9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 1[br]00:00:11,093 --> 00:00:16,044[br]If you read or listen to news reports about education you've probably noticed periodical surge of interest in wich country students do best in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 2[br]00:00:16,044 --> 00:00:21,090[br]readings or mathematics or science and where your country fits into the grand scheme of things 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 3[br]00:00:22,001 --> 00:00:28,083[br]you have probably also heard, or read the word PISA, in connection with some of these reports. What 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 4[br]00:00:28,086 --> 00:00:34,098[br]is PISA? PISA is an achronym that stands for the Programme for International Student Assessment. It's 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 5[br]00:00:34,098 --> 00:00:44,037[br]the brain child of the OECD, and what's the OECD? It's another achronym that stands for the Organization 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 6[br]00:00:44,037 --> 00:00:51,065[br]for the economic cooperation and development. The OECD brings toghether 34 countries, with the aim of developing 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 7[br]00:00:51,065 --> 00:01:00,034[br]better policies for better lives. In the late 1990's countries that are members of the OECD came up with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 8[br]00:01:00,034 --> 00:01:07,030[br]the idea to measure whether fifteen years olds around the world are well prepared to participate in society. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9[br]00:01:07,034 --> 00:01:14,030[br]We choose fifteen years olds rather than twelve or seventeen year olds because most fifteen years old are about 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 10[br]00:01:14,030 --> 00:01:21,059[br]to complete their compulsory education. Experts in the fields of education from around the world worked 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 11[br]00:01:21,059 --> 00:01:28,067[br]toghether to create a two hour test, that focuses on core subjects like reading mathematics and science. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 12[br]00:01:28,067 --> 00:01:35,077[br]Participating countries deciced to administer this test every three years and to rotate the main focus 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 13[br]00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:45,030[br]of the test among the core subjects. All very well, but testing students is nothing new, so what's so 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 14[br]00:01:45,030 --> 00:01:51,032[br]special about PISA? PISA surveys are design to find out whethet students can use what they have learned 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 15[br]00:01:51,032 --> 00:01:58,058[br]in school, and apply that knowledge to real live situations and problems. PISA is less interested in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 16[br]00:01:58,058 --> 00:02:04,080[br]knowing whether students can repeat like parrots what they have been thaught in class. Rather the survey 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 17[br]00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:11,019[br]is designed to find out whether, for example, students can use their reading skills they have learned 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 18[br]00:02:11,019 --> 00:02:17,036[br]in schools, to make sense of the information they find in a book, a newspaper, on a government form, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 19[br]00:02:17,036 --> 00:02:23,049[br]or in an instruction manual, but the point of PISA is not to tell each individual student how well he 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 20[br]00:02:23,049 --> 00:02:32,009[br]or she has mastered the set of skills. Instead, PISA results are extrapolated and analysed to the national 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 21[br]00:02:32,009 --> 00:02:40,052[br]level. Picture one student sitting at a desk, in a classroom somewhere, taking the PISa test, now zoom 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 22[br]00:02:40,052 --> 00:02:45,053[br]out as though you are on a space shuttle, and you can see the entire country in wich that student is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 23[br]00:02:45,053 --> 00:02:53,098[br]sitting. That's what PISA does with its test results, PISA shows countries where they stand, in relation 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 24[br]00:02:53,098 --> 00:03:00,095[br]to other countries, and just by themself, in how effectively they educate their children. What PISA doesn't 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 25[br]00:03:00,095 --> 00:03:08,061[br]say: this education policy or practice causes that effect, it shows what's possible, and show similarities 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 26[br]00:03:08,061 --> 00:03:15,039[br]and differences between education systems around the world. That helps governments rethink their own 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 27[br]00:03:15,039 --> 00:03:22,022[br]policies and design new ones to improve their student performance in school. It also helps government 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 28[br]00:03:22,022 --> 00:03:30,041[br]educators, and parents track their country's progress towards a more succesful education system. In fact 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 29[br]00:03:30,041 --> 00:03:39,066[br]many countries now set national goals, and benchmarks based on PISA international results. Pisa considers 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 30[br]00:03:39,066 --> 00:03:45,058[br]and education system succesful not only if its students achieve high scores on the PISA surveys, but 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 31[br]00:03:45,058 --> 00:03:53,012[br]also if all students, from all backgrounds perform well on the test. Not just those who come from 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 32[br]00:03:53,012 --> 00:04:00,014[br]wealthier, or more intellectual, or more culturally sophisticated families. For example a relatively 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 33[br]00:04:00,014 --> 00:04:08,026[br]large percentage of disadvantaged students in places like Hong Kong, Shanghai, Korea, and Finland achieve 