Retention To Students Does Not Result In Improving The Learning Outcomes

On account of PISA’s (Programme for International Student Assessment) dismal performance in 2009, India stayed away from it in 2012 and 2015, when it was placed 72^nd amongst 74 participating countries.

Director of Directorate of Education and Skills at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Andreas Schleicher spoke with Ritika Chopra about India ending its decade-long boycott of the PISA, which exams learning levels of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics and science.

How will you explain the reluctance on part of SAARC nations to participate regularly in PISA, and why do you think they should?

There have been some longstanding participants (from this region). Countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore have been with us for many years. However, PISA also provides a challenge for countries in this region. Much of the instruction is still geared towards having students reproduce subject matter content, if you think about India, and PISA doesn’t place a lot of emphasis on this.

To achieve successes in PISA you need to have the ability to creatively use your knowledge and address novel tasks.

What are the most vivid examples of how countries have benefitted by participating in PISA?

The most significant aspect (of participating in PISA) is to be part of a global network of expertise that develops assessments. Many countries have joined the assessment simply to take part in the thinking about the future of education and what it means for teaching practice and assessment.

PISA is also a mirror in which countries can see themselves in the light of what other countries are achieving. For example, before PISA small countries like Singapore or Finland were not very much on the radar of learning policy, but it has twisted them into a kind of reference point.

In the recent iteration in 2015, the questions covered were related to the collaborative problem solving, social skills, and even psychological well-being. In what manner is PISA going to be distinctive in its pattern for the year 2021?

In the year 2018, we added the thought of what we call global competency, which tests your capacity to appreciate various ways of thinking different ways of working different cultures. In the year 2021, we will add one more aspect of creative thinking, which has become one of the important dimensions to gain success today.

By: Preeti Narula

Content: https://indianexpress.com/article/education/andreas-schleicher-directorate-of-education-oecd-retention-of-students-does-not-lead-to-improvement-in-learning-outcomes-5644552/