Education, PISA & the state of play

Change is one of of the constants of the 21st century and a commitment to be observant of changes occurring in our daily lives and applying them to the classroom is a must for every educator.

In this video Use data to build better schools, Andreas Schliecher, OECD Education Directorate provides an explanation of the role of the PISA 2012 results which reported the educational competencies in reading, mathematics and science of 510,000, 15 year old students across 65 countries.  It proves clarification of many of the arguments surrounding the PISA testing and cuts through the rherotic to place a clear emphasis on why our education system has to change.

Change is not an option.

Dirk Van Damme in his post The global talent pool has taken on a dramatically different look states that by 2030, China will be home to 27% of the global pool of highly educated people, and India to another 23%. The United States would follow with only 8%. And of the emerging economies, Brazil and Indonesia would follow with 5% each. Together China and India would be home to half of the world’s highly educated youth.  Access to education worldwide is increasing and the traditional balances of an educated population are shifting. 

Andreas Schliecher's presentation The high cost of low educational performance is was recorded in 2010.  It provides an overview of the reasons for educational change and the trends that were apparent at that time.  In his article the The case for 21st century learning he stresses the need for educational innovation, saying

Education today is much more about ways of thinking which involve creative and critical approaches to problem-solving and decision-making. It is also about ways of working, including communication and collaboration, as well as the tools they require, such as the capacity to recognise and exploit the potential of new technologies, or indeed, to avert their risks. And last but not least, education is about the capacity to live in a multi-faceted world as an active and engaged citizen. These citizens influence what they want to learn and how they want to learn it, and it is this that shapes the role of educators.

He closes by saying "Success will go to those individuals and countries that are swift to adapt, slow to resist and open to change".  We really must look at education broadly with a worldwide perspective to see the real state of play in the world.