Agnieszka Chłoń-Domińczak Michał Federowicz How did educational reforms in Poland lead to significant progress in PISA ?

Educational reforms and international assessment The first cycle of PISA programme coincided with the reforms of the Buzek government (1998/1999), which added the significance of PISA results for Poland (PISA 2000 examined the previous system of education; PISA 2003 and later – the new one) In the next cycles PISA has been used to strengthen the debate on the quality of upper-secondary education and contributed to the education policy-making. The international large-scale assessments are increasingly used to strengthen national research capacity and are adapted to address main policy challenges by including additional research questions, using longitudinal design and extending the scope of studies.

PISA trends in Poland improvement of competences – especially in reading significant reduction of low achievers reduction of differences between schools in students’ achievements

Reading Mathematics Science Pisa trends

Share of low achievers in the EU and Poland Mathematics 14,4% Science 9,0% Reading 10,6%

Poland has became actively involved in the international large-scale asssessment studies. The results of these studies play increasingly important role in education debates.

Changes in the system of education Gradual decentralization (completed in 1999) – schools are run by municipalities and counties Changes to the school structure (1999) Substantial school autonomy Introduction of external exams (since 1999) Changes in core curricula (2008, implemented in ) Changes in curricula of vocational schools (2011, implemented in ) Changes in the higher education (growing autonomy, growth of private sector, implementation of Bologna process – two-cycle system) Reform of the higher education system (2010)

The reform of the educational system of the Buzek government Comprehensive reforms of educational system of 1998 (accompanied by the administration reform): transfer of schools to local government together with financial resources for their management change of the structure of school system (6+3+3 instead of 8+4) rationalization of school network, especially in rural areas reform of core curricula reform of the assessment framework, including the introduction of external examinations system (first administered in 2002) new system of teachers’ career promotion and remuneration system incentives for broad participation of teachers’ professional training

ISCED 0 ISCED 1 ISCED 2 ISCED 3 ISCED ISCED 0 ISCED 1-2 ISCED 3 ISCED PRIMARY SCHOOL LOWER SECONDARYPRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION UPPER SECONDARY GENERAL UPPER SECONDARY VOCATIONAL SCHOOL BASIC VOCATIONAL SCHOOL PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION Previous structure of school system (PISA 2000) New structure of school system (since PISA 2003) PRIMARY SCHOOL UPPER SECONDARY VOCATIONAL SCHOOL BASIC VOCATIONAL SCHOOL UPPER SECONDARY GENERAL Changes introduced from1999: introduction of the new school type ‒ ISCED 2 and extension of general (comprehensive) education by one year (related to 15-year-olds) Primary school external exam Lower secondary school exam Matura exam Vocational qualifications’ exams general education extended by one year

The extension of general education was backed by growing educational aspirations, reflected in the choices of students and changing structure of upper-secondary schools. First-grade students in (upper)secondary schools by type of school (school years 1970/ /11 )

Changes in between- school variance of student performance Between school variance of student performance shows to what extent the choice of the school is a decision that affects the life chances of the child. Between 2000 and 2009 Poland reduced its total variation in PISA reading performance of 15 years’ olds by 20%. Between-school variance was reduced substantially and since 2003 is well below OECD average. „Scandinavian” systems: Finland – 9% Norway – 10% Iceland – 14% Sweden – 18% Poland 19% Central European systems: Germany – 60% Slovenia – 57% Austria – 56% Hungary – 46% Slovak Republic – 40%

Between-school variation of student performance (PISA reading scale) Since 2006, in addition to international study of 15 years’olds, PISA test is also administered among older students. Results show, that upper-secondary to a large extent resemble schools attended by 15 years olds’ in the year 2000.

Substantial between-school variance in upper-secondary schools results mainly from the variation between types of schools

Despite the overall improvement in performance after 2000 the differences between three major types of schools remain substantial.

New core curriculum 2008 Core curriculum extends the general comprehensive education to the first grade of upper-secondary schools (as a secod-best solution to yet another change of the school structure) Core curriculum defines learning outcomes for each stage of education. For every school subject, they consist of two types of requirements: specifc – defined in a form of „can do” statements general – which define overall goals of education and emphasizes the importance of development of complex skills, such as critical thinking, argumentation and reasoning skills Core curriculum includes only general directions on the curriculum and learning environment and does not prescribe specific content of instruction.

Structure of the core curriculum for general education (1999, 2009) ISCED 0 ISCED 1 ISCED 2 ISCED UPPER SECONDARY GENERAL PRIMARY SCHOOL LOWER SECONADARY PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION UPPER SECONDARY VOCATIONAL SCHOOL BASIC VOCATIONAL SCHOOL Pre-primary Primary: stage I Primary: stage II Lower- secondary: stage III Upper-secondary: stage IV -basic -extended Comprehensive general education before 1999 since 1999 since 2009 Comprehensive general education

TIME AND WORKING CONDITIONS OF TEACHERS

Digital era in Poland Access to 15 year-olds to Internet

Results of IEA Teacher Education and Development Study – Mathematics 2008 (TEDS-M). Mathematics pedagogy content knowledge of future teachers (IEA TEDS-M 2008) generalist teachers: programs that prepare teachers for integrated teaching in first grades of primary school specialist teachers: programs that prepare teachers of mathematics in primary school Challenge beyond PISA: Weakness of mathematics education is early education in grades 1-3.

Challenge beyond PISA: PIAAC results for Poland

It's like pushing a bus - you have to push a long time before it moves” Professor Zbigniew Marciniak on reforming an education system