01-01-2021
31-12-2024
Equity has been and continues to be a significant challenge for educational systems worldwide. Since its inception in 2000, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) aims to provide countries and policymakers with high-quality and comparable information and analyses about educational systems to support decision-making processes.
This project revolves around three broad and interconnected objectives, all related to the relationship between equity and countries' participation in PISA. The first objective is based on the fact that, 20 years after the first wave of PISA, the literature still needs to address a crucial question: have countries improved their equity levels since participating in PISA? Additionally, is it possible to identify dimensions related to improvements or systematic aggravations of equity?
Addressing these questions constitutes the first objective of this project. We propose to achieve this by analysing the longitudinal evolution of the equity indicator used by PISA in countries: the proportion of performance variation that can be explained by each student's economic, social, and cultural background (ESCS). This will allow an assessment of how countries incorporate the results and lessons from PISA to improve their equity and identify countries (if any) that have been more (or less) successful in reducing the proportion of performance explained by students' ESCS. Thus, we aim to identify significant predictors of changes in countries' equity levels within the framework of existing variables.
The second objective seeks to leverage the robustness of PISA assessments and samples to measure the impact of policies aimed at increasing equity in Portugal. The importance of this exercise is fundamental given that, in the Portuguese context, the effectiveness of equity policies is rarely (or never) longitudinally evaluated through objective data, as evidenced by the absence of such evaluations regarding the national compensatory education program (TEIP), which is the most comprehensive program aimed at improving equity. Through document analysis, literature review, and consultations with experts through interviews and/or focus groups, we hope to comprehensively map equity policies implemented in the Portuguese educational context and their expected impacts. Confronting this expected impact with the actual change in equity levels over the last 20 years (using PISA analysis for Portugal) provides an invaluable opportunity to assess and discuss the effectiveness of equity policies.
The third objective arises from the recognition that the global circulation of PISA results is mediated by processes of selection, reinterpretation, and recontextualization by key actors who ultimately reshape existing discourses about PISA in the public sphere. Therefore, another objective of this project is to understand how PISA and its impact on equity are understood and (re)interpreted by critical stakeholders such as policymakers, the scientific community, and the media (both traditional and social). To achieve this objective, we will first interview experts in equity and/or PISA (individually or through focus groups), exploring their perceptions of the importance (or lack of importance) of PISA for promoting equity, as well as the mechanisms by which PISA operates and affects the educational field. Additionally, we propose to analyse how news about PISA and equity has been framed and discussed in social and traditional media (in Portuguese), mapping the perspectives and discourses circulating in them. It will provide an additional layer of knowledge about how PISA affects and is used in debates about educational equity.
Societies can only remain democratic and just if they can free themselves from their inequalities. We believe that this project can contribute tangibly to our understanding of the evolution of educational equity. In doing so, it will strengthen a core value of our democracies.
The research team consists of: Gil Nata (PI), Tiago Neves (Co-PI), Sofia Marques da Silva, Rui Trindade, Joana Cadima, Ekaterina Enchikova (research fellow), Cibelle Soares Toledo (research assistant).
PROJECT OUTPUTS
Publications
Enchikova, Ekaterina, Neves, Tiago, Toledo, Cibelle, & Nata, Gil (2024). Change in socioeconomic educational equity after 20 years of PISA: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 7, 100359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2024.100359
Nata, Gil, Enchikova, Ekaterina, Toledo, Cibelle, & Neves, Tiago (2023). PISA and equity change: a scoping review. Revista Lusofona de Educacao, 56(56), 65–80. https://doi.org/10.24140/issn.1645-7250.rle56.05
Enchikova, Ekaterina, Toledo, Cibelle, Neves, Tiago, & Nata, Gil (2022). Does PISA Help Fighting for Social Equity?. In S. Vachkova, & S. S. Chiang (Eds.), Education and City: Quality Education for Modern Cities, vol 3. European Proceedings of Educational Sciences (pp. 80-89). European Publisher. https://doi.org/10.15405/epes.22043.8
Participation in Congress/Seminar
National
Nata, Gil & Neves, Tiago (2024). O PISA e a equidade educativa. [Oral presentation]. Seminário do CIIE “Educação, justiça social, Democracia”, Porto, Portugal.
