Under the Australian Education Act (2013), schools are required to participate in various tests be they national, or international in scope. For example, the annual national NAPLAN tests in Numeracy and Literacy falls under this act. It also includes international tests such the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).
OLMC has been selected this year to participate in PISA. This test is held every three years and involves students who are 15 years of age. Schools and students are randomly selected by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), the organisation responsible for carrying out the PISA test in Australia.
PISA measures student performance in reading, mathematics and science. The test also involves a questionnaire that seeks to find out from the selected students their aptitudes and dispositions towards school and learning. Teachers involved in teaching Mathematics and Science to students in Years 9 and 10 are also randomly selected to complete a questionnaire. The focus for teachers is providing feedback on their training, professional development and teaching practices.
Originally undertaken by the 32 countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), it has now expanded since 2000 to have included 81 countries in 2022.
In 2022, 743 Australian schools were involved in PISA. The results of these tests provide important information to state and federal education departments for policy and programs, with PISA having an influence on mathematics and science in particular. The test also highlights issues of educational equity and provides one form of benchmarking against other education systems.
This year 26 students from OLMC, and some of their teachers, will be contributing to this important aspect of education. They will form part of an international assessment involving over 600,000 students. We thank them in advance for their contribution to developing policy makers understanding of learning in different contexts and the subsequent analysis that will to help inform improvement in education systems.