A SLICE OF PISA 2018

With the recent publication of the PISA 2018 results there has been the usual flurry of correspondence and comment on the project, what the results mean for those countries and regions at the top of the table and those in the lower reaches.

While attempts are being made to introduce elements into the tests which encourage ingenuity, the ability to apply knowledge, and deeper understanding of material, the traditional central core of Mathematics, English and Science remain. The test still clearly rewards the ability to remember.

Educational systems which emphasise this skill will inevitable score highly and it is no surprise to observe Asian participants again leading the table. But it is refreshing to observe also that systems which are much removed from that also figure prominently. Estonia (Western) is the latest example following on from the pioneering feats of Finland in the early years of PISA. Incidentally, Finland’s success was a surprise, even a shock, to the country’s education authorities at that time. What they were doing as a country for the education of their children was what they believed should be done for the wholesome education of youngsters. Finland continues to remain well placed in the most recent table and practices in Estonia are not much different.

After the 2012 results were published and Shanghai students performed remarkably well, a number of students who had participated were interviewed by local press. The response of one student troubled me then, when she allowed that she was very pleased with her performance and that of the other students involved, but that she had been prepared assiduously for the mechanics of the test but did not really understand or appreciate some of the material covered.

So the debate goes on. Does placing on the PISA table trump everything else? What does a placing in the 50s or 60s say about the young students of a country – ill-prepared, lacking focus, doing other things or simply lacking opportunity?

What a triumph it could be to harness the single-mindedness and focus of the Asian student with the breadth of a nuanced Western education. Young adults with these capabilities could then turn their abilities and aptitudes to lessening the divide between PISA top and PISA bottom?