By Alasdair Macdonald The issue is with PISA. It has very little statistical rigour and offers nothing in the way of improving educational practice. I was a secondary school head teacher at the time it and other ‘measures’ were introduced in education in Scotland in other places. I and my colleagues argued against it. Educational provision, like everything else, ought to be continuously evaluated, partly to get evidence on whether it is achieving the aims set out for it and partly to get information on areas which require attention. However, there are, literally, hundreds of aspects to be measured and … Continue reading Former head teacher says ‘PISA has very little statistical rigour and offers nothing in the way of improving educational practice’

stewartb Yet another, recently encountered critique of Pisa rankings with those readers of TuS who have developed an interest in this famed OECD initiative in international comparative education (with my emphasis): From Sjøberg, S. & Jenkins, E. (2022) PISA: a political project and a research agenda, Studies in Science Education, 58:1 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03057267.2020.1824473 ) ‘Conclusion: As a major international comparative study, PISA differs from much earlier work in the field of comparative education. It is quantitative rather than qualitative and is UNDERPINNED BY A PRIORI ASSUMPTIONS about the relationship between science and mathematics test scores and economic development. As noted above, those … Continue reading Pisa seems unlikely to be valid basis upon which to compare and rank countries, regions and economies.