Cultural Approach to International Achievement Studies

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Cultural Approach to International Achievement
Studies

• Pasi Reinikainen
• Hungary 12-05

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Combining the results ofPISA with TIMSS

• Pscychometric properties are not the same.
• Sampling is not the same
• One year apart from each other

Width
Height
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Comparison of TIMSS 1999 and PISA Results
Very well
How well are students prepaired for the future
with their skills?
PISA
Not that well
Many things
Not much
What have students learned within the different
subject domains?
TIMSS
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Science scores in TIMSS 1999 ja PISA 2000
PISA
TIMSS 1999
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Between Country Differences of Science
Achievement by Percentiles (PISA 2003)
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Difference between language groups in Science
score points within Finland (PISA 2003)
Finnish average
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The Finnish Success in PISA and Some Reasons
Behind itOfficial version
1/4

• Equal opportunities for education irrespective of
  domicile, sex, economic situation or mother
  tongue
• Regional accessibility of education
• No separation of sexes

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The Finnish Success in PISA and Some Reasons
Behind itOfficial version
2/4

• Education totally free of charge
• Comprehensive, non-selective basis education
• Supportive and flexible administration
  centraliced steering of the whole, local
  implementation

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The Finnish Success in PISA and Some Reasons
Behind itOfficial version
3/4

• Interactive, co-operative way of working at all
  levels idea of partnership
• Individual support for learning and welfare of
  pupils
• Development-oriented evaluation and pupil
  assessment no testing, no ranking lists

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The Finnish Success in PISA and Some Reasons
Behind itOfficial version
4/4

• Highly qualified, autonomous teachers
• Socio-constructivist learning conception

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The Finnish Success in PISA and Some Reasons
Behind itReaders Digest version 1/4

• Individual learning phase
• Students are stockinged
• Remedial instruction
• Individual goals for learning (curriculum)
• Testing minimized
• Starting age 7
• Very litlle instrucional hours (Finland 30
  h/week, Korea 50h/week)

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The Finnish Success in PISA and Some Reasons
Behind itReaders Digest version 2/4

• Very fast and strick responce of disturbing
  factors (violence, truancy, smoking, drugs)
• Few immigrants
• Good traditional literacy
• Late choose between vocational and academic career

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The Finnish Success in PISA and Some Reasons
Behind itReaders Digest version 3/4

• High quality teachers
• Teachers can work indenpendently
• Avoidance of too many tests
• Students self-evaluation
• Students are encouraged to work indepentely
• Casual school climate

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The Finnish Success in PISA and Some Reasons
Behind itReaders Digest version 4/4

• Strong support for weakest students
• We can teach excellently average students, but
  can we inspire the genious ones?

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What is new after PISA in Finland

• PISA-turism,
• National self-confidence has gone up,
• Objective Assessment has changed to Political
  Evaluation,
• New devision of instructional time and new
  curricula,
• Cutting down schools,
• Cutting down public libraries, and
• PISA moved to Helsinki University

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Recent situation
Problems

• PISA tourism
• Combination of individual variables into indexes
  more global and stable than the original
  variables
• Indexes done in the light of the Educational
  literacy
• WW-models
• Most recent studies focus on mathematics and use
  international indicators in national models
• Huge size, quality databases left unused

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Example Index of Home Educational Resources

• Based on five variables
• 1. Parents education
• 2. Number of books in home
• Educational aids in home
• 3. Computer
• 4. Study desk/table for own use
• 5. Dictionary

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Index of Home Educational Resources

• Could not be made in case of England, Finland and
  Japan (Parents education missing)
• Latvia alpha 0,4072
• Works better if computer deleted
• Russia Alpha 0,4663
• Works better if computer deleted
• Hungary Alpha 0,5781
• Works better if study desk deleted

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I believe strongly, that

• Educational goals, school practices and
  educational outcomes (cognitive and affective)
  are socially, culturally, historically, and
  institutionally situated and context-specific.
• (Bempechat et al. Socio cultural theory,
  Vygotsky, Säljö)

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Purpose of this research

• Provide a research based context to better
  understand the background of educational systems
  and cultures, where science results were achieved
• To utilize the huge size international databases
• To provide results that can be used as concrete
  tools developing scientific knowledge, teaching
  and learning

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Cultural Approach?

• Avoidance of international indicators
• Each country has own individual model
• Use of countries science education specialists
  in the revision of the model and interpretation
  of the results
• Purpose rather descriptive than comparative
  rather national than international rather
  including few countries than WW

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Selection of the participating countries

• Based on former statistical analysis of classroom
  activities
• Participated both TIMSS 1999 and PISA

Selection of the science education specialists

• Expert status
• Personal contacts

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National Sience Education Specialists in Studied
Countries

• England Rose Clesham
• Finland Maija Ahtee
• Hungary Ildiko Balazsi Balázs Szalay
• Japan Tetsuo Isozaki, Masakata Ogawa,
  Yasushi Ogura Yuji Saruta
• Latvia Andrejs Geske
• Russia Galina Kovalyova

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How?

• By co-operating together with national
  specialists of science education in
• construction of the national indexes (conceptual
  lingage),
• construction of the national multi-level model of
  science achievement
• interpretation of the results
• reporting of the results in national and
  international publications

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Conceptual framework of this study

• TIMSS framework
• Three level curriculum
• Gilbert Peaker (1975) Long, middle and
  short-term variables.

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PROCESS
INPUT
Intented curriculum
School-time Classroom activities
Students motivators believes
Local Community
Students background
Students free-time
OUTPUT
Schools background
Cognitive outcomes
Affective outcomes
Teachers background
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Student variables Student questionnaire
School variables School questionnaire

Selection of Explanatory variables
1. Step. Correlation with plausible values
of science (SPSS)
2. Step. Testing Individual variables with
Null-model (HLM)
3. Step. Factor analyzis of the variables
(SPSS)
Adapted from the methodology used by Boston
College (AroraRamirez (2004)
Elimination of unexplanatory variables
4. Step. Developing and testing indexes (SPSS)
5. Step. Testing indexes and remaining single
variables (HLM)
Country Specific Two Level Model
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Table of explanatory variables of science
achievement in Russia
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Explaining the variance in Finnish Science
achievement in TIMSS 1999
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Explaining the variance in Hungarian Science
achievement in TIMSS 1999
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Explanatory model of mathematics achievement in
Finland (Based on PISA 2003 data)
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Explanatory model of mathematics achievement in
Hungary (Based on PISA 2003 data)
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Conclusion 1/2

• National elements are strongly present in every
  step of of the model.
• With these results clear messages can be send to
  parents, teachers, principals, researchers and
  educational policy makers.
• However, these results explain the connection,
  not the causality.

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Conclusion 2/2

• For reseachers to attempt to understand
  development without considering everyday
  activities and skills in the context of cultural
  goals would be like attempting to learn a
  language without trying to understand the meaning
  it expresses (Rogoff 1990)