Nata, Gil & Neves, Tiago (2024). Equidade e sua relação com o PISA [Oral presentation]. PISA 2022. Discursos, verdade dos números e mudanças pós-pandemia na educação, Lisbon, Portugal.
Toledo, Cibelle, Trindade, Rui, Neves, Tiago, Enchikova, Ekaterina & Nata, Gil (2023). Políticas educativas portuguesas destinadas a mitigar as desigualdades socioeconómicas: um levantamento das legislações e orientações políticas. [Oral presentation]. XIV Seminário Internacional do Programa Doutoral em Ciências da Educação, Porto, Portugal.
Toledo, Cibelle, Nata, Gil, Enchikova, Ekaterina & Neves, Tiago (2022). Discursos sobre o impacto do PISA na equidade socioeducativa: uma “scoping review”. [Oral presentation]. XIV Seminário Internacional do Programa Doutoral em Ciências da Educação, Porto, Portugal.
International
Enchikova, Ekaterina, Nata, Gil, Toledo, Cibelle & Neves,Tiago (2024). Change in equality of opportunity in education over 20 years of PISA [Poster presentation]. 18th International Technology, Education and Development Conference, Valencia, Spain.
Enchikova, Ekaterina, Nata, Gil, Toledo, Cibelle & Neves, Tiago (2024). Inequality of educational outcomes: a comparative review of national trends based on the 2000-2022 PISA [Oral presentation]. 18th International Technology, Education and Development Conference, Valencia, Spain.
Nata, Gil, Enchikova, Ekaterina; Toledo, Cibelle, & Neves, Tiago (2024). Assessing policy effectiveness through PISA: analysis on the relation between Portugal’s equity change and the implementation of equity policies (2000-2022) [Oral presentation]. 18th International Technology, Education and Development Conference, Valencia, Spain.
Nata, Gil, Enchikova, Ekaterina, Toledo, Cibelle, & Neves,Tiago (2024). Monitoring educational systems equity through PISA: the potential and limitations for a comprehensive assessment of socioeconomic equity [Oral presentation]. 18th International Technology, Education and Development Conference, Valencia, Spain.
Toledo, Cibelle, Neves,Tiago, Enchikova, Ekaterina, Trindade, Rui & Nata, Gil (2024). Exploring PISA's influence on socioeconomic equity in portuguese education [Oral presentation]. 18th International Technology, Education and Development Conference, Valencia, Spain.
Toledo, Cibelle, Neves,Tiago, Enchikova, Ekaterina, Trindade, Rui & Nata, Gil (2024). Socioeconomic equity policy in the portuguese education system: the perspectives of policymakers [Oral presentation]. 18th International Technology, Education and Development Conference, Valencia, Spain.
Enchikova, Ekaterina, Nata, Gil, Toledo, Cibelle & Neves,Tiago (2023). A Long Road to Educational Equity: Tracking Socioeconomic Trends Through 20 Years of PISA [Oral presentation]. 12th European Conference on Education, London, UK.
Toledo, Cibelle, Enchikova, Ekaterina, Neves, Tiago & Nata, Gil (2023). Discourses on PISA and Socio-Educational Equity Change: A Qualitative Systematic Review [Oral presentation]. 12th European Conference on Education, London, UK.
Enchikova, Ekaterina, Toledo, Cibelle, Neves, Tiago & Nata, Gil (2022). Does PISA Help Fighting for Social Equity? [Oral presentation]. Fourth Annual International Symposium "Education and City: Quality Education for Modern Cities", Moscow, Russia.
Media dissemination
Nata, Gil, & Neves, Tiago (2023, December 6). O PISA e equidade socioeconómica [Opinião]. Público. https://www.publico.pt/2023/12/06/opiniao/opiniao/pisa-equidade-socioeconomica-2072627
PCEP - Participation, Communities and Political Education
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, IP (FCT)
PTDC/CED-EDG/2124/2020
CIIE/FPCEUP