Athens braces for battle on school reform

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
School Reform ◽  
International Student ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
Private Investment ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
State Budget ◽  
Content Type ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
Major Reform ◽  
The Government

Significance Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Education Minister Niki Kerameus announced the reform on June 28. It includes hiring 11,700 elementary and high-school teachers on tenured job contracts. Since the performance of Greece’s school system ranks among the lowest on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) indicators, a major reform has been long overdue. Impacts Given the high number of teachers to be hired, the government may have underestimated the financial cost of school reform. The state budget will simultaneously require funds for the management of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The reform may open a new battle front for the government this autumn, uniting anti-government unions and opposition parties. A general election is not in sight, but a political crisis could upset the stability being sought to attract much-needed private investment.

Fabrication of interview data

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Blasius
Keyword(s):  
Survey Research ◽  
International Student ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
Pisa 2012 ◽  
Research Organizations ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Copy And Paste ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Evidence from past surveys suggests that some interviewees simplify their responses even in very well-organized and highly respected surveys. This paper aims to demonstrate that some interviewers, too, simplify their task by at least partly fabricating their data, and that, in some survey research institutes, employees simplify their task by fabricating entire interviews via copy and paste. Design/methodology/approach Using data from the principal questionnaires in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 and the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) data, the author applies statistical methods to search for fraudulent methods used by interviewers and employees at survey research organizations. Findings The author provides empirical evidence for potential fraud performed by interviewers and employees of survey research organizations in several countries that participated in PISA 2012 and PIAAC. Practical implications The proposed methods can be used as early as the initial phase of fieldwork to flag potentially problematic interviewer behavior such as copying responses. Originality/value The proposed methodology may help to improve data quality in survey research by detecting fabricated data.

The Norwegian Case of School Reform, External Quality Control, and the Call for Democratic Practice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Elisabeth Gunnulfsen ◽  
Eivind Larsen
Keyword(s):  
School Reform ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
International Student ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Monitoring And Control ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Norwegian Education ◽  
Prejudice And Discrimination

Traditionally, the Norwegian education system has been built on equality and democracy as core values, but the disappointing results in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) introduced the perception of a “crisis in education” and increased the occurrence of national reform initiatives. New assessment policies with an emphasis on performance measurement and emerging accountability practices have characterized the transition processes over the last decade. With increasing focus on monitoring based on performance indicators, there is a risk that the purpose of promoting democracy in schools will be downplayed by instrumental and managerial regulations. However, the Norwegian school reform of curriculum renewal in 2020 also highlights democracy and participation as separate interdisciplinary themes and includes a concrete elaboration of this topic, which strongly emphasizes that schools should promote democratic values and attitudes as a counterweight to prejudice and discrimination. To obtain more knowledge about how school professionals deal with possible tensions and dilemmas in their work with the contemporary reform, it is important to unpack the interplay between managerial accountability based on performance indicators and identify how educators legitimize their work on promoting democracy in schools. To capture the dynamic nature of educational leadership and the daily subtle negotiation, a micropolitical perspective and theory on democratic agency were used to analyze theoretical and empirical material from two larger studies focusing on certain aspects of school reforms in Norwegian lower secondary schools. The findings suggest that educational professionals respond to the policy of inclusion through negotiating and translating tensions between equalizing students’ life chances and being subjected to collective monitoring and control. The findings also illuminate stories characterized by a predominantly individualistic interpretation of the democratic purpose of education and the challenges and opportunities involved in balancing academic achievement with students’ well-being.

