Student response to the TIMSS test

The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) involved 47 countries, thousands of students, and their teachers and schools. Included in the battery of tests and other instruments was a Student Questionnaire that was concerned with the personal and school contexts of the students in relation to their mathematics and science learning. Quite late in the planning of this very expensive study, it transpired that no country had considered gathering data on the students’ sense of the relevance of the science topics in the achievement tests, of their science learning, or, their metacognitive awareness of this learning. This paper reports one last minute attempt to collect these data from one group of student in Population 3—the students in the final year of schooling. Like many other aspects of TIMSS, the psychometric dominance in its design meant that this study was logistically very difficult, but some interesting findings are reported.     

Subsidiarity in education: the example of British primary humanities

ABSTRACT

The nature and interpretation of differences between the achievements of females and males in senior secondary school studies in Australia, and the implications for policy and practice of these perceived differences, are showing signs of change. The ways in which these issues are discussed publicly across Australia are reviewed and then matched against indications that have emerged from data in one state (Queensland) and from other, published studies. This analysis suggests that there are important notions of gendered achievement that may not be receiving due consideration by those who formulate policy or analyse practice.