PISA 2023 ranking: students' level drops significantly in maths

“PISA ranking 2023: the level of students drops considerably in maths”

The release of the PISA 2023 ranking is a real blow for France. The level of students has clearly deteriorated, particularly in mathematics and in comprehension of writing.

The release of the PISA 2023 ranking was eagerly awaited this Tuesday, December 5. Unfortunately, the news is not good for France. She finishes à 23rd place in this ranking and falls heavily in mathematics. À Globally, the ranking results show a significant and widespread decline post-covid-19 crisis.

As a reminder this éstudy &agrave consult in its entirety on the OECD website, evaluates students on several tests. understanding of writing, then followed by the mathematical culture test, the scientific culture test and finally a thinking exercise. creative. This year, 85 countries were part of the adventure with no less than 8,000 students drawn at random. In France, 355 establishments were affected.

France's results are bad

France is not a good student. It is in the average for OECD countries, with 474 points in mathematics, below the average,    480 points; 474 points in reading comprehension while the average is at 500 points. 482 points; 487 points in scientific culture points while the average is   491 points.

We must remember from the Pisa 2023 ranking (called 2022 because the study reports the results of last year in r& (eacute;eality) this: the overall results are declining, in particular due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Only three countries manage to achieve this. do better than in 2019: Singapore, Japan, South Korea. All others have worse results.

But France's results are particularly bad, with a tendency to worsen. the decline even more marked. France ranks à 23rd place in the ranking, while it is 7th world power. The results are especially in decline in mathematics for 15-year-old students. "In mathematics, the sharp decline observed& in France between 2018 and 2022 is the largest observed since the first PISA study ;nbsp;2000, with a drop of 21 points, compared to a drop of 15 points for the average, notes the OECD.

The complete PISA 2023 ranking

© PISA – OECD

A drop in the level already observed

For each edition, one of these themes is chosen to be the major subject of the edition, for 2022 if necessary. deals with mathematics. In 2012, mathematics was also the major in publishing and France was in the average of OECD countries. A drop in level whereas it was above average in 2003. Other studies have also looked into the question of the level of mathematics of students in France. In particular "The'ÉState of the'éschool" published in 2022 by the statistical service of the Ministry of Education which declares: for thirty years, a very significant drop in the average level and an increase in inequality. In parallel with the publication of the PISA ranking, the Minister of Education, Gabriel Attal, is expected to unveil this Tuesday, December 5, a series of results. a series of measures to raise academic standards. 

The last edition of the PISA ranking dates back to 2008. 2019 (with an interruption due to Covid). France was then placed 23rd out of the 79 countries assessed. Published in December 2019, the latest edition this time focused on the comprehension of writing, où France obtained a score of 493 points, slightly above the average of 487 points for OECD countries.

On average, France was situated within the OECD average but the study clearly showed this # 39; importance of the social origin of students in their results. The public life site takes up a conclusion from the report according to which "the level à The description of the 10% of students from the richest families is equivalent to an advance of approximately three school years compared to the poorest 10% of students. This level covers tests carried out in 2018 and not in 2019. See the full Pisa 2019 rankings

Learn more

PISA assesses the skills of 600,000 15-year-old students in three domains: understanding of understanding and understanding of language. writing, mathematical culture and scientific culture. The quality The quality of this survey is recognized and its results are, every three years since its creation in 2000, closely scrutinized by the ministries of Education. PISA can still be the subject of criticism: survey not representative enough (a little over 6,000) (only students are tested in France), disparity in the educational systems of the countries which distort the ranking…

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The PISA program, more often called "PISA ranking", owes its acronym à "Program for International Student Assessment" This set of studies carried out by the OECD, the Organization for Co-operation and Development & Economical, is designed to measure the performance of educational systems within countries, in a standardized manner and in a timely manner. large scale. The survey is published every three years after having been completed. carried out with tens of thousands of adolescents aged 15. It is carried out in the 34 OECD member countries, but also in a large number of partner countries. The first PISA survey dates from 2001.

More concretely, PISA measures the knowledge and skills acquired by young people from the four corners of the planet and the performance of educational systems. educational resources of countries as understood by the OECD. With the slogan: What 15-year-old students know and what they can do with what they have ;#39;they know. 

The PISA survey is not the only educational survey available give rise to à a ranking (on this subject, see our ranking of high schools or even the famous ranking of Shanghai special universities).& ;nbsp;But relayed by media around the world and the result of extensive tests. large-scale on the ground, it has maintained a strong impact since its creation almost 20 years ago. Its conclusions are intensely taken up by the national press, which does not hesitate to respond. label misclassified participants as "dunces" or &agrav; suspect their students of being “idiots”. The ranking of participating countries also attracts the attention of teachers or education specialists, divided between its usefulness and its usefulness. and its potential deviations. The very important part given to sciences in the ranking is, for example, criticized. However, most at least agree to recognize the beneficial effects of the media exposure of the PISA ranking: it encourages powers and public opinions &agrav; take a closer look at how their educational systems work. And &agrav; ask yourself the question of their effectiveness.

The PISA ranking entitledé "Pisa Ranking 2018" was é published in December 2019. The main subject tested this time was completed in December 2019. reading. More than half a million students took part in 2018. two-hour tests, with the concrete objective of determining what 15-year-old students know and what they can do with what they know. France is ranked 23rd. Here is the full ranking: 

Concretely, the three-year PISA survey consists of: have students from each participating country complete a background questionnaire by type of assessment. Three subjects are tested Students: reading, maths and science. The selected schoolchildren are between 4 and 500 students. and 10,000 per country   floor on each of the tests. Their selection is done in a very particular way, via a random sample of educational establishments ( whether public or private) as well as on the criterion of age: 15 years +3 years; month &agrav; 16 years +2 months when the assessment begins. It is therefore not the class in which they study which determines the choice of the "guinea pigs".

Then, the selected students are subjected to testing. written tests with either open questions or open-ended questions multiple choice. However, it is not a question of ticking off without thinking:  "The most complex tasks of the   PISA evidence asks students to think about what they think about. what they read and evaluate it, not just respond to what they read questions to which there is only one correct answer, remind the organizers.

For open questions, students must even argue. The tests last two hours in total for each element ;ve, specifies the OECD. The situations described in the questionnaires are inspired by the real world.

Tests of reading, mathematical culture or even scientific culture… "Rather than mastery of a specific school program, PISA tests students'aptitude to apply acquired knowledge à “school to real-life situations”, the official website further specifies. It is therefore skills rather than knowledge that are scrutinized. But that's not all. The approach to learning through learning involves the student himself or his social, economic, and educational environment. mographic and academic are also the subject of a contextual questionnaire. &agrav; fill in half an hour. These factors are indeed potentially à origin of the performance of the students tested and can determine their learning potential over the course of their lives.

Finally, a questionnaire completed by the principals allows à PISA integrates into its classification criteria the particular way in which each school is organized. Also note: each triennial assessment focuses on a particular skill. As for the development of the questionnaire, an international consortium is working hand in hand with the national project directors. It is also this Consortium which, once the responses have been collected, communicates the results to the OECD Secretariat – project manager – as well as to the Committee director of PISA.