What works,for whom,and in what circumstances? Towards a critical realist understanding of learning in international and comparative education

The article explores the potential for a critical realist approach to researching learning in international and comparative education (ICE) with a particular focus on the emerging post-2015 education and development agenda. It provides a critique of existing empiricist and interpretivist approaches to researching learning. It is suggested that whilst both have strengths, they are based on an ontologically reductionist view of learning with implications for research, policy and practice. As a ‘third’ research approach critical realism has the potential to build on the strengths whilst avoiding the pitfalls of both empiricism and interpretivism. Such an approach it is argued needs to start from an ontologically inclusive and laminated view of learning. Further, it is suggested that comparative research should focus on the development of theories of learning that are able to explain the natural and social structures and causal mechanisms that give rise to and inhibit learning at different scales and levels and in different contexts. The development of theory ought to embrace epistemological pluralism drawing critically on, cross-cultural, inter-disciplinary and mixed methods enquiry and making use of abductive and retroductive forms of inference. In this way it is argued it becomes possible to move beyond the dominant ‘what works’ agenda favoured by empiricists to critically consider what works, for who and under what circumstances.     

Who expects to become a teacher? The role of educational accountability policies in international perspective

In this study, I examine between-country differences in students' expectations of becoming teachers. I use data from 365,298 students from 50 countries participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015. The results reveal that high-achieving students in countries that implement test-based educational accountability policies are less likely to expect to work as teachers than students in systems that do not use such policies. This suggests that test-based accountability policies may discourage highly skilled candidates from entering the teaching profession and these policies may act as barriers to attracting high-quality teacher candidates.     

Leaning too far? PISA,policy and Australia's ‘top five’ ambitions

Australia has declared its ambition to be within the ‘top five’ in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) by 2025. So serious is it about this ambition, that the Australian Government has incorporated it into the Australian Education Act, 2013. Given this focus on PISA results and rankings, we go beyond average scores to take a close look at Australia's performance in PISA, examining rankings by different geographical units, by item content and by test completion. Based on this analysis and using data from interviews with measurement and policy experts, we show how uninformative and even misleading the ‘average performance scores’, on which the rankings are based, can be. We explore how a more nuanced understanding would point to quite different policy actions. After considering the PISA data and Australia's ‘top five’ ambition closely, we argue that neither the rankings nor such ambitions should be given much credence.     

从批判性思维培养的视角看中美语文教材的差异——PISA测试结果的启示

批判性思维是语文素养的重要能力,而阅读是语文教学的核心。国际能力测试PISA显示,我国学生阅读总体水平世界第一,但与批判性思维相关的部分成绩较低。这种现象引起了学界的广泛重视。我国教材在自然描写、情感道德、历史文化传统、爱国主义、生活知识与技能等方面的比例与美国的教材显著不同;在连续性文本和非连续性文本比例上也与美国差异巨大。阅读内容及其文本形式关乎我国学生阅读能力中批判性思维的培养。建议教材中增加与学生生活、社会现实问题联系密切的以非连续性文本形式呈现的内容。     

Single-sex schooling,gender and educational performance: Evidence using PISA data

The advantages and disadvantages of single-sex schooling continue to be a source of policy and public debate. Previous empirical evidence is somewhat ambiguous, with some studies finding a positive impact of single-sex schooling on education achievement and others finding no differences across school types. The relationship between single-sex schooling on academic outcomes is typically problematic to examine, as in most countries single-sex schools are selective and the numbers attending them are relatively small. In Ireland, a high proportion of secondary school children (~1/3) attend a single-sex school. In addition, these schools are largely state-funded and non-selective but differing in composition compared to mixed-sex schools. For this reason, the Irish educational system provides an interesting setting for exploring the outcomes of single-sex schooling. In this context, this study utilises the 2018 PISA data for Ireland to examine the relationship between single-sex education and mathematics, reading and science literacy performance for boys and girls, respectively, as well as differences across gender in these outcomes. We find significant raw gaps in reading, science and mathematics scores between females in single-sex and mixed-sex schools and in mathematics scores for males across the same school types. However, after controlling for a rich set of individual, parental and school-level factors we find that, on average, there is no significant difference in performance for girls or boys who attend single-sex schools compared to their mixed-school peers in science, mathematics or reading. In terms of heterogeneous analysis, this finding is consistent across the performance distribution.     

