The background of the improvement of PISA results in

Hungary

Trends in Performance Since 2000International Launch of PISA 2009 Report

February 10th, 2011

Gábor Halász ELTE University Budapest

Preliminary remarks

• Significant improvement observed in the area of reading literacy

• Simultaneous impact of several factors (no single factor can explain the results)

• Some factors have been under conscious policy control while others not

• The result is the equilibrium of positive and negative effects (the positive effects could have produced more positive impact without the negative effects)

Policy interventions that might have had a positive impact

• Increasing awareness of the importance of literacy developmentin higher grades >>>

• Improving the education of the most disadvantaged groups (integration programs) >>>

• Curriculum innovation: developing classroom level activities >>>

• Creating effective feedback mechanisms >>>

A common element in all interventions

• Massive capacity building among teachers…

• typically embedded into school level curriculum innovation and

• supported by major national development programs

Important further remarks

• The way of organising learning has been changed in hundreds of classrooms (the observed improvement is the result of accumulated micro level changes)

• But the outcomes are still modest compared to the size of investments

• And the positive impacts have been counterbalanced by negative ones (e.g. increasing poverty in some social groups).

Recommended resources

• Biannual national reports for the European Commission. Monitoring the „Education and Training 2010” program(http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc1532_en.htm)

• Background documents for the comparative analysis „Key Competences in Europe: Opening Doors for Lifelong Learner”(http://ec.europa.eu/education/more-information/doc/keyreport_en.pdf )

• Hungary. Country Background Report. OECD Review on Evaluation and Assessment Frameworks for Improving School Outcomes. 2010

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