Infographic: Hopes for your child’s education

A national survey from Australian children’s charity The Smith Family has asked families about their hopes for their child’s school education. The top theme from responses was ‘good or improved academic achievement’, while 6% gave answers related to ‘affording resources and having access to opportunities’. Find out more in this infographic.https://research.acer.edu.au/teacher_graphics/1235/thumbnail.jp

PISA 2022. A closer look at mathematics in Australia

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international comparative study that assesses how well 15-year-olds, who have nearly completed compulsory schooling in most participating educational systems, can use their knowledge and skills to meet real-world opportunities and challenges. In each cycle of PISA, students are assessed in the domains of reading, mathematics and science. Each cycle has a domain that is the major focus and for which there is a higher proportion of questions than from the others. Mathematics was the major focus in the 2022 cycle. The mathematics assessment framework includes 2 mathematics subscales that reflect the complexity of mathematics. The content subscales (Change and relationships; Quantity; Space and shape; and Uncertainty and data) represent the core areas of mathematics knowledge that students encounter in educational curricula worldwide. The process subscales (Formulating situations mathematically; Employing mathematical concepts, facts and procedures; Interpreting, applying and evaluating mathematical outcomes; and, Mathematical reasoning) reflect the mental actions required for effective problem-solving in mathematics. This report presents the mathematics results on the content and process subscales for Australia as a whole, for the Australian states and territories and for the other groups in PISA 2022. This report also presents the results from the teacher questionnaire about the teaching of mathematics and explores the perspectives of teachers on the constructs of: goals and views about teaching mathematics; encouraging mathematical thinking; fostering reasoning; and, teaching of mathematical reasoning and 21st-century mathematics topics. Each construct examines the similarities and differences in teachers teaching of mathematics between countries, the Australian jurisdictions and different demographic groups. Similarly, the student questionnaire ascertains student perspectives about the constructs of: effort and persistence in mathematics; mathematics self-efficacy in mathematical reasoning and 21st-century mathematics topics; and, mathematics anxiety. The constructs present the similarities and differences in students\u27 attitudes and behaviours toward learning mathematics between countries, the Australian jurisdictions and different demographic groups

Infographic: PISA 2022 insights – Student-teacher relationships

One of the topics in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) student questionnaire is the quality of student-teacher relationships. This infographic looks at the responses of Australian students in the 2022 test cycle, by state and territory.https://research.acer.edu.au/teacher_graphics/1234/thumbnail.jp

Self-regulation: Skill development framework

This self-regulation skill development framework was developed to address the challenges associated with teaching and assessing self-regulation. It provides a general definition of self-regulation and describes this construct as it applies in classroom-based learning. This framework synthesises and harmonises existing theory and research on self-regulation. It outlines self-regulation processes along prescribed strands and aspects that are informed by evidence. The strands contained within the framework are 1. Cognitive regulating; 2. Behavioural regulating; and 3. Emotional regulating. The strands are further broken down into aspects to inform teaching and assessment

Pairwise Comparison Method Toolkit. A toolkit for countries to measure global learning outcomes.

This toolkit has been co-authored by the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Centre at the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics (UIS). ACER provides technical support to the UIS, which has been mandated to monitor the progress of countries towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) in education to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” (United Nations, 2021). The GEM Centre sponsors and contributes to public goods and activities that facilitate education systems reporting against SDG 4 in a globally consistent way. Consistent and high-quality monitoring of student learning will help systems understand the strengths they have and the challenges they face. Moreover, it provides evidence to inform the development of policies and practice to improve student learning. This toolkit has been developed to help support countries to align their assessment with global standards and report against SDG 4.1. The UIS has developed a menu of options to enable countries to report against SDG 4.1.1, of which the Pairwise Comparison Method (PCM) for measuring global learning outcomes is one

Snapshots issue 19: Confidence, gender and mathematics in PISA

Mathematical self-efficacy refers to an individual’s belief in their ability to successfully perform tasks and solve problems in mathematics. This Snapshot examines gender differences in mathematical self-efficacy and the levels of confidence that students feel in doing a range of formal and applied mathematics tasks. It also examines the extent to which exposure to these tasks influences their mathematical self-efficacy

Creative thinking: Skill development framework. 2nd edition

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has reviewed the extensive literature on creative thinking and developed both a definition and a framework that synthesises and harmonises existing theory and research on creative thinking. This framework has been developed to address the challenges associated with teaching and assessing creative thinking. It outlines creative thinking processes along prescribed strands and aspects informed by a sound evidentiary basis. The aspects contained within the framework are designed to provide foci for teaching and the basis of assessment. ACER’s creative thinking framework identifies key factors that underpin the development of creative thinking with a focus on observable skills and teachable creative thinking strategies. A main aim of this framework is to support the development of assessments that can be delivered in the classroom and support teachers in developing and evaluating students’ creative thinking skills

Collaboration: Skill development framework. 2nd edition

ACER\u27s skill development framework addresses the challenges associated with teaching and assessing collaboration. It is designed to synthesise and harmonise existing theory and research on collaboration to provide a holistic perspective. It outlines collaboration processes along prescribed strands and aspects that are informed by a sound evidence base. It is based on three strands: Building shared understanding; Collectively contributing; and Regulating the group

SDG 4.1.1 Minimum Proficiency Levels. Definition and blueprint for assessment

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 aims to ensure that, by 2030, “all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.” The primary indicator 4.1.1 concerns the proficiency of girls and boys in two learning areas (reading and mathematics) at three stages of education: at the end of lower primary, at the end of primary, and at the end of lower secondary. Large-scale learning assessments are essential tools to capture data on learning outcomes and to provide system-level evidence on education quality and equity. In the context of SDG 4, it is important that these data can also be used to monitor countries’ progress with achieving this goal – by reporting on SDG indicator 4.1.1 – the proportion of learners achieving at least a minimum proficiency level (MPL) in reading and mathematics at three stages of education. While the number of countries implementing large-scale learning assessments has increased substantially over the past two decades, these vary substantially in the assessed target population, learning areas, domains and constructs. In light of this, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics is supporting Ministries of Education, assessment agencies and organisations, education donors, partners and other stakeholders to use various national, regional and international large-scale assessments to report against SDG indicator 4.1.1. The UIS has specified a set of 7 key reporting criteria, each containing a set of technical requirements that assessments must meet to be eligible to report against SDG 4.1.11. This document has been created to support the application of reporting criterion 1 – Alignment to the MPL and construct validity, by providing a clear definition of the MPLs and a blueprint for each educational stage – a) at the end of lower primary (Grades 2/3), b) at the end of primary, and c) at the end of lower secondary

Education for Citizenship in Times of Global Challenge: IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2022 International Report

This open access book investigates the ways in which young people around the world are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens. It presents the international results from the third cycle of the study IEA’s International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS 2022). Based on data from 24 countries or benchmarking participants from Europe, Latin America, and Asia, ICCS 2022 studies contexts for and learning outcomes of civic and citizenship education in a wide range of national contexts at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st Century. It responds to both enduring and emerging challenges of educating young people in a world where contexts of democracy and civic participation continue to change. The study addresses issues related to young people’s engagement through digital technologies, migration and diversity, perceptions of the political system, global citizenship, and education for sustainable development. Further, it contains data that reflects civic-related aspects of recent developments such as students’ perceptions of restrictions in response to national emergencies and their trust in scientists