Misreading understanding has Colombia at the background of the PISA Tests: What to do?
The results of the Pisa 2018 tests evidenced some shortcomings of the Colombian educational system, mainly in the area of critical reading and comprehension, where Colombia deteriorated significantly. Several experts and academics give their opinion on what the country has failed and what must be done to improve.
In 2015, Colombia obtained 425 points in the reading test, however, in 2018 there was a significant decline, obtaining 412 points. Photo: cc
This Tuesday the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) delivered the results of the PISA 2018 tests, which generated a lot of expectation because in the last edition, of 2015, Colombia registered a significant improvement in each of the evaluated competencies ( math, science, and reading).
The nearly 8,000 15-year-old Colombian students who took the test between April and May 2018 obtained a lower performance than the OECD average, as in 2015, but their reading scores decreased (412 points compared to 425 in 2015 ) and science (413 points compared to 415 in 2015). Meanwhile, in mathematics there was a barely minimal advance, going from 390 points in the last edition to 391 in the most recent one.
Among the 37 member countries, Colombia ranked as the one with the lowest results, and according to the report presented, the performance of Colombian students is only equated with those obtained by Albania, North Macedonia and Qatar, nations that do not belong to the OECD.
This panorama has elicited different reactions and interpretations from experts and academics, while some, such as the director of postgraduate courses in Economics from Javeriana, Luz Karime Abadía, point out that “the positive trend cannot be ignored since Colombia first presented the tests Pisa in 2006 despite the latest results where progress could not be continued ”; others like the pedagogue Julián de Zubiría consider that the results are very bad.
“Colombia did very badly in the tests because it is in the queue and does not advance and even worse, in the case of reading, a fundamental competition, it falls back to the levels of 2006. The situation continues to be really worrying, because we are also we stagnate in science and mathematics, "said the expert.
De Zubiría believes that Colombia's poor performance can be easily explained, since in the country we continue with a memory education and an impertinent and fragmented curriculum. For this reason, it considers that language teaching should be the cross-cutting axis of basic and secondary education in the country.
“The Government has not understood that in order to improve critical reading, the country has to go from working in language to working in reading skills, instead of emphasizing grammar and spelling as up to now, it must move to communicative skills. Instead of believing that language is improved with a class, it should be understood as a transversal competence that takes into account all subjects, ”added De Zubiría.
In this sense, the renowned pedagogue specified that the stagnation in science and mathematics is also related to reading competence, as he points out that these shortcomings make students not understand the problems in other areas: “Whoever reads very badly, misunderstands a problem in math or another subject. We continue with a fragmented curriculum that is limited to the informative ”.
The Javeriana expert agreed that the educational model is not in accordance with current needs, emphasizing that the rise of new technologies should be taken advantage of to catch the attention of students: "One of the factors that is lacking in the system educational is that you have a very traditional teaching and learning methodology, when contemporary challenges and the ways of student learning have changed a lot. We cannot continue with that master class where the teacher teaches and continues regardless of whether there are students who do not understand ”.
Abadía argued that Colombia has not opted for educational innovation making use of the facilities offered by ICT, with the exception of some private initiatives, but that official institutions need to bet on that, since 80% of students from the country attend schools of this type.
For her part, the Minister of Education, María Victoria Angulo, pointed out that the results of Colombia in Pisa are an input that must be taken into account in order to work on improving education.
“It is important that the results of the Pisa are used as a tool that adds to the information of the national tests and the evaluation in each of the educational institutions, to guide the efforts of the different actors involved in the educational process in benefit from the constant improvement of education in the country, ”said Angulo.
What to do to improve?
The big question that arises after the disappointing results of the Pisa 2018 is what should be done in the educational system to improve the country's performance in the tests that Colombian students will take in the first semester of 2020 and whose results will be delivered in 2021.
In that sense, Félix Antonio Gómez, dean of the Faculty of Education at the Javeriana University, pointed out that a fundamental aspect on which the Government should focus is on teacher training.
"Teacher training in the country has to continue to be strengthened together with working conditions. We need, as is the case in Finland and other countries, to attract the best graduates of the schools so that they are trained and become trainers, but we have to make this an attractive profession, not only from the academic point of view, but also from the conditions economic, "he said.
Julián de Zubiría agrees with Gómez's approach, since he assures that “if the teachers are not trained, they will not have the skills or knowledge to transmit to the students. If teachers don't read critically, students won't read either.
In addition to this, the pedagogue adds that it is necessary to bet on investment in initial education and in improving the environment in classrooms: “Contrary to what is believed, the results are closely associated with the classroom climate and a country that still he lives in war, as intolerant as ours, he has a very negative classroom climate ”.
Regarding the possibility of adopting educational models from countries with better results, the dean of the Javeriana Faculty of Education explained that although they may be successful in one place, they do not guarantee that it will be successful in another country: “You have to take into account that Any mechanism for improving the knowledge or skills of the person must take into account the context in which it is to be applied; We cannot copy another model exactly, but there are generalities that can be adapted (...) There are interesting things in the mathematical model of Singapore, also in what Finland and other countries are applying, and others that would not be desirable or applicable for Colombia ”.
Finally, the Minister of Education assured that to improve “it is key to team up with the territorial entities, educational directors, teachers, students, families, the educational community in general and other sectors of society to continue contributing to the closing of gaps and construction of an educational model based on quality and on the learning of our children and young people ".