified during SEAMEO’s 6th Strategic Dialogue for Education Ministers in February 2023, as committed by the 11 SEAMEO member countries. The outcome document of the Conference will be released upon final consultation with countries. The SEA-PLM Regional Secretariat, with its technical collaborators, is also gearing up for the launch of the SEA-PLM regional reports focused on improving foundational learning across the region, with topics ranging from early childhood learning, equity factors, learning trajectories, and the exploration of global citizenship education.
The event was held on 23 February 2024 and attended by delegates from the ASEAN-Republic of Korea Cooperation Fund and the Ministries of Education of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Timor Leste, and Viet Nam. Representatives from the Global Coalition on Foundational Learning also took part in the panel discussions, including the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, USAID, UNESCO, UNICEF, and World Bank, together with the education and policy experts from the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, Korean Educational Development Institute, Association of Southeast Asian Teacher Education Network, SEAMEO CECCEP, ACER, and British Council.
Check the output document of the conference in the link below
High-level Regional Conference on Foundational Learning Discussion Results
