Our dismal PISA results should jolt us into action
FINDING ANSWERS
The recent news that Filipino students still ranked among the lowest in reading, mathematics, and science among the 81 countries and economies that took part in the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) ought to spark more action towards improving our educational system.
It should prompt all stakeholders to reflect on and reexamine our learning processes, what factors are contributing to the bleak state of education in our country, what more should be done to confront and eventually overcome the many challenges that hinder substantial improvement in our education system since our country first participated in PISA in 2018.
Conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), PISA “assesses the extent to which 15-year-old students near the end of their compulsory education have acquired the knowledge and skills that are essential for full participation in modern societies,” the PISA website said.
“The assessment focuses on the core school subjects of reading, mathematics, and science. Students’ proficiency in an innovative domain is also assessed; in 2022, this domain was creative thinking,” PISA explained. “The assessment does not just ascertain whether students can reproduce knowledge; it also examines how well students can extrapolate from what they have learned and can apply that knowledge in unfamiliar settings, both in and outside of school.”
Such approach, PISA said, “reflects the fact that modern economies reward individuals not for what they know, but for what they can do with what they know.”
Just how dismal is our dismal performance in the latest assessment?
In mathematics, only 16 percent (a far cry from the 69 percent average across OECD countries) of Filipino students assessed attained at least Level 2 proficiency. At a minimum, PISA said, “these students can interpret and recognize, without direct instructions, how a simple situation can be represented mathematically (e.g. comparing the total distance across alternative routes, or converting prices into a different currency).”
In reading, 24 percent (again, quite far from the OECD average of 74 percent) of Filipino students attained Level 2 or higher which enables them to “identify the main idea in a text of moderate length, find information based on explicit, though sometimes complex criteria, and can reflect on the purpose and form of texts when explicitly directed to so.”
As for science, 23 percent (OECD average is 76 percent) of students in the Philippines attained Level 2 or higher. “At a minimum, these students can recognize the correct explanation for familiar scientific phenomena and can use such knowledge to identify, in simple cases, whether a conclusion is valid based on the data provided,” PISA said.
Indeed, no significant difference can be seen between the 2022 PISA and 2018 PISA wherein the Philippines ranked lowest in reading literacy among 79 countries, and second to lowest in mathematics and science.
Our dismal performance in both isn’t surprising, gauging from data over the years indicating poor quality of education here. In 2014, a study of the Philippine Business for Education (PBED) revealed that a general aptitude test among college freshmen, mostly graduates of public schools, “found that only three percent were ready for college.”
“Most were entering college with only Grade IV to V reading and math competencies. Overall mean percentage score of fourth year high school students in DepEd’s 2011-2012 National Achievement Tests was 48.9, when the goal was a score of 75. The scores were 46.37 and 40.53 for mathematics and science, respectively. These are all evidence of a weak basic education system,” PBED said.
There’s also the World Bank (WB) report last year which pegged the Philippines’ rate of learning poverty – or being unable to read and understand a short, age-appropriate text by age 10 – at an astonishing 91 percent of Filipino children.
Could teacher/teaching quality be the culprit? It seems so, gauging from another WB report titled “Fixing the Foundation: Teachers and Basic Education in East Asia and Pacific” released last September.
“Only seven percent or less of teachers in Mongolia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and the poorer provinces in Guangdong, China, demonstrate highly effective practices, while more than two-thirds use ineffective or weak practices. Weak teaching practices translate into poorer learning outcomes,” the WB said.
Strengthening the teacher’s subject knowledge and pedagogical skills is vital. “In the Philippines, the average elementary or high school teacher in 2015 could answer fewer than half of the questions on subject content tests correctly,” the WB said, citing its earlier study in 2016.
Also, attracting and selecting more effective teachers is essential to strengthen quality and effectiveness of teaching. The WB cites Asian countries where competitive pay – equal or higher than the national average salary of civil servants – makes teaching attractive. As to rigorous selection, it cited South Korea where only the top 10 percent of high school graduates are admitted to teacher education programs.
Another factor that explains the poor performance of Filipino students is malnutrition in its various forms. It’s the elephant in the room. UNICEF Philippines said that stunting in the first 1,000 days is associated with poorer performance in school because malnutrition affects brain development, and malnourished children are more likely to get sick and miss classes.
Improving teaching quality and intensifying efforts to fight malnutrition would go a long way in uplifting the plight of Filipino students. (finding.lina@yahoo.com)