ABSTRACT
In December 2013, the results were released of the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test conducted in 2012. PISA focuses on student attainment in the age band 15-16 years in reading, mathematics and science; it has been conducted since 1997 by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) with three-year intervals, and the latest test encompassed 65 countries. As with previous PISA reports, the results sent shock waves across the educational sectors in many countries; and they mobilized debates on national policy-making whose focus depends on
individual countries’ movements up or down the ranking scale. The European Commission’s press release, for example, illuminated this focus:
Why Europe takes this position was indicated by Jan Truszczynski, Director General of the DG Education and Culture at the European Commission, in his speech on the launch of the report in Brussels: ‘PISA 2012 shows that the socio-economic background is a powerful factor determining achievement [...] In addition, migrants often do not perform as well as native-born citizens’ (Truszczynski 2013, n.p.).
