When PISA does not matter? The case of the Czech Republic and Germany

Human Affairs ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Greger

AbstractThe present paper gives an overview of the reflections of and reactions to publishing the results of the first wave of the OECD study Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in the Czech Republic and in Germany. The choice of these two countries enables us to document how the same results could be perceived very differently in diverse country contexts and could lead to a different reaction from policy-makers. In spite of large reforms and numerous policy measures being adopted in Germany in reaction to the PISA results, compared with no response from policy-makers in the Czech Republic, it is argued, that in both countries policy-makers failed to tackle the major problem of their educational systems—its selective nature. In the final section we discuss various mis(uses) of PISA and its supranational and global character influencing local policies.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kylie Hillman ◽  
Sue Thomson

Australia was one of nine countries and economies to participate in the 2018 TALIS-PISA link study, together with Cuidad Autónoma de Buenos Aires (Argentina), Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Georgia, Malta, Turkey and Viet Nam. This study involved coordinating the samples of schools that participated in the Program of International Student Assessment (PISA, a study of the performance of 15-year-old students) and the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS, a study that surveys teachers and principals in lower secondary schools) in 2018. A sample of teachers from schools that were selected to participate in PISA were invited to respond to the TALIS survey. TALIS data provides information regarding the background, beliefs and practices of lower secondary teachers and principals, and PISA data delivers insights into the background characteristics and cognitive and non-cognitive skills of 15-year-old students. Linking these data offers an internationally comparable dataset combining information on key education stakeholders. This report presents results of analyses of the relationships between teacher and school factors and student outcomes, such as performance on the PISA assessment, expectations for further study and experiences of school life. Results for Australia are presented alongside those of the average (mean) across all countries and economies that participated in the TALIS-PISA link study for comparison, but the focus remains on what relationships were significant among Australian students.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002071522098450
Author(s):  
Dieuwke Zwier ◽  
Sara Geven ◽  
Herman G. van de Werfhorst

Against the background of the worldwide expansion of shadow education, research shows that students from high socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds participate more in shadow education than students from disadvantaged SES backgrounds. We relate these social inequalities in shadow education participation to institutional features of educational systems. More specifically, we argue that the effect of socio-economic background on participation in shadow education will be stronger in countries characterized by high-stakes testing. Using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment for the year 2012 (PISA 2012), we show that higher SES students participate more in shadow education. For three out of four indicators of shadow education, this relationship is stronger in countries that are characterized by high-stakes testing but only when accounting for unobserved country differences.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-36
Author(s):  
Andreas Behr ◽  
Gerald Fugger

AbstractIn most countries, immigrant and native students perform differently in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) due to two main reasons: different immigration regimes and differences in their home-country educational systems. While there is sophisticated literature on the reasons for these performance gaps, it is barely considered in the educational efficiency research. Our approach distinguishes between selection effects caused by immigration policies, and the efficiency of educational systems in integrating immigrant students, given their socio–economic background. Accordingly, we split our sample, which consists of 153,374 students in 20 countries, calculate various different efficient frontiers, and ultimately decompose and interpret the resulting efficiency values. We find large differences in educational system efficiency, when controlling for negative selection effects caused by immigration regimes.


2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN JERRIM

AbstractThe Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) are respected cross-national studies of pupil achievement. They have been specifically designed to study how countries’ educational systems are performing against one another, and how this is changing over time. These are, however, politically sensitive issues, where different surveys can produce markedly different results. This is shown via a case study for England, where apparent decline in PISA test performance has caused policymakers much concern. Results suggest that England's drop in the PISA ranking is not replicated in TIMSS, and that this contrast may be due to data limitations in both surveys. Consequently, I argue that the current coalition government should not base educational policies on the assumption that the performance of England's secondary school pupils has declined over the past decade.


2020 ◽  
Vol 78 (6A) ◽  
pp. 1062-1064
Author(s):  
Kuo-Hung Huang ◽  
Ching-Ching Cheng

Globalization and education reform is becoming an important topic across the international arena. In response to global pressures for reform, national educational systems' quality is increasingly being compared internationally, and education changes are introduced. For example, uniformity of global curricula, instruction, and testing might result from worldwide trends such as the TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) and PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment). Also, the growth of English language usage and immigrants might contribute to a growing uniformity of global educational practices for the global economy (Springer, 2008). Nevertheless, there is considerable criticism of the ever-increasing global uniformity in education because ignoring differences in contextual capacity and culture at the national and local levels will result in unintended and unexpected consequences for educational practice (Carnoy & Rhoten, 2002).


