PROGRAM

FOR INTERNATIONAL
SCHOOL ASSESSMENT
 PISA WHAT IS IT
PISA is an Interna9onal Standardised Test that was developed to
globally compare students all around the world (ACER 2017).
PISA in 2018 will involve 80 countries, 500,000+ students worldwide,
14,500+ Australian Students and 800+ Australian schools (ACER 2017).
The test takes place within schools every 3 years and focuses on the
Educa9onal Goals for Young Australians encompassing maths, science,
informa9on, communica9on and problem solving tes9ng 15 year old
students on their ability to apply understandings in reading,
mathema9cs and science to everyday problems (ACER 2017).
The tests are overseen by the Organisa9on for Economic Coopera9on
& Development (OECD) along side the Australian government and
funding is contributed from all state and territory governments (ACER
2017)
PISA helps governments to further understand and enhance the
eec9veness of our na9onal and state based educa9onal systems and
to learn from other countries prac9ces (ACER 2017)
ACER 2017, PISA, retrieved 19th March 2017,
h]ps://www.acer.org/ozpisa About PISA Brochure
 Click the links to watch the videos created
by the OECD (2016)

How does PISA work?

An insight into the Program for Interna9onal
Assessment: who takes the test, who sets the
ques9ons and what we can learn from the
ndings

PISA: Measuring Student Success

around the world
For the OECD this concept is a very real way of
nding out how well prepared students are to
par9cipate in todays society. This Video will
help you to understand why the OECDs
number-crunchers trigger such intense debate
about the state of educa9on around the world
every 9me they release the results of the latest
PISA survey
 PISA THE TESTS ASSESSMENT from PISA occurs in the three domains,
reading literacy, mathema9cal literacy and scien9c
literacy tested over 9 years with emphasis on one per
year (Baird et al., 2011).

The test focuses on

one topic for that
year. In 2015 the
topic was Science.
Click the hyperlink to
explore the test
further, have a go at
ques9ons and look at
examples.

PISA
TESTS

OECD 2017, PISA Test, retrieved 19th March 2017, h]p://www.oecd.org/pisa/test/

 PISA OBJECTIVES
GENERAL OBJECTIVE: to provide countries with interna9onal compara9ve data as well as trend data on reading,
mathema9cal and scien9c literacy and problem solving skills of 15 year old students.
OBJECTIVE 1: To con9nue exploi9ng the advantages of computer-based tes9ng, including increasing the use of
adap9ve tes9ng, allowing to progressively diminishing the dis9nc9on between major and minor domains, and
facilita9ng the be]er measurement of non-cogni9ve outcomes.
OBJECTIVE 2: To aim for greater synergies between PISA and OECD and other interna9onal surverys and data
collec9ons on educa9on in order to provide more coherent informa9on about learning outcomes as students move
through the educa9on system
OBJECTIVE 3: To con9nue to seek methodological and analy9cal means to strengthen the policy relevance and
analy9cal power of PISA, including establishing the best prac9ce for linking PISA with na9onal assessments.
OBJECTICE 4: Broaden the global coverage of PISA
OBJECTIVE 5: To maintain PISA as a system-level assessment, while recognising countries desire to provide
feedback to schools and facilita9ng countries to provide such feedback.
OBJECTIVE 6: To seek ways to widen access to PISA for students with disabili9es and other special educa9on needs.

PISA Discussion Board 2015, A longer-term strategy of PISA, OECD Organisa9on for Economic Development,
retrieved 19th March 2017, h]ps://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/Longer-term-strategy-of-PISA.pdf
PISA INITIATIVES
PISA Ini9a9ves

OECD 2017, About PISA Ini9a9ves

retrieved 19th March 2017,
h]p://www.oecd.org/pisa/aboutpisa/
 PISA - IN THE MEDIA
Don't Panic about PISA

