PISA in Ukraine
The PISA survey has been testing 15-year-old students’ skills and knowledge every three years since 2000. It is believed that in most countries students of this age end their compulsory schooling and face a choice of their future profession and their future life path in general. However, PISA does not test the level of students’ learning outcomes. Instead it measures their ability to use the acquired knowledge and skills to meet the real-life challenges.
- Reading literacy is defined as a person’s ability to broadly understand texts, search for new information, reproduce and use it, interpret the content and formulate his or her own inferences, comprehend and evaluate the content and form of texts.
- Mathematical literacy is a person’s ability to define and understand the role of mathematics in the modern world, to provide well-founded judgments, the ability to use mathematics for personal purposes in every-day life.
- Science literacy is a person’s ability to explain scientific phenomena, draw reasonable conclusions about them, and be aware of the impact of science and technology on changing material, intellectual and cultural environments.
The PISA survey has been testing 15-year-old students’ skills and knowledge every three years since 2000. It is believed that in most countries students of this age end their compulsory schooling and face a choice of their future profession and their future life path in general. However, PISA does not test the level of students’ learning outcomes. Instead it measures their ability to use the acquired knowledge and skills to meet the real-life challenges.
- Reading literacy is defined as a person’s ability to broadly understand texts, search for new information, reproduce and use it, interpret the content and formulate his or her own inferences, comprehend and evaluate the content and form of texts.
- Mathematical literacy is a person’s ability to define and understand the role of mathematics in the modern world, to provide well-founded judgments, the ability to use mathematics for personal purposes in every-day life.
- Science literacy is a person’s ability to explain scientific phenomena, draw reasonable conclusions about them, and be aware of the impact of science and technology on changing material, intellectual and cultural environments.
In addition to assessing subject competencies, the purpose of PISA is to determine the factors that affect the level of students’ achievements in different countries and economies around the world. Thus, PISA participants complete a questionnaire that explores various aspects of their life including migration, gender policy, socio-economic status, their parents’ care and support, early childhood learning, learning motivation and self-regulation, engagement in reading, interest in mathematics, pleasure from science, respect for others etc.
There are also relevant questionnaires for administrators of PISA participants’ schools. The purpose of the school questionnaire is to investigate how students’ PISA results are influenced by such factors as teacher qualification, curricula, teaching methods, learning time, learning opportunities within and outside school, quality control of school processes, leadership and school management, parents’ involvement in school life, school atmosphere, common values, expectation of high achievements, interaction and mutual support and so on.
The PISA cycle consists of three stages: preparation, field trial and main survey. During the preparation stage, test materials and questionnaires for students and schools are translated and adapted. The field trial provides approbation of PISA test tasks and research tools within the context of PISA countries or economies. The main survey includes testing and preparation of national and international reports.
Ukraine’s participation in PISA has several important aspects. They are as follows: obtaining objective information on young citizens’ preparedness to live a full life in modern society in accordance with international standards; understanding the factors that influence the effectiveness of education in the country; an opportunity to make decisions and build up national education policy based on real data on the state of the country’s education system. Besides, PISA test items and the evaluation methodology of students’ answers will serve as a practical guide for educators in the process of formation of the education competence paradigm in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Center for Educational Quality Assessment is responsible for organizing and conducting the PISA survey in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Center for Educational Quality Assessment is responsible for organizing and conducting the PISA survey in Ukraine.
The Institute of Educational Analytics is responsible for fulfilling the tasks on sampling of the country’s PISA participants. Specialists of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, the CEDOS analytical center, the Institute of Modernization of Educational Content and the Institute of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education were involved in the PISA 2018 project at various stages of its preparation and implementation.
You can find more information about PISA (frameworks, sample PISA units (tasks), news about the state of preparation for the survey in Ukraine) on the official website of PISA in Ukraine