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England's "plummeting" PISA test scores between 2000 and 2009: Is the performance of our secondary school pupils really in relative decline

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  • John Jerrim

    (Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, UK.)

Abstract

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) are two highly respected cross-national studies of pupil achievement. These have been specifically designed to study how different countries' educational systems are performing against one another, and how this is changing over time. These are, however, politically sensitive issues, where different surveys can produce markedly different results. This is shown via a case study for England, where apparent decline in PISA test performance has caused policymakers much concern. Results suggest that England's drop in the PISA international ranking is not replicated in TIMSS, and that this contrast may well be due to data limitations in both surveys. Consequently, I argue that the current coalition government should not base educational policies on the assumption that the performance of England’s secondary school pupils has declined (relative to that of its international competitors) over the past decade.

Suggested Citation

  • John Jerrim, 2011. "England's "plummeting" PISA test scores between 2000 and 2009: Is the performance of our secondary school pupils really in relative decline," DoQSS Working Papers 11-09, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    • Handle: RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1109
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    File URL: https://repec.ucl.ac.uk/REPEc/pdf/qsswp1109.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. John Jerrim, 2012. "The Socio‐Economic Gradient in Teenagers' Reading Skills: How Does England Compare with Other Countries?," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 33(2), pages 159-184, June.
    2. Vegard Skirbekk & Valeria Bordone & Daniela Weber, 2014. "A cross-country comparison of math achievement at teen age and cognitive performance 40 years later," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 31(4), pages 105-118.
    3. Gabriel Heller Sahlgren, 2014. "Handing Over the School Keys: The Impact of Privatisation on Education Quality," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 196-210, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    PISA; TIMSS; educational policy; change over time;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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