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 34[br]00:04:08,026 --> 00:04:15,079[br]some of the highest scores in PISA. Analysts there look at the PISA test results along with responses 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 35[br]00:04:15,079 --> 00:04:21,008[br]to questionnaires that are given to students and school principals, and try to determine the main characteristics 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 36[br]00:04:21,008 --> 00:04:28,056[br]of these succesful education systems. Are teachers in the system paid more? Are classes generally larger 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 37[br]00:04:28,056 --> 00:04:36,006[br]or smaller? Do individual schools get to decide what their teachers teach? Or is their curriculum determined 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 38[br]00:04:36,006 --> 00:04:43,074[br]by a central government authority? Once a profile of a of a succesful system emerges, it can be used 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 39[br]00:04:43,074 --> 00:04:52,015[br]as a model for others. So what's the test like? Here are a couple of problems that students have to solve. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 40[br]00:04:52,015 --> 00:04:58,053[br]The first one was part of the reading assessment. Students were shown a graph and an accompanying text. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 41[br]00:04:58,053 --> 00:05:12,058[br]that read: figure one shows changing levels of Lake Chad, in Saharan Nord Africa. Lake Chad disappeared completely in about 20000 B.C. during the last ice age. In about 11000 B.C. it 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 42[br]00:05:12,058 --> 00:05:20,059[br]reappeared. Today its level is about the same as it was in A.D. 1000. Students whare asked why has the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 43[br]00:05:20,059 --> 00:05:27,058[br]author chosen to start the graph at this point. This was considered a rather difficult question. In fact, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 44[br]00:05:27,058 --> 00:05:35,085[br]across OECD countries, only 37% of students answered it correctly. Those students showed ana ability 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 45[br]00:05:35,085 --> 00:05:42,023[br]not only to read, but to think about what they read, and draw some conclusion from it. They figured out, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 46[br]00:05:42,023 --> 00:05:48,092[br]that the reason the graph starts at around 11000 B.C. is because that's when Lake Chad reappeard after 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 47[br]00:05:48,092 --> 00:05:56,049[br]having disappeared completely, during the ice age. The second problem was part of the mathematics assessment, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 48[br]00:05:56,049 --> 00:06:04,055[br]it sets the scene. In a pizza restaurant you can get a basic pizza, with two toppings: cheese and tomato. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 49[br]00:06:04,055 --> 00:06:12,097[br]You can also make up your own pizza with extra toppings, you can choose from four different extra toppings. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 50[br]00:06:12,097 --> 00:06:21,076[br]Olives, ham ,mushrooms and salami. Ross wants to order a pizza with two different extra toppings. Students 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 51[br]00:06:21,076 --> 00:06:28,049[br]where then asked: how many different combination can Ross choose from? Now this is a problem we can all 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 52[br]00:06:28,049 --> 00:06:34,046[br]relate to. To answer the question students had to show their ability to make connections. In this case 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 53[br]00:06:34,046 --> 00:06:41,003[br]juggling several food stuff and realize that the choices are not, in fact, infinite, much as the students 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 54[br]00:06:41,003 --> 00:06:48,092[br]might like them to be. This was also a relatively tought problem for students to solve. Just 49% of students 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 55[br]00:06:48,092 --> 00:06:56,072[br]could calculate that only six different variation where possible. So when we take individuals score in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 56[br]00:06:56,072 --> 00:07:03,024[br]PISA and the responses to those questionnaires that we circulate with the test and then zoom out to see 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 57[br]00:07:03,024 --> 00:07:09,080[br]a whole country, what kinds of things do we learn. Well, one thing we've learned is girls do better in reading 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 58[br]00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:16,030[br]than boys in every country that participates in PISA, and among the countries that are members of the OECD 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 59[br]00:07:16,030 --> 00:07:22,073[br]girls do so much better than boys in reading, it's as if they have gone through an additional year of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 60[br]00:07:22,073 --> 00:07:30,063[br]school. We also find out that boys generally do better than girls in mathematics, and that there is no 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 61[br]00:07:30,063 --> 00:07:36,092[br]real difference between boys and girls in how they do in science. We also found out that some school 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 62[br]00:07:36,092 --> 00:07:44,067[br]policies may not be very good for students. For example, early tracking of students, wich means deciding that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 63[br]00:07:44,067 --> 00:07:49,099[br]some students should go through an academic program, while others should go through a vocational program 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 64[br]00:07:49,099 --> 00:07:56,070[br]is not associated with better overall performance, tracking is also related to greater inequalities 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 65[br]00:07:56,070 --> 00:08:03,085[br]between advantaged and disadvantaged students. Students are often tracked in the mistaken believe that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 66[br]00:08:03,085 --> 00:08:09,080[br]not everyone can learn the same things, that only some children are gifted and