Views of the European Network on Inclusive Education & Disability on the OECD Programme

Views of the European Network on Inclusive Education & Disability on the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

28.08.2013

The European Network on Inclusive Education & Disability, incluD-ed, promoted by Fundación ONCE and co-financed by the European Social Fund through the Operational Programme "Fight Against Discrimination 2007-2013", wants to express its impressions regarding the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

The OECD responded to the demands of its member countries for “regular and reliable data on the knowledge and skills of their students and the performance of their education systems” (OECD PISA website) with the development of the PISA programme. In PISA, the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics and science literacy are measured. Literacy means the “students’ ability to apply knowledge and skills” (ibid.) in everyday life including problem solving skills. Students are also asked about their motivations, beliefs and learning strategies to see if they are becoming “effective lifelong learners” (ibid.). Furthermore, PISA gathers additional data from governments, principals, teachers and parents on public policy issues to reveal the effectiveness of the different education systems in preparing all students for adult life, including students with special educational needs (SEN students).

PISA was officially launched in 1997 and the first survey was conducted in 2000. Since then, assessments have taken place in more than 70 countries and economies in 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2012.

In the last 20 years, the inclusion of students with special educational needs in mainstream educational settings has increased, but the “actual inclusion of the students in standardized assessment and accountability systems” (OECD/ European Communities 2009, p.127) has not been keeping up with the development.

incluD-ed welcomes PISA’s ambition to be as inclusive as possible

·  incluD-ed enthusiastically welcomes PISA’s ambition to keep “the selection of schools and students […] as inclusive as possible”, including students from “a broad range of backgrounds and abilities” (ibid.) and from all kind of schools, with the final goal to have representative student samples across the participating countries.

·  incluD-ed reiterates that even if schools “are randomly selected by the international contractors” (ibid.) it is important to have a representative percentage of SEN students participating in the surveys. Policy makers benefit from information on the full diversity of students having difficulties in accessing the curriculum and in fully benefiting from the national education offered.

incluD-ed wants to include more SEN students in the PISA samples

·  incluD-ed wants to underline that the number of participating SEN students is low and that huge differences within participating countries exist. The small amount of existing data, according to the OECD itself, is far too insufficient to draw conclusions and make international comparisons (cf. ibid., p.127).

·  incluD-ed calls on the OECD to encourage international contractors implementing the assessment to pay attention to a more balanced SEN sample in future rounds of PISA. For example, according to the percentage of SEN students in each country.

·  incluD-ed notes that in many countries and many schools, SEN students or students with learning difficulties are removed from the classroom at the time of the