2014 ◽  
Vol 116 (9) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Heinz-Dieter Meyer ◽  
Daniel Tröhler ◽  
David F. Labaree ◽  
Ethan L. Hutt

Background/Context In the United States and abroad, public education is changing as the rhetoric of “accountability” is becoming accepted as the self-evident and self-explanatory rationale for momentous policy shifts. Epitomized by the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the U.S. government's Race to the Top, accountability is becoming a pervasive normalizing discourse, legitimizing historical shifts in educational policy from a social and cultural project of facilitating democratic citizenship to an economic project of engendering usable skills and “competences.” Purpose The purpose of this special issue is to provide context and perspective on these momentous shifts. Research Design The papers point to historic antecedents, highlight core ideas, and identify changes in the balance of power between domestic and global policy makers. The authors are interested in understanding the process by which the new policy frameworks have been constructed and legitimized and how they have changed the accepted “definition of the situation.” Conclusions/Recommendations An important aspect of these changes are three long-term trends: homogenizing the heterogeneous reality of education; shifting power from locally embedded education professionals to a global elite of economists and statisticians; and the move from soft guidance to hard mandates in an increasingly centralized system of governance.


2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Duru-Bellat ◽  
Bruno Suchaut

After describing both average scores, dispersion, and social inequalities in achievement in the various countries included in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study, this article relates those ‘products' to country economic and cultural characteristics. It then explores relations between student scores and a number of institutional characteristics of countries' educational systems. Results show that relations exist between average scores and certain institutional or pedagogical practices such as grade repeating or tracking. A high degree of social inequality in achievement proves to be associated with overall score dispersion and degree to which educational system differentiates among students.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elina Kilpi-Jakonen ◽  
Jenni Alisaari

Educational disadvantages of children of immigrants have sometimes been linked to speaking a language other than that of school instruction at home. However, thorough investigations of the alleged benefits for immigrant families of adopting the language of the surrounding society are lacking. We used data from a subset of countries in the 2018 Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) and analysed reading test scores, educational expectations, sense of belonging at school, and subjective wellbeing (positive affect). Our results suggest that the language used at home is not systematically associated with subjective wellbeing or educational expectations. In some countries, switching the home language to that of the destination country is associated with an increased sense of belonging at school and higher reading scores. We discuss these results with reference to ethnic boundary making and how schools and educational systems can respond to the needs of linguistically diverse students.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kylie Hillman ◽  
Sue Thomson

Australia was one of nine countries and economies to participate in the 2018 TALIS-PISA link study, together with Cuidad Autónoma de Buenos Aires (Argentina), Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Georgia, Malta, Turkey and Viet Nam. This study involved coordinating the samples of schools that participated in the Program of International Student Assessment (PISA, a study of the performance of 15-year-old students) and the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS, a study that surveys teachers and principals in lower secondary schools) in 2018. A sample of teachers from schools that were selected to participate in PISA were invited to respond to the TALIS survey. TALIS data provides information regarding the background, beliefs and practices of lower secondary teachers and principals, and PISA data delivers insights into the background characteristics and cognitive and non-cognitive skills of 15-year-old students. Linking these data offers an internationally comparable dataset combining information on key education stakeholders. This report presents results of analyses of the relationships between teacher and school factors and student outcomes, such as performance on the PISA assessment, expectations for further study and experiences of school life. Results for Australia are presented alongside those of the average (mean) across all countries and economies that participated in the TALIS-PISA link study for comparison, but the focus remains on what relationships were significant among Australian students.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (30) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Debra Lee Panizzon ◽  
Stephen Keast ◽  
Ian Mitchell ◽  
John Loughran

Quality teaching that enhances student learning and engagement in science is a focus for all educational systems. Whether fuelled by the results from international studies, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), or from what is already evident from the research, highly skilled teachers can greatly improve the educational outcomes of students (MOURSHED, CHIJIOKE & BARBER, 2010). It is this fundamental principle that underpins the recent development and implementation of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APSTs), which identify explicitly the qualities that teachers are expected to demonstrate in each of four career stages: Graduate, Proficient, Highly Accomplished, and Lead (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL], 2012). Underpinning teacher quality in at least four of these standards is the elusive tacit or pedagogical knowledge that is held and used by ‘expert’ teachers of science in their teaching. The study discussed in this paper set out to explicate the knowledge or ‘pedagogical reasoning’ brought to a teaching context by expert teachers as they plan to teach science. The three-year longitudinal study incorporated two cohorts of teachers representing elementary and high school teachers of science (N = 40) in one state in Australia. Data were collected from audio recordings of pairs of teachers as they designed units of work, interviews with pairs of teachers, and other ad hoc data collected during workshops conducted with the teachers throughout the study. Analyses of these data revealed non-linear, complex, and rapid interactions between five distinct, but richly connected focal concepts that comprise teachers’ pedagogical reasoning. The five focal concepts were termed: Big Ideas; Student Engagement; Quality Learners and Quality Learning; Contextual Constraints and Opportunities; and, Teacher Personal and Professional Identity. The study illustrates the rich web of professional wisdom and pedagogical reasoning that underpins the classroom practices of expert teachers of science and why this knowledge is crucial to understand if we are to nurture our next generation of teachers of science. 


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