Leading schools with migrant children in Shanghai

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 564-579
Author(s):  
Haiyan Qian ◽  
Allan David Walker
Keyword(s):  
International Student ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
School Context ◽  
Migrant Children ◽  
Leadership Strategies ◽  
Work Lives ◽  
Content Type ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
Multiple Challenges ◽  
Leading Schools

Purpose The purpose of this paper is threefold: to sketch the current policy context that frames the education of migrant children in Shanghai; to explore the work lives of school leaders in the privately owned but government-supported schools; and to understand the socio-cultural and educational factors that shape the leadership practices in these schools. Design/methodology/approach This paper drew from publicly accessible policy papers and interview data with four principals leading migrant children’s schools in Shanghai. Findings Migrant children’s schools have received increasing policy recognition and attention. Principals of these schools have strived to adopt various leadership strategies to enhance the quality of education as received by migrant children. However, due to the institutional barriers such as hukou, multiple challenges continue to face migrant children and leaders leading migrant schools. Originality/value This is one of the first few papers that collected data from principals leading migrant children’s schools. The paper contributes to further understandings about leadership in high-needs school context and about education quality and equity in relation to programme for international student assessment success in Shanghai.

Mexico education figures highlight need for reform

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Student ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
The State ◽  
School Systems ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
Poor State ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Equity And Efficiency

Subject The state of Mexican education. Significance The OECD released its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 report on December 6. The triennial study evaluates the quality, equity and efficiency of school systems, and the latest assesses to what extent 15-year-old pupils have the necessary knowledge and skills to participate in modern societies. Impacts The report will trigger mutual accusations of responsibility for the poor state of education between supporters and opponents of reform. The effectiveness of reform will see uneven implementation and outcomes in different states. Consequently, Mexico will perform poorly in the next PISA test, to be published in 2018.

Educational standards resist improvement in Peru

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Student ◽  
Educational Achievement ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
Educational Standards ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fiscal Constraints ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
University Courses ◽  
Low Wages

Subject Efforts to improve educational standards. Significance Of the 65 countries covered by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study in 2012, Peru came last for educational achievement. Although President Ollanta Humala's administration has received praise for the priority it has given to the educational sector, Peru will need to expend more effort in improving standards if it is ever to be admitted to the OECD. Impacts Teachers' low wages will continue to represent an obstacle to educational improvements. Fiscal constraints will make it more difficult for the next government, which takes office in July, to devote more money to education. There is still a mismatch between existing university courses and the need to boost technological expertise.

The political decision on Portugal’s entry into PISA: A research note

2020 ◽  
pp. 147821032097153
Author(s):  
Teresa Teixeira Lopo
Keyword(s):  
Education Policy ◽  
International Student ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
National Education ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
First Results ◽  
The Government

In this article we carry out a preliminary reconstitution of the genealogy of the political decision to integrate Portugal in PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), promoted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, made in 1999 and implemented in 2000. For this we used a comprehensive analysis of newspaper articles, legal texts and documents on education policy as well as of interviews with relevant political actors. The first results of this analysis suggest that the decision, which was not unanimous among the government members with responsibilities in the education field, was taken by normative emulation, and aimed to consolidate a particular direction of the national education policy.

School discipline, investment, competitiveness and mediating educational performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hana Krskova ◽  
Chris Baumann
Keyword(s):  
International Student ◽  
School Discipline ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
Partial Least Square ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Educational Performance ◽  
Start Time ◽  
Content Type ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
Education Investment

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to combine seemingly unrelated factors to explain global competitiveness. The study argues that school discipline and education investment affect competitiveness with the association being mediated by educational performance. Crucially, diachronic effects of discipline on performance are tested to demonstrate effects over time. Design/methodology/approach Partial least square (PLS) modelling is used to analyse the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data. The study further draws from World Bank data on Government Expenditure and World Economic Forum data on competitiveness. Five PISA dimensions of school discipline (students listening well, noise levels, teacher waiting time, students working well, class start time) are hypothesised to affect academic performance in reading, math and science, and to ultimately impact competitiveness. Findings Findings confirm the relative importance of school discipline (88 per cent) in comparison to education investment (12 per cent) on educational performance, with both variables also being found to be significantly associated with competitiveness directly. Originality/value This study demonstrates the time effects of discipline, more specifically that discipline dimensions (students listen well in 2003 and students work well in 2009) are associated with competitiveness in 2012. Implications for school policy and further research are discussed.