How is formative assessment related to students’ reading achievement? Findings from PISA 2009

Drawing on the programme for international student assessment 2009 US data-set, this study examines the relationship between formative assessment and students’ reading achievement using a structural equation modelling approach. We find that formative assessment is positively related to students’ reading achievement directly and indirectly (through teacher–student relationship and attitude towards reading) for all students. The direct relationship between formative assessment and reading achievement is significantly stronger for Black students than for White students, whether or not student socio-economic status (SES), gender and school mean SES are controlled for. The total relationship (the direct plus the indirect relationship) between formative assessment and reading achievement also appears to be stronger for Black students than for White students; however, the difference is not statistically significant whether or not we control for covariates. No significant difference is found between White and Hispanic students in terms of the direct and the total relationship between formative assessment and reading achievement. Using a nationally representative data-set, this study provides empirical evidence that formative assessment is positively related to students’ reading achievement in general. In addition, this study provides preliminary evidence to show the potential of formative assessment to help reduce achievement gaps between Black and White students. The implications and limitations of the study are also discussed.     

Government,media, and citizens: understanding engagement with PISA in China (2009–2015)

This study explores the multidimensionality of engagements with international large-scale standardised assessments (ILSAs). The objective is to understand how different policy actors—government, media, and citizens—rationalise, report, and perceive China’s PISA participation. First, government archive analysis traces a decade of documents (2005–2015), and the findings show that Shanghai’s initial participation in PISA was rationalised as a policy experiment for learning Western ideas of education governance. Second, media content analysis of two major news outlets indicates that media framing of PISA participation was strategic on timing, intensity, and tone. Third, a public opinion survey yields results which show that low public knowledge of Shanghai’s PISA participation in 2012 is prevalent. Drawing on these findings, this study investigates how the ILSA movement, exemplified by PISA, engages different levels of stakeholders in China.     

The impact of OECD‐PISA results on Japanese educational policy

The author describes the results of PISA, including those of 2015 and Japan's reaction, as well as their impact. Highly‐ranked in PISA, Japan has always tried to improve its education system. The promotion of reading comprehension remains an important issue and low interest and motivation to learn subjects are crucial problems. The author discusses these questions and reform policies from a Japanese point of view. He explains the latest reform plan which will be implemented in 2020. The Japanese peculiarity in education is referred to in the conclusion.     

Testing measurement invariance of PISA 2015 mathematics,science, and ICT scales using the alignment method

This study investigates measurement invariance of the mathematics, science, and ICT scales across the 47 countries that participated in the PISA 2015 ICT Familiarity Questionnaire. Knowing whether the same constructs and measurements can be reliably compared across countries constitutes an important goal. The Alignment method is employed to test the measurement invariance of the three scales. The results show that mathematics and science scores are highly invariant and can be used to compare countries, whereas the ICT scale is mostly non-invariant and cannot be used to reliably compare ICT means across all participating countries. Implications and limitations are discussed.     

A cross-cultural study of student self-efficacy profiles and the associated predictors and outcomes using a multigroup latent profile analysis

Based on PISA 2018 data, this study utilized multigroup latent profile analyses to explore the profiles of self-efficacy (SE) and its associations with gender, socioeconomic status, fear of failure and academic achievements among students from China, USA and Finland (N = 22,545). Results indicated (1) Three SE profiles were identified across countries: Low SE, Moderate SE and High SE; (2) Proportions of students categorized into each of the three profiles differed across countries, with USA and Finland having higher prevalence of High SE, whereas China Moderate and Low SE; (3) Girls in USA and Finland had greater likelihood of being classified into higher SE profiles, whereas greater likelihood for Chinese boys; (4) Higher socioeconomic status was associated with greater likelihood of membership into higher SE profiles across countries; (5) Different patterns emerged across countries regarding the relations of SE profiles to fear of failure and academic achievements.