PISA at three-year intervals
The PISA survey is conducted every three years to assess the knowledge and skills of students aged 15 in reading, mathematics and science. The main focus of the first (PISA 2000) was reading and in the second (PISA 2003) mathematics, while this latest, PISA 2006, focused on science.
In PISA "science literacy" means young people's ability to use scientific knowledge and skills in different areas and in different life situations. PISA 2006 also studied students' beliefs and attitudes towards scientific issues and towards scientific thinking and reasoning. Another aspect studied was the students' understanding of their responsibility for sustainable development and their optimism as to their chances of influencing it.
The aim in PISA is to assess how well students master knowledge and skills necessary for life in future society, for the development of working life, and for the quality of life. The primary focus is not on how well they have mastered curricular contents and attained objectives but how well they can apply their knowledge and skills in real life situations. Source
Building on the PISA analyses, Reading for change identifies some of the factors that are behind differences in students' reading literacy performances. Among other things, it shows that:
Even in countries in which there is generally a high level of reading proficiency, some 15-year-olds lack the reading skills necessary for living in modern society. Reading proficiency is closely linked to the amount of time students spend reading in their free time and the diversity of materials they read.
While the degree of engagement in reading varies considerably from one country to another, 15-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds who read a lot get higher average reading scores than those whose parents are of high or medium occupational status but who have little interest in reading. This suggests that finding ways to engage students in reading may be one of the most effective ways to leverage social change.
Although the relationship between reading performance and student and school backgrounds varies from one country to another, some countries display similarities in the way student and school-context variables interact with reading. School systems that differentiate between pupils through institutionalised streaming at early ages tend to produce lower reading performances while failing to moderate the impact of social background on student attainment. Source
Key findings
Finland, with an average of 563 score points, was the highest-performing country on the PISA 2006 science scale.
Six other high-scoring countries had mean scores of 530 to 542 points: Canada, Japan and New Zealand and the partner countries/economies Hong Kong-China, Chinese Taipei and Estonia. Australia, the Netherlands, Korea, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and Ireland, and the partner countries/economies Liechtenstein, Slovenia and Macao-China also scored above the OECD average of 500 score points.
On average across OECD countries, 1.3% of 15-year-olds reached Level 6 of the PISA 2006 science scale, the highest proficiency level. These students could consistently identify, explain and apply scientific knowledge, and knowledge about science, in a variety of complex life situations. In New Zealand and Finland this figure was at least 3.9%, three times the OECD average. In the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan and Canada, as well as the partner countries/economies Liechtenstein, Slovenia and Hong Kong-China, between 2 and 3% reached Level 6. Source
