Lunedì scorso (23/06/2008) RAI1 ha trasmesso una puntata speciale di SuperQuark incentrata sul tema della scarsa natalità in Italia.
Ne è uscito, ancora una volta, il ritratto di un Paese in forte declino, con un accumulo impressionante di ritardi e carenze rispetto a tutti gli altri paesi dell'Unione Europea.
Tra i fattori più allarmanti va sicuramente considerato il livello insufficiente di risorse impiegate per investimenti in ricerca e istruzione.
Nel corso del programma è stato menzionato il Rapporto PISA, di cui non avevo mai sentito nulla; ho quindi deciso di documentarmi.
PISA è l'acronimo di Programme for International Student Assessment (www.pisa.oecd.org) ed è realizzato dalla Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD, www.oecd.org).
Si tratta di una dettagliata e approfondita analisi triennale che viene condotta sui ragazzi di 15 anni in tema di conoscenze scientifiche e matematiche. L'indagine riguarda studenti provenienti da quasi 60 Paesi. Dal sito è possibile scaricare una quantità notevole di materiale; di seguito (e nei post successivi) ne riporto alcuni passi significativi. I dati si riferiscono all'ultimo rapporto disponibile: quello del 2006 (il prossimo verrà realizzato nel 2009).
Introduction
"PISA is a triennial survey of the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds. It is the product of collaboration between participating Countries and economies through the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and draws on leading international expertise to develop valid comparisons across Countries and cultures.
More than 400.000 students from 57 Countries making up close to 90% of the world economy took part in PISA 2006. The focus was on science but the assessment also included reading and mathematics and collected data on student, family and institutional factors that could help to explain differences in performance. This report summarises the main findings".
Key findings: science performance
"Finland, with an average of 563 score points, was the highest-performing Country on the PISA 2006 science scale.
Six other high-scoring countries had mean scores of 530 to 542 points: Canada, Japan and New Zealand and the partner Countries/economies Hong Kong-China, Chinese Taipei and Estonia. Australia, the Netherlands, Korea, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and Ireland, and the partner Countries/economies Liechtenstein, Slovenia and Macao-China also scored above the OECD average of 500 score points [...].
Males and females showed no difference in average science performance in the majority of Countries, including 22 of the 30 OECD countries. In 12 Countries, females outperformed males, on average, while males outperformed females in 8 Countries. Most of these differences were small [...].
However, similarities in average performance mask certain gender differences: In most Countries, females were stronger in identifying scientific issues, while males were stronger at explaining phenomena scientifically. Males performed substantially better than females when answering physics questions [...].
On average across OECD Countries, around one-third of all variation in student performance (33%) was between schools, but this varied widely from one Country to another. In Germany and the partner Country Bulgaria performance variation between schools was about twice the OECD average. It was over one and a half times the average in the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Belgium, Japan and Italy, and the partner Countries Slovenia, Argentina and Chile [...].
In other Countries, school differences played only a minor part in performance variation.
In Finland less than 5% of the overall performance variation among OECD Countries lay between schools and in Iceland and Norway it was still less than 10%. Other Countries in which performance was not very closely related to the schools in which students were enrolled included Sweden, Poland, Spain, Denmark and Ireland as well as the partner Countries Latvia and Estonia. Considering that Finland also showed the highest overall performance in science suggests that Finnish parents can rely on high and consistent performance standards across schools in the entire education system.
Students' socio-economic differences accounted for a significant part of between-school differences in some Countries. This factor contributed most to between-school performance variation in the United States, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Slovak Republic, Germany, Greece and New Zealand, and the partner Countries Bulgaria, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.
Less than 10% of the variation in student performance was explained by student background in five of the seven Countries with the highest mean science scores of above 530 points (Finland, Canada and Japan, and the partner Countries/economies Hong Kong-China and Estonia).
There is no relationship between the size of Countries and the average performance of 15-year-olds in PISA. There is also no cross-country relationship between the proportion of foreign-born students in Countries and the average performance of Countries [...]".
Key findings: reading performance
"Korea, with 556 score points, was the highest-performing Country in reading. Finland followed second with 547 points and the partner economy Hong Kong-China third with 536 points.
Canada and New Zealand had mean reading scores between 520 and 530, and the following Countries still scored significantly above the OECD average of 492 scorepoints: Ireland, Australia, Poland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland, and the partner Countries Liechtenstein, Estonia and Slovenia.
Reading is the area with the largest gender gaps. In all OECD Countries in PISA 2006, females performed better in reading on average than males.
Across the OECD area, reading performance generally remained flat between PISA 2000 and PISA 2006. This needs to be seen in the context of significant rises in expenditure levels.
Between 1995 and 2004 expenditure per primary and secondary student increased by 39% in real terms, on average across OECD Countries [...].
A number of Countries saw a decline in their reading performance between PISA 2000 and PISA 2006, comprising nine OECD Countries (in descending order): Spain, Japan, Iceland, Norway, Italy, France, Australia, Greece and Mexico, and the partner Countries Argentina, Romania, Bulgaria, the Russian Federation and Thailand [...]".
Key findings: mathematics performance
"Finland and Korea, and the partners Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong-China, outperformed all other Countries/economies in PISA 2006.
Other Countries with mean performances significantly above the OECD average were the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Belgium, Australia, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Iceland and Austria, as well as the partner Countries/economies Macao-China, Liechtenstein, Estonia and Slovenia [...]".
Background
"PISA is the most comprehensive and rigorous international programme to assess student performance and to collect data on the student, family and institutional factors that can help to explain differences in performance. Decisions about the scope and nature of the assessments and the background information to be collected are made by leading experts in participating Countries, and are steered jointly by governments on the basis of shared, policy-driven interests. Substantial efforts and resources are devoted to achieving cultural and linguistic breadth and balance in the assessment materials. Stringent quality assurance mechanisms are applied in translation, sampling and data collection. As a consequence, the results of PISA have a high degree of validity and reliability, and can significantly improve understanding of the outcomes of education in the world's economically most developed Countries, as well as in a growing number of Countries at earlier stages of economic development [...].
Three PISA surveys have taken place so far, in 2000, 2003 and 2006, focusing on reading, mathematics and science, respectively. This sequence will be repeated with surveys in 2009, 2012 and 2015, allowing continuous and consistent monitoring of educational outcomes [...]".
