Writing assignment UNIT 6 PISA in INDIA

 PISA is an international assessment that measures fifteen year old students reading, mathematics and science literacy in every three years, it also includes a measure of interdisciplinary competencies such as collaboration, problem solving etc. PISA is conducted by OECD and is a benchmark for what is possible in education (PISA, n.d.). Through PISA, OECD advocates that countries can learn from each other and their journeys to increase the learning outcomes for their students. Today more and more countries are taking part in PISA as the world is moving towards a knowledge economy and to assure economic well being countries want to make sure that their employable people are able and well educated (Baird, Isaacs, Johnson, Stobart, Yu, Sprague, & Daugherty, 2011). OECD suggests that the way the PISA tests are made produces high quality test items which are reliable and valid and offer an increased understanding of the country’s education system alongside assessing student’s knowledge, skills and attitude (Baird, Isaacs, Johnson, Stobart, Yu, Sprague, & Daugherty, 2011). 

To the author’s understanding the way the country’s media reacts to the PISA results deeply affects how a country responds and acts on education reforms at a grass root level. Research shows that in countries like France and Germany the media reactions triggered PISA shock and had deep rooted impacts on the education landscape of these countries which brought a lot of negatives along. Whereas on the other side the Chinese media reported PISA results in a reflective and humble manner helping the system to improve (Baird, Isaacs, Johnson, Stobart, Yu, Sprague, & Daugherty, 2011). Some researchers are of the opinion that PISA results should not be used to draw international comparisons because of various issues like the test material is often translated to different native languages and may lose its actual nature, the measurement model used for data analysis is not the best, different countries choose student’s samples differently and thus comparisons are not justified, the motivation for the test is different for different students. India had been a part of PISA in a small attempt in 2009 through one of it’s states and scored at the bottom two. Since then the country has stayed away from international testing. The country had again decided to take up PISA in a small sample of one high performing state in it’s northern part learning from China (PISA, 2022). 

Media in India has softly spoken about participation in PISA and experts have welcomed the move as many believe that it is a progressive step to improve education in the country and move towards competencies from a rote learning system (Edwards, 2022). OECD has recently signed with India and suggests that PISA results are intended to show where a country stands and can be a motivator for policy makers to identify loopholes and problems in the education landscape with appropriate reforms needed (The Purpose of PISA, 2013). Another big positive for India is that PISA has shown that students have the potential to learn when given the right opportunities regardless of economic situation or cultural background (The Purpose of PISA, 2013). Some critics to the approach that India has taken with PISA argue that it is meaningless to take up an international assessment like PISA again because India is prepared to feature at the bottom of the table and thus the results will not show us anything new and not lead to shock (Edwards, 2022). India is yet to be impacted by the results of PISA 2021 and the author is deeply concerned by how the media reacts as the results come out because these results have deeply influenced educational practices in many countries (OECD and PISA tests are damaging education worldwide-academics, 2014). 

Some critics of OECD also share other interests of the company to provide third party services which can create a systemic bias (OECD and PISA tests are damaging education worldwide-academics, 2014). The way ahead for India is crucial and it is really important that India takes a reflective and systemic approach towards interpreting PISA results and gradually move towards progressive educational reforms. 

References: 

1. The Purpose of PISA. (2013). The Center for Education Reform. https://www.edreform.com/edspresso-shots/the-purpose-of-pisa/ 2. Program for International Students Assessment (PISA) . (n.d.). IES, National Center for Education Statisitics. https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/ 3. OECD and PISA tests are damaging education worldwide-academics. (2014). Theguardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/06/oecd-pisa-tests-damaging-edu cation-academics 4. Baird, J., Isaacs, T., Johnson, S., Stobart, G., Yu, G., Sprague, T., & Daugherty, R. (2011, May). Policy effects of PISA. Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment. http://oucea.education.ox.ac.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Policy-Effect s-of-PISA-OUCEA.pdf 5. Carnoy, M. (2015, October). International test score comparisons and educational policy: a review of the critiques. National Education Policy Center (NEPC). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED574696.pdf 6. Pisa.seshagun.gov.in. 2022. PISA. [online] Available at: [Accessed 9 March 2022]. 7. Edwards, S., 2022. India's re-entry to PISA triggers mixed response. Devex, [online] Available at: [Accessed 9 March 2022].