1. Melbourne Education Research Institute 1 Education: an international perspective Barry McGaw Director University of Melbourne Education Research Institute Moonee Valley, 27 January 2009 Principal Forum Western Metropolitan Region

2. Melbourne Education Research Institute 2 Australian educational quality in an international context.

3. Melbourne Education Research Institute 3 Mean reading results (PISA 2000) Australia tied for 2 nd with 8 others among 42 countries. OECD (2003), Literacy skills for the world of tomorrow: Further results from PISA 2000, Fig. 2.5, p.76.

4. Melbourne Education Research Institute 4 Australia’s ranking in OECD/PISA Reading  Reading ranks  PISA 2000: 4 th but tied for 2 nd  PISA 2003: 4 th but tied for 2 nd  PISA 2006: 7 th but tied for 6 th Finland Korea Canada NZ Hong Kong Korea Canada NZ Hong Kong Finland PISA 2000 PISA 2003 PISA 2006 Ahead of Australia Same as Australia Behind Australia Finland Korea Canada NZ Hong Kong

5. Melbourne Education Research Institute 5 Trends in reading performance Australia Finland Hong Kong China Canada New Zealand Korea Higher performers in Korea improved. Lower performers in HK improved. OECD (2007), PISA 2006: science competencies for tomorrow’s world, Vol. 1 - analysis, Fig. 6.21, p.319. Changes for Finland, Canada & New Zealand are not significant.

6. Melbourne Education Research Institute 6 Trends in Australian reading performances 95 th %ile OECD (2007), PISA 2006: science competencies for tomorrow’s world, Vol. 1 - analysis, Fig. 6.21, p.319. 5 th %ile 90 th %ile 10 th %ile 75 th %ile 25 th %ile Mean

7. Melbourne Education Research Institute 7 Australia’s ranking in OECD/PISA Mathematics  Mathematics ranks  PISA 2000: 6 th but tied for 3 rd  PISA 2003: 11 th but tied for 5 th  PISA 2006: 13 th but tied for 9 th Taiwan Finland Hong Kong Korea Netherlands Switzerland Canada Macao PISA 2000 PISA 2003 PISA 2006 Ahead of Australia Hong Kong Japan Finland Korea Switzerland Canada Finland Hong Kong Korea Netherlands Switzerland Canada Macao Japan Same as Australia Japan

8. Melbourne Education Research Institute 8 Trends in Australian mathematics performances 95 th %ile OECD (2007), PISA 2006: science competencies for tomorrow’s world, Vol. 1 - analysis, Fig. 6.21, p.319. 5 th %ile 90 th %ile 10 th %ile 75 th %ile 25 th %ile Mean

9. Melbourne Education Research Institute 9 Trends in State/Territory mathematics performances ACT Tasmania WA Australia NT The small overall decline in Australia was not significant. The declines in WA and SA were. There were no significant changes for males but there were significant declines for females in WA, NT and in Australia overall. OECD (2007) PISA 2006: science competencies for tomorrow’s world, Vol. 1 - analysis, Fig. 6.21, p.319. Victoria ACER (2007) Exploring scientific literacy: how Australia measures up, Table 5.5, p.176. SA Queensland NSW

10. Melbourne Education Research Institute 10 Australia’s ranking in OECD/PISA Science  Science ranks  PISA 2000: 8 th but tied for 3 rd  PISA 2003: 6 th but tied for 4 th  PISA 2006: 8 th but tied for 4 th Finland Hong Kong Canada PISA 2000 PISA 2003 PISA 2006 Ahead of Australia Same as Australia Hong Kong Canada Finland Japan Korea Japan Korea Finland Hong Kong Canada Japan Korea

11. Melbourne Education Research Institute 11 Australian educational equity in an international context.

12. Melbourne Education Research Institute 12 Inequity as failure to complete secondary education or its equivalent…

13. Melbourne Education Research Institute 13 Percent of age group with upper secondary education 18 th 1 st 23 rd 6 th 10 th 1 st 10 th 4 th 19 th 3 rd Source: OECD (2007) Education at Glance 2007. Table A1.2a, p.37. 25-34 year olds (1990s) 55-64 year olds (1960s)

14. Melbourne Education Research Institute 14 Inequity as impact of social background on individual performances…

15. Melbourne Education Research Institute 15 Social background & reading literacy (PISA 2000) Social Advantage PISA Index of social background High Reading literacy Low Source: OECD (2001) Knowledge and skills for life, Appendix B1, Table 8.1, p.308 Two indices of relationship: Social gradient Correlation or variance accounted for Social gradient: Magnitude of increment in achievement associated with an increment in social background (on average) Correlation: How well the regression line summarises the relationship

16. Melbourne Education Research Institute 16 Social gradients for science literacy (PISA 2006) OECD (2007) PISA 2006: science competencies for tomorrow’s world, Vol 1 – analysis, Figure 4.6, p.184. High quality Low equity High quality High equity Low quality Low equity Low quality High equity

17. Melbourne Education Research Institute 17 SES-science literacy correlations (PISA 2006) OECD (2007) PISA 2006: science competencies for tomorrow’s world, Vol 1 – analysis, Figure 4.6, p.184. High quality Low equity High quality High equity Low quality Low equity Low quality High equity

18. Melbourne Education Research Institute 18 Agenda: Building human and social capital

19. Melbourne Education Research Institute 19 Building human capital…

20. Melbourne Education Research Institute 20 Building human capital – improving quality  Raising expectations for all students  Setting high expectation in the curriculum  Intervening early with support for students in difficulty  Improving evidence base for professional practice  Building research orientation in the profession  Respecting and using data on performance  Capitalising on the benefits of being in a system

21. Melbourne Education Research Institute 21 PISA score in science Influences on achievement (PISA science)

22. Melbourne Education Research Institute 22 Building social capital…

23. Melbourne Education Research Institute 23 Social capital  Definition  social networks (and norms of reciprocity and trust)  Impact  improved development of human capital  lower crime rates, better public health & admin…  more efficient capital and labour markets  Forms of social capital  Bonding: links between people similar in class, ethnicity…  Bridging: links that cut across social groups  Linking: vertical links to powerful people, institutions, agencies

24. Melbourne Education Research Institute 24 Contact bmcgaw@unimelb.edu.au Thank-you