reach for the stars, but 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 67[br]00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:18,013[br]PISA results show that if given the opportunity and support to excel, all children have the potential 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 68[br]00:08:18,013 --> 00:08:26,071[br]to do so. Having students repeat grades is also not associated with high scores in PISA. School system 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 69[br]00:08:26,071 --> 00:08:32,070[br]that invest in helping strudents learn their subjects the first time around do much better than those 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 70[br]00:08:32,070 --> 00:08:39,068[br]where teachers know that they can ,if necessary drill the same material, year after year, after year 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 71[br]00:08:39,069 --> 00:08:46,050[br]into the heads of the same struggling students. As we mentioned before the most successful schools according to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 72[br]00:08:46,050 --> 00:08:53,012[br]PISA are the ones whose students do well regardless of where they come from. Still results from PISA 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 73[br]00:08:53,012 --> 00:09:01,021[br]show that home background has a major influence on student success in school. In many ways this finding 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 74[br]00:09:01,021 --> 00:09:06,078[br]is all too obvious. We know for example that by the time they are three, children in advantaged families 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 75[br]00:09:06,078 --> 00:09:15,034[br]are exposed to many more word than their less advantaged peers. In fact, a recent study in USA put their 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 76[br]00:09:15,035 --> 00:09:21,048[br]number at around thirty million more words, and in general if there are no books at home, or if their 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 77[br]00:09:21,048 --> 00:09:28,058[br]children don't see their parents reading they'll be less inclined to read themself. Pisa results alo 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 78[br]00:09:28,058 --> 00:09:35,059[br]show that regardless of their own background, student who attend schools that have a largely disadvantaged 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 79[br]00:09:35,059 --> 00:09:43,075[br]population tend to do worse than students who attend schools with relatively advantaged peers. Why would 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 80[br]00:09:43,075 --> 00:09:50,039[br]this be so? Well, there are many possible reasons, for example PISA found that in most OECD countries 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 81[br]00:09:50,039 --> 00:09:56,038[br]disadvantaged students have access to the same number of teachers and to sometimes even more teachers than their more advantaged peers. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 82[br]00:09:56,038 --> 00:10:08,052[br]The problem though is that more isn't necessarily better. In fact, the best teachers are often found in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 83[br]00:10:08,052 --> 00:10:15,089[br]schools attended by advantaged students who generally do well on their subjects anyway, but not in disadvataged 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 84[br]00:10:15,089 --> 00:10:24,034[br]schools where high quality teachers are most desperately needed. Governments around the world can be inspired 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 85[br]00:10:24,034 --> 00:10:29,062[br]by two significant finding from PISA. The first is that a country doesn't have to be wealthy to provide 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 86[br]00:10:29,062 --> 00:10:36,087[br]high quality education to its students. Shanghai and Poland , for example, score well above the OECD average inreading, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 87[br]00:10:36,087 --> 00:10:44,098[br]but rank below OECD average in measures of national wealth, and the countries PISA ranking is not carved in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 88[br]00:10:44,098 --> 00:10:52,092[br]stone. Trends in PISA have revealed a great capacity for all countries to improve. Countries as diverse 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 89[br]00:10:52,092 --> 00:11:00,010[br]as Chile, Germany, Poland and Portugal among others, showed improvements in student reading performance 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 90[br]00:11:00,010 --> 00:11:08,006[br]between 2000 and 2009, although it seems obvious, it's still worth reminding ourselves. Successful education 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 91[br]00:11:08,006 --> 00:11:15,037[br]systems make education a priority, they share the belief that skills can be learned and that all students 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 92[br]00:11:15,037 --> 00:11:21,045[br]can achieve at high levels. They show that they value the teacheing profession by investing in it, so 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 93[br]00:11:21,045 --> 00:11:29,012[br]that they can attract highly qualified candidates, train them well and retain the best teachers among 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 94[br]00:11:29,012 --> 00:11:34,020[br]them. Just as every student has the potential to achieve, every country has the potential to raise the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 95[br]00:11:34,020 --> 00:11:42,089[br]standards of their education, so PISA is about a lot more than test scores. Sure countries that participate 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 96[br]00:11:42,089 --> 00:11:49,023[br]in the PISA survey are keen to know where their students rank compared to students in other countries. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 97[br]00:11:49,023 --> 00:11:57,003[br]but PISA's ultimate aim is not to create a competition for its own sake, its aim it's to encourage 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 98[br]00:11:57,004 --> 00:12:03,011[br]all participating countries to use the survey findings to improve their own teaching and student performance. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 99[br]00:12:03,011 --> 99:59:59,000[br]To give their students the best opportunities to achieve the best possible results.[br]