The global results of the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 Collaborative Problem-Solving (CPS) study were released on Tuesday – and among the 79 participating countries and regions, Macau ranks third in all three literacy assessments, comprising reading, mathematics and science.
The findings were announced on Tuesday during a press conference at the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) by its director, Lou Pak Sang, and Professor Cheung Kwok Cheung, director of the Educational Testing and Assessment Research Centre of University of Macau (UM).
The results were announced locally at the same time as they were released by the PISA organisation at the Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) headquarters in Paris, which was 9 a.m. Paris time while it was 4 p.m. in Macau.
The mainland Chinese areas – Beijing, Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang, Singapore and Macau listed first, second and third respectively in all literacy assessments, according to the report.
The findings also revealed that the percentage of local 15-year-olds reaching the baseline level in the three subjects ranked second in the world. In addition, the OECD pointed out that Macau is the only education system amongst the 79 participating countries and regions exhibiting not only high academic quality but also fast educational progress in the past decade, according to Lou.
The local government offers 15 years of free non-tertiary education to local pupils.
By participating in PISA, schools are able to learn more about the performance of 15-year-olds, Lou pointed out.
According to Lou, besides the significant progress in the three literary assessments, the issue of campus bullying among local pupils has been improved after two to three years of joint efforts by the local government and schools, resulting in a lower ranking compared to PISA 2015 and now being close to the OECD’s average, lowering Macau’s ranking in the campus bullying index among the participating countries and regions, Lou added.
According to the press conference, 45 local schools took part in the 2018 assessment, two-thirds of which reported progress. A total of 3,775 pupils participated in the last year’s PISA tests.
According to the Macau Post Daily, Lou expressed appreciation for the overall increases in Macau’s rankings, and he also expressed gratitude to schools’ principals, teachers and pupils.
The next PISA test will be held in 2021.
