LITERACY AND NUMERACY IN NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND IN INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
Gerry Shiel and Lorraine Gilleece
Educational Research Centre, St Patrick’s College, Dublin
Recent international assessments of educational achievement at primary, post-primary, and adult levels allow for comparisons of performance in reading literacy and numeracy/mathematics between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. While students in grade 4 (Year 6) in Northern Ireland significantly outperformed students in the Republic in reading literacy and mathematics in the PIRLS and TIMSS studies in 2011, 15-year olds in the Republic outperformed students in Northern Ireland on reading and mathematical literacy in PISA 2006 and 2012. Performance on PISA reading literacy and mathematics declined significantly from performance in earlier cycles in Northern Ireland in 2006 and in the Republic of Ireland in 2009. However, while performance in the Republic improved in 2012, it has remained at about the same level since 2006 in Northern Ireland. Adults in both Northern Ireland and the Republic performed significantly below the international averages on literacy and numeracy in the 2012 PIAAC study. Results of the studies are discussed in the context of policy initiatives in 2011 to improve literacy and numeracy in both jurisdictions, including the implementation of literacy and numeracy strategies and the establishment of targets for improved performance at system and school levels.
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CHANGES IN ACHIEVEMENT IN PISA FROM 2000 TO 2009 IN IRELAND: BEYOND THE TEST SCORES
Jude Cosgrove
Educational Research Centre, St Patrick’s College, Dublin
The results for PISA 2009 are revisited, focusing on the large decline in the scores of Irish students in reading and mathematics achievement. Findings concerning two aspects of PISA are reviewed: (a) the PISA test design and (b) the methods used to scale PISA achievement scores and to link achievement across cycles. Analyses suggest that changes across cycles in the relative weightings of the item formats and cognitive processes assessed in the PISA tests had unintended consequences for estimating trends, at least in the case of Ireland. Questions are raised about scaling methodology and PISA’s methods for reporting the accuracy of estimates of change, though the extent to which these might affect Irish students in a unique fashion is unknown. Findings are considered in conjunction with changes in the PISA population over time and a possible decline in the engagement of Irish students with the PISA tests. Finally, whether and how future cycles of PISA might address some of the issues raised is considered.
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THE ROLE OF ENGAGEMENT AND TEST-TAKING BEHAVIOUR IN PISA 2012 IN IRELAND
Rachel Perkins
Educational Research Centre, St Patrick’s College, Dublin
PISA 2012 data for Ireland were compared with data from previous cycles to explore patterns of non-response as students progressed throughout the test. Students were found to have invested more effort in 2012 than in 2009 in all domains (reading, mathematics, science). Responses to a national questionnaire which asked about their test-taking behaviour indicated that students who kept working on items that they did not know the answers to, who were more interested in the assessment, and whose concentration remained the same throughout the test obtained the highest mean scores across all domains. Significant differences were found between boys and girls and between students attending schools in the School Support Programme (SSP) under DEIS and students in non-SSP schools.
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APPROACHES TO GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT IN THE PUBLIC POLICIES OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Mihaela-Viorica Ruşitoru
mihaela_rusitoru@yahoo.com
In recent years, many changes have occurred in the field of public policy, in particular educational policy. Policy in Europe has been affected by developments in several international organizations. UNESCO has focused on education as a right for all; ILO on employment policy; OECD on lifelong learning and collecting and analysing educational data; and the Council of Europe on education for democratic citizenship and intercultural education. Life-long policies are currently the subject of a variety of initiatives of international organizations, necessitating new forms of governance and management.
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THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE HOMESTAY EXPERIENCE TO LINGUISTIC SELF-CONFIDENCE IN L2 ACQUISITION
Ruth M. H. Wong
Hong Kong Institute of Education
Clément’s linguistic self-confidence model was used to study the effects of homestay experience on students’ language confidence. Data were obtained from student responses in questionnaires and interviews before and after immersion. High anxiety and low perception of proficiency in L2 before immersion were attributable to fear and worries about linguistic limitation and different living styles of the host family. Anxiety was alleviated and students’ perception of proficiency in L2 enhanced during and after immersion when homes provided a rich language environment and limited internet access. Employment of intercultural communication strategies, exchange of cultural knowledge, and social gathering organized by host families helped enhance quality of interaction which, in turn, contributed to the development of linguistic self-confidence.
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FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH EDUCATIONAL DISADVANTAGE IN RURAL AND URBAN AREAS
Susan Weir, Darina Errity, and Laura McAvinue
Educational Research Centre, St Patrick’s College, Dublin
The scholastic achievements of students in a sample of schools participating in the rural dimension of a programme addressing educational disadvantage were examined and compared to those in the urban dimension. Rural students performed significantly better than urban students in both English reading and mathematics. This could not be explained by the lower concentration of poverty in rural areas, or by the smaller size of many of the rural schools. Further analysis indicated that relationships between socioeconomic characteristics and achievement were weaker in rural areas than in urban areas, suggesting that rural students are less susceptible to the effects of poverty. Data from parent, student, and teacher questionnaires revealed that rural students received higher levels of home support and participated in fewer unstructured extra-curricular activities than their urban counterparts.
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