International organisations working to improve education

From the achievements of the National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education

With thanks to Prof. Magdy Qasem - President of the National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education

International organisations working to improve education

• IEA the international organisation for educational evaluation:
• Its members are research centres and government bodies. It is the organisation that runs the TIMSS tests. Its main aim is not to produce a ranking of countries but to develop education within them, and to help each country set the standards frameworks it needs in order to succeed in every field.
• Identifying strengths and weaknesses within the branches of a single subject: one branch of a subject may be strong and another weak (for example, strong in algebra and weak in geometry).
• In Finland, girls achieve better results than boys, particularly in reading. Once the organisation reaches such findings, each country determines the reasons behind them.
• The gap between boys and girls in Finland is wider than in any other country, so areas for development are identified on the basis of that finding, curricula are revised and reviewed, and this is used as a basis for development.
• If we are not sure what these tests indicate, they should not be run. We must therefore define what we want from them and the expertise needed to design them, particularly the background questions for both parents and students, and we must write high-quality questions if we are to reach the objective.
• When taking part in designing these tests, it is important to define the change sought in education and in learning outcomes, so that results can be compared across different years and the reasons for decline or improvement identified.
• With tests of this kind in place, it becomes possible to measure how far curricula have developed, and they give the country confidence when the tests are administered a second time.
• The first of these studies were carried out in the 1960s; now, some 50 years on, it is possible to trace how the tests have developed.
• The IEA works to encourage countries to take part in these tests, for example by funding the studies, training those who administer them and analysing the results they produce.
• The IEA holds conferences to explain its findings and to present national and international results. These conferences are an opportunity for countries to meet, exchange experience and find solutions to the problems each of them faces, and awards and recognition are given for the best research published in the field.
• There are many studies, not only in mathematics and science but also in computer education and computer literacy, and in early-years education; a further study on English language learning is planned.
• OECD

Organization For Economic CO- Operation and Development

• This organisation is made up of government bodies only. Its research methods are similar to those of the IEA, but the OECD is concerned with standards and indicators covering not only learning outcomes but other factors involved in the education process.
• It is an economic organisation, so it studies the state of education across the world and how research in the field is designed.
• It is interested in levels of educational attainment and in how individuals acquire skills that help them enter the labour market.
• It is also concerned with education policy, since its members are all government bodies.
• The OECD's main activity is negotiating with non-member countries to prepare studies. It is also distinctive in its work on free, continuing and open education, and on adult education.
• Assessing learning outcomes in university education is among the organisation's most important studies.
• The organisation applies policy to curricula and their development, and issues an annual bulletin of observations entitled Education at a Glance
• General studies by international organisations include:
• The World Health Organization's HBSC study, which concerns children's health. Each year it gathers studies and data from every country, producing research on children's quality of life worldwide and an annual booklet on students' health status.

&& Some of the studies these organisations run were highlighted, such as:

• IEA:
• The TIMSS study has monitored arithmetic and science since 1991. It focuses on grades four and eight, and its aim is to improve teaching in science and mathematics. Studies of this kind can be costly, so these matters are raised within education policy.
• The main frameworks for assessing mathematics:
• The curriculum at national level addresses the social system as a whole.
• The intended curriculum addresses the school system.
• The implemented curriculum addresses student behaviour in the classroom and teaching.
• Mathematics content domains:
• These domains are set by agreement between countries.
• The cognitive domain (knowledge) covers 40%, applying 50%, and reasoning and analysis 10%.
• These figures reach the country's national centre, which identifies the elements it lacks and begins to provide them.
• TIMSS 2011 provides information on students' background, the environment, support for teaching and students' participation in subject activities; this information can be used in sound planning for quality assurance.
• The PIRLS study:

It resembles TIMSS, except that it assesses reading and comprehension at primary level in a large number of countries.

• PIRLS began in 2001, and in 2011 its results were evaluated after ten years. Five years separate one round from the next, and there is a simpler stage preceding PIRLS, known as pre-PIRLS or preparatory.
• The key question in PIRLS 2011:
• Do fourth-grade students read better than before?
• Do parents help their children improve their reading?
• Do children enjoy reading more than before?
• Do teachers give instruction that engages students in reading?
• Forty-nine countries take part in PIRLS, fewer than in TIMSS
• PIRLS measures purposes for reading, which fall into two types:

Literary experience Acquiring information from text

• Within each type of purpose there are four comprehension processes:
• Reading and evaluating information.
• Retaining information.
• Drawing inferences from the text and combining them.
• Examining and evaluating content from a literary standpoint.

Lessons learned from the PIRLS and TIMSS studies:

• A country can assess its educational achievement in the context of a large number of countries.
• Studying how to improve education by comparing countries with one another.
• Improving teaching and curricula through analysis of data and results.
• Identifying each country's weaknesses by comparing results.
• Researchers and teachers gain considerable expertise in education.

• The PISA study:

Program for International Student Assessment

• This study is concerned with the skills that prepare students for working life.
• It does not focus on a particular grade but on students aged 15, an age that falls in different school grades from one country to another.
• This study matters in Finland because it helps them assess students at the final stage of comprehensive (basic) education.
• PISA covers a range of skills such as mathematics, science and problem solving, and measures acquired skills that are not tied to a specific curriculum.
• This study does not collect information from teachers.
• It has particular features, including:
• A policy orientation, meaning that the data on student learning is set in the context of students, principals and parents.
• It works on the principle that the student is not illiterate (that is, that they are able to use the skills they have learned in different situations)
• The study is concerned with the future and with lifelong learning.
• What students want, what motivates them, and the strategies they believe in.
• The study is conducted regularly; it has been run five times so far.
• All member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development take part in the study. By 2012, 65 countries were taking part, roughly the same number as in TIMSS.
• In 2000 only 4 OECD countries took part, but in 2012 34 countries from outside the OECD took part.
• Numeracy is defined as:
• an individual's ability to use and understand mathematics in a range of fields.
• There is also literacy in science and in reading.
• On content, PISA speaks of quantities, whereas TIMSS is concerned with numbers.
• One PISA domain is space and shape, which corresponds to geometry in TIMSS
• Shape and data corresponds to statistics in TIMSS
• Relationships corresponds to algebra in TIMSS
• In 2012 there was a change: mathematics could be assessed by computer, and there was a problem-solving section that could be computer-based.
• In 2015 computer-based assessment will be larger and broader.
• Some elements shared by PISA and TIMSS:
• PISA has 13 booklets that define these elements, and through them student performance can be compared