SERA Connects: What can the PISA assessments tell us about Scottish Education?
Channel: SERA - Scottish Educational Research Association
Date: 2024-01-19

PISA results create headlines across the world when they are published every three years, with each of the 81 countries looking at what the data can tell them about their education system and how it compares with others. The assessment is perhaps the biggest of its kind, and one of the largest international pieces of social research, involving almost 700,000 students worldwide. 
 
Coverage of the results focuses on the headline scores for each country in maths, reading and science. However, there is much more to PISA data. Students complete a questionnaire on their home life, experiences of school, views on education, perception of themselves and their peers, their wellbeing, their socio-economic status, and their hopes for the future. Headteachers also complete a questionnaire on the factors and policies that influence the provision of learning in their school. PISA therefore represents a powerful dataset that links attainment and wellbeing, with a range of school and student factors, both in Scotland and internationally. PISA data can also be linked to administrative education datasets, such as SQA results or the Health and Wellbeing Census, for further analysis. 
 
The PISA data for each country can be downloaded directly from the OECD website by researchers for analysis. However, in Scotland and internationally, PISA data is underutilised in secondary analysis. In this session, Scottish Government analysts will provide an overview of the PISA data, how it can be utilised, and discuss how analysis of the data can be promoted in educational research in Scotland.