Understanding and detecting data fabrication in large-scale assessments

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kentaro Yamamoto ◽  
Mary Louise Lennon
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
International Student ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Large Scale Assessment ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
Data Fabrication ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Types Of Information

Purpose Fabricated data jeopardize the reliability of large-scale population surveys and reduce the comparability of such efforts by destroying the linkage between data and measurement constructs. Such data result in the loss of comparability across participating countries and, in the case of cyclical surveys, between past and present surveys. This paper aims to describe how data fabrication can be understood in the context of the complex processes involved in the collection, handling, submission and analysis of large-scale assessment data. The actors involved in those processes, and their possible motivations for data fabrication, are also elaborated. Design/methodology/approach Computer-based assessments produce new types of information that enable us to detect the possibility of data fabrication, and therefore the need for further investigation and analysis. The paper presents three examples that illustrate how data fabrication was identified and documented in the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and discusses the resulting remediation efforts. Findings For two countries that participated in the first round of PIAAC, the data showed a subset of interviewers who handled many more cases than others. In Case 1, the average proficiency for respondents in those interviewers’ caseloads was much higher than expected and included many duplicate response patterns. In Case 2, anomalous response patterns were identified. Case 3 presents findings based on data analyses for one PISA country, where results for human-coded responses were shown to be highly inflated compared to past results. Originality/value This paper shows how new sources of data, such as timing information collected in computer-based assessments, can be combined with other traditional sources to detect fabrication.

Assessing local socioeconomic desegregation: The effects of successive decrees regulating school choice in the Belgian French-speaking community

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-268
Author(s):  
Julien Danhier ◽  
Nathanaël Friant
Keyword(s):  
School Choice ◽  
Educational System ◽  
International Student ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
School Segregation ◽  
School Enrolment ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Statistical Approaches ◽  
The Government

Assuming that free school choice is one of the parameters contributing to segregation in the Belgian educational system, the government implemented decrees to alter school enrolment policies in order to regulate school choice. In this study, two statistical approaches (a ‘Lorenz’ index and a multilevel one) have been used to measure the evolution of segregation from 2006 to 2015 exploiting two databases (administrative student count and the Programme for International Student Assessment). The results do not provide any support to the claim that there has been a reduction in school segregation, and they stress that the decrees are inefficient concerning this objective.

scholarly journals Do PISA data justify PISA-based education policy?

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luisa Araujo ◽  
Andrea Saltelli ◽  
Sylke V. Schnepf
Keyword(s):  
International Student ◽  
Survey Methodology ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Methodological Choices ◽  
International Student Assessment ◽  
Policy Domain ◽  
Heated Debate ◽  
Pisa Data ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Since the publication of its first results in 2000, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) implemented by the OECD has repeatedly been the subject of heated debate. In late 2014 controversy flared up anew, with the most severe critics going so far as to call for a halt to the programme. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the methodological design of PISA and the ideological basis of scientific and policy arguments invoked for and against it. Design/methodology/approach The authors examine the soundness of the survey methodology and identify the conflicting interpretations and values fuelling the debate. Findings The authors find that while PISA has promoted the focus on the important subject of children's education worldwide there are legitimate concerns about what PISA measures, and how. The authors conclude that the OECD should be more transparent in the documentation of the methodological choices that underlie the creation of the data and more explicit about the impact of these choices on the results. More broadly, the authors advise caution in the attempt to derive and apply evidence-based policy in the domain of education; the authors furthermore propose an alternative model of social inquiry that is sensitive and robust to the concerns of the various actors and stakeholders that may be involved in a given policy domain. Originality/value The issues and tensions surrounding the PISA survey can be better understood in the framework of post-normal science (PNS), the application of which to the PISA controversy offers a potential solution to a stalemate.

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