How do you like your PISA?
Recently the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) released its latest findings. PISA tested almost 700,000 15 year olds across 81 countries in mathematics, reading and science. This iteration also asked students about well-being, bullying, their digital habits and so on. Overall, the results were not good, seeing an unprecedented drop of 10 points in reading and 15 points in mathematics which is equivalent to about three quarters of a year’s education. The falling scores can be attributed to some extent to the pandemic, but there may be some other factors at play.
Most countries experienced a fall in the three key academic areas. Hong Kong stayed in the top 5 for mathematics but saw a fall of 11 points. The UK registered a fall of 13 points but stayed in the top 15 and France experienced a fall of 21 points and remained around the PISA average.
Inevitably, there was knee jerk reaction and different interpretations in the various countries. In the UK, depending on which side of the political divide you are on, it was seen as a vindication of various political education policies, while others saw it as an abject failure. In France, there was an immediate reaction from Gabriel Attal, the education and youth minister, who announced a number of reforms around mathematics in the primary and secondary sectors. A lot of countries look to the so-called ‘Singapore model’ to improve their mathematics scores. Singapore routinely finishes top of the maths, reading and science league table.
A dig beneath the surface, however, shows a much more nuanced picture. There was no clear difference in the performance trends between education systems with limited school closures and systems that experienced longer lasting closures. The key indicator that related to higher maths outcomes was student access to teachers. Maths scores were 15 points higher where students agreed that they had good access to teacher support.
The use of technology threw up a confusing picture. Forty five per cent of students reported that they were anxious or nervous without their phones. Sixty five per cent reported being distracted by their phones which is equivalent to 15 points. It seems that there is a sweet spot for phone/screen use. Students who used technology at school scored higher than those with zero access, but over 1 hour of social use per day sees huge drops in maths scores. Does prohibition work? Again, a mixed picture. It seems that prohibiting the use is, firstly, very difficult to enforce and secondly, leads to overuse after school hours to compensate.
Well being issues were surveyed and globally, 8% reported being bullied regularly and 16% of students reported being lonely. In the main high achieving countries of Asia, 70% of students reported that they were very anxious about failure and what others would think of them. Possessing strong traits like curiosity and perseverance meant that students scored around 11 more points in maths. Finally, these results are always controversial but definitely cannot be ignored.
