PISA – an option to learn from other countries‘ educational systems On PISA and German educational reforms within the past decade Seminar in Tallinn, 19 April 2012

Responsible bodies for School Education in Germany 16 Länder (Basic Law of 1949) Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany unites the ministers of the 16 Länder responsible for education, higher education and research and cultural affairs, founded in 1948, even before the Federal Republic of Germany was constituted, joined by the Länder in the territory of the former GDR due to the restoration of Germany's unity as a state on 3 October

Responsibility for the state as a whole by way of self- coordination and the necessary degree of common ground in education, science and cultural matters of supraregional importance –equivalence and comparability of certificates and final qualifications –safeguarding quality standards in schools, vocational training and higher education –promote cooperation among educational, scientific and cultural institutions In 1997 decision that quality assurance processes are central issue for work together with a comparison of performance within Germany Backing up of this decision by the PISA- study

In 1997 decision that quality assurance processes are central issue for work together with a comparison of performance within Germany Backing up of this decision by the PISA- study

PISA 2000 Results for Germany below average in reading, mathematics, science wide differences in performance between young people with and without a migrant background close link between social background and competence acquisition wide differences in the results of the 16 Länder (up to two school years)

Standing Conference identified seven areas of action in 2001: 1 improve linguistic competence already in early childhood education 2 strengthen the link between Kindergarten and primary school 3 improvement of primary education (reading literacy) 4 efficient support of educationally disadvantaged children, esp. migrant background 5 assure the quality of teaching on the basis of binding educational standards and result-oriented evaluation 6 improve professionalism in teaching, diagnostic and methodical competence 7 expand provision of all-day activities and care at school

Realization agreement on the aims similar measures (Länder-specific and/or cross-Länder), e.g. language development courses in Kindergarten, teacher training programmes strengthening of the autonomy of the individual school development of school-specific profiles based on internal and external evaluation →Paradigm shift towards a global strategy of educational monitoring

Comprehensive Strategy for educational monitoring of 2006: 1 Participation in international comparative studies of pupil achievement 2 Central review of the achievement of educational standards in a comparison between the Länder 3 Comparative studies within the Länder in order to review the efficiency of individual schools 4 Joint education reporting of the Federation and the Länder

1 Participation in international comparative studies of pupil achievement PIRLS, TIMSS in primary education PISA in secondary education Federation and Länder cooperate Aim: assessment of the performance of educational systems in international comparison and conclusion of recommendations

2 Central review of the achievement of educational standards in a comparison between the Länder from PISA 2000 till PISA 2006 by expansion of the sample of schools from 2009 onwards on the basis of national educational standards development of national educational standards started after the first PISA-study joint effort of experts from the Länder and scientists; (Institute for Educational Progress- IQB in Berlin) Bildungsstandards

by now binding standards for German and mathematics after grade 4, German, mathematics and first foreign language (English or French) after grade nine German, mathematics and first foreign language (English or French), biology, chemistry and physics after grade 10 work in progress: German, mathematics and first foreign language (English or French) for the Abitur examination

Standards are based on the areas of competence of the individual subject subject-specific competences including basic levels of knowledge at a certain stage of the school career principle of cumulative acquisition of competence description of expected levels of performance as part of requirement profiles illustration by examples for test questions First comparison between the Länder on the basis of national educational standards in 2009, results published in 2010, results for primary education in autumn Ländervergleichwww.iqb.hu-berlin.de

3 Comparative studies within the Länder in order to review the efficiency of individual schools twofold function of educational standards: examining competence development and developing teaching agreement of the Länder on annual comparative studies to investigate the performance levels of all schools and classes throughout a Land and in relation to grades comparative studies conducted for grades 3 and 8 in German, mathematics and the first foreign language (English or French) tests developed by the Institute for Educational Progress (scientists, teachers) tests administered by the teachers who get feedback → analysis of teaching methods, evaluation of school-specific measures no comparisons or rankings VERAwww.iqb.hu-berlin.de

4 Joint education reporting of the Federation and the Länder overview of the German education system from early education over general education schools, vocational training and higher education institutions, up to continuing education, including informal learning (“Education in the course of life”) verified data, framework conditions, results and gains of educational processes published every two years realized by an independent scientific consortium together with the Statistical Offices of the Federation and the Länder

“Outcome” after ten years of work PISA at the beginning of a comprehensive process of reform positive results: in PISA 2009 Germany among those (few) countries that have seen continuous progress in the results for all the domains improved competences in reading, mathematics and science clear decline of the close link between social background and reading competence improvement of the results of pupils with a migration background

Remaining challenges further improvement of lesson quality (importance of teacher education with a solid subject-related and didactic foundation) special focus on targeted individual support increase the comparability of the educational systems in the 16 Länder (role of the educational standards) strengthen the links between the various educational sectors (Kindergarten – primary school; primary school – secondary level; secondary level – vocational training or university) to reach the aim of equity and excellence