El impacto de PISA en la sociedad española

Abstract

Introduction. Over time, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has been established as one of the benchmark tests for measuring student performance in reading, mathematics and science literacy, as well as an excellent indicator of the quality of education systems. In this sense, one of the purposes of PISA is to use performance results and contextual data to guide education policy and decision-making. Aim. This doctoral thesis focuses on analysing the impact that PISA has on the Spanish social and educational system in three areas: public opinion, measured through the news published in the press; scientific research, through research articles using Spanish PISA data; and Secondary Education teachers as a party involved in the results. Methodology. The thesis follows a mixed methods research approach that involves both qualitative and quantitative research designs in studies 1 and 2, as well as a qualitative design in study 3. The first study analyses the impact of PISA in media through the analysis of 778 news published in the daily El País. The second study conducted a bibliometric analysis of 119 scientific articles that have used Spanish PISA data as the basis for their research. Those articles were included in Eric, Scopus and Web of Science databases between 2002 and 2019. Finally, in the third study, interviews were conducted with 13 Secondary Education teachers to find out their opinions about PISA and the impact of its results on their teaching performance. Conclusions. It has been observed that the impact of PISA has been growing year by year although not at the same rate in the different settings. Thus, since the publication of the first results, there has been an upward trend in the number of news published in the press since 2001, although since PISA 2006 the number of news has stabilised; while in the scientific field, although it took more years to have an impact, the data provided by PISA are increasingly used as a basis for research and the generation of new knowledge, with interest not only in education journals, but also in other branches of the Social Sciences, Engineering or the Arts and Humanities. Finally, concerning the skills assessed by PISA, it has been observed that reading, ahead of mathematical and scientific skills, is the one that has aroused the greatest interest both in the media and in research. In contrast, the PISA results have had little impact on teachers, both at the individual level for their professional performance and school planning. Therefore, it is important to 8 continue analysing whether the Spanish results have served to guide educational policies, this being one of the main objectives of PISA.