PISA tests to
include global
skills and cultural
awareness

PISA tests
are New PISA results
Damaging show educa9on
educa9on decline
 SOME ISSUES
SURROUNDING
PISA IN THE
MEDIA
The Australian Media in some instances, portrays PISA tes9ng to be a comparison of our educa9on system
against other educa9on systems around the world that is valuable (Buckingham 2013).
PISA tests are not providing a detailed analysis for the public to look at and reect.
PISA rankings are being sensa9onalised.
Data developed from the PISA tests is being used for poli9cal one-upmanship
Pronounced through research data, PISA generates the most inuen9al data on cross-na9onal educa9on
achievement (Myer & Benavot 2013)
Cowen, Ko]ho and Pereyra (2011, p. 2) similarly state that PISA has become a generalised phenomenom
giving rise to an increasing interna9onalisa9on of educa9on.
Some argue that PISA has become a vehicle for policy advocacy in which advice is built on imsy data and
awed analysis (Schneider, M 2009)
 DIFFERING PISA PERSPECTIVES
Ques9ons from a teacher perspec9ve Christopher Blyne blames Labour for PISA results

PISA shows educa9on priva9sa9on doesnt work Leaning too far?

 POSITIVE IMPACTS
Sepng the educa9onal test na9onally, reliable results and
accoun9ng for the educa9onal goals of the country
(University of Sydney 2015).
Within the global educa9on spectrum Australias posi9on
is a valuable source of informa9on for educa9on ocials,
poli9cians and ci9zens of Australia (ACER 2017)
PISA tes9ng is benecial as it not only allows governments to monitor the outcomes of educa9onal systems
and compare students performance within their country to the global standards but it also provides them to
learn from prac9ces other countries use (ACER 2017).
Selected learners are chosen to par9cipate reducing the levels of stress and anxiety as it would be assumed a
student with high anxiety levels towards tes9ng would not be chosen which would reduce wellbeing issues
(Meyer & Benavot 2013).
In the PISA, the learners skills are tested from many domains, as well as assessing authen9c learning which
from the results provides the ability to design policy and educa9onal transforma9ons in the par9cipa9ng
countries because the results are able to be credited with the highest reliability (Meyer & Benavot 2013).
ABC News (2013) portrayed that PISA is the tes9ng responsible for changes to policies and plans in Australia
(ABC News 2013).
 NEGATIVE IMPACTS
Admission to teaching the test, Students do not have
to answer every ques9on reducing the reliability for the
test to be standardised, and the poor transla9on into
several languages (The Telegraph 2013).
Data used to inform educa9onal policies is non-comparable (Gorur & Wu 2014, p. 2)
Cowen, Ko]ho and Pereyra (2011, p. 2) state that PISA has become a generalised phenomenon giving rise
to an increasing interna9onalisa9on of educa9on.
Public perspec9ves about educa9onal achievement may be skewed due to the extrapola9on of sta9s9cs
and informa9on (Gorur & Wu 2014, p. 5)
Poor transla9on into some languages however to keep the test standardised, the test wording must be
the same across all countries taking part (The Telegraph 2013).
PISA produces cross-sec9onal (single point in 9me) data which therefore does not allow longitudinal
analysis (comparisons over 9me) at the student level, which is how researchers prefer to measure growth in
student achievement and to iden9fy factors associated with changes (Schneider, M 2013).
There is more concentra9on placed on the worldwide rankings rather than actually focusing on the
causa9on of inequali9es that exist within our educa9onal systems.
 CONCLUSION

Tes9ng throughout any circumstance generally upholds both posi9ve and nega9ve aspects. As an interna9onal test
that gathers extensive amounts of educa9onal determinant data it is only natural that it is subject to falsica9on and
misinterpreta9on of outcomes arising concern within the public and all involved. It would be ideal for the data
generated from PISA to be informa9ve and present funding that is necessary to drive the equality across all countries
and schools raising the equity and in turn standards for everyone.

I believe that the PISA tests are a valuable program however I feel there should be a greater emphasis placed on the
public understanding important factors such as students backgrounds, cultures, government policies followed in their
country that can inuence the results either in a posi9ve or nega9ve way. The PISA tests tends to be more benecial
for the students as the ques9ons are not based so much on content that is rote learned more so on ques9ons that
require knowledge to be applied in real life situa9ons. Overall the test is needed for Australians to note where they sit
against the world and can use this to take on board other countries policies and prac9ces that might help educa9on
improvement overall
 REFERENCES
ACER 2017, PISA, retrieved 19th March 2017, h]ps://www.acer.org/ozpisa

Baird, J, Isaacs, T, Johnson, S, Stobart, G, Guoxing, Y, Sprague, T &Daugherty, R 2011, Policy eects of PISA, Oxford
University Centre for Educa9onal Assessment, retrieved 19th March 2017,
h]p://oucea.educa9on.ox.ac.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Policy-Eects-of-PISA-OUCEA.pdf

Buckingham, J 2013, ABC News: Dont Panic about PISA, retrieved 19th March 2017,
h]p://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-04/buckingham-pisa-panic/5133364

Christopher Pyne blames Labour for Australias PISA OECD results 2013, YouTube, Greenshack Do9nfo, 3rd December,
retrieved 19th March 2017, h]ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7MUbEacD4g

Cowen, R, Ko]ho, H, Pereyra, M 2012, PISA Under ExaminaDon, Sense Publishers, retrieved 19th March 2017,
ProQuest Ebook Central,
h]p://ebookcentral.proquest.com.ezproxy-f.deakin.edu.au/lib/deakin/detail.ac9on?docID=974134.

Gorur, R & Wu, M 2014, Leaning too far? PISA policy and Australias top ve ambi9ons, Discourse studies in the
cultural poliDcs of EducaDon, vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 647-664, doi: 10.1080/01596306.2014.930020

Leaning too far? PISA, policy and Australias top ve ambiDons 2015, YouTube, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural
Poli9cs of Educa9on, 27th September, retrieved 19th March 2017, h]ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br93GTTnWr8

Myer, H & Benavot, A 2013, PISA, Power & Policy: the emergence of global educaDon governance, Symposium Books,
Didcot.

OECD 2017, About PISA Ini9a9ves retrieved 19th March 2017, h]p://www.oecd.org/pisa/aboutpisa/
 REFERENCES
OECD 2017, PISA Test, retrieved 19th March 2017, h]p://www.oecd.org/pisa/test/

PISA Discussion Board 2015, A longer-term strategy of PISA, OECD Organisa9on for Economic Development, retrieved
19th March 2017, h]ps://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/Longer-term-strategy-of-PISA.pdf

PISA quesDons from a teacher perspecDve 2013, YouTube, Unite for Educa9on, 4th December, retrieved 19th March
2017, h]ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf12x1QqUK0

PISA shows EducaDon PrivaDsaDon Doesnt work 2016, YouTube, AFTHQ, 6th December, retrieved 19th March 2017,
h]ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X2ZsmFivk0

Schleicher, A 2016, BBC NEWS: PISA tests to include global skills and cultural awareness, retrieved 19th March 2017,
h]p://www.bbc.com/news/business-36343602

The Conversa9on Media Group 2017, New PISA results show educa9on decline its 9me to stop the slide, retrieved
19th March 2017,
h]p://theconversa9on.com/new-pisa-results-show-educa9on-decline-its-9me-to-stop-the-slide-21054

Schneider, M 2009, The Interna9onal PISA test, retrieved 19th March 2017,
h]p://educa9onnext.org/the-interna9onal-pisa-test/

The Telegraph 2013, PISA: Poor Academic Standards and an even poorer test, retrieved 19th March 2017,
h]p://www.telegraph.co.uk/educa9on/10488665/PISA-Poor-academic-standards-and-an-even-poorer-test.html%3E.

University of Sydney 2015, InternaDonal Comparisons: Good and bad experiences from the OECD PISA project,
Ins9tute for Innova9ons in Science and Mathema9cs Educa9on, retrieved 19th March 2017,
h]p://sydney.edu.au/news/iisme/1875.html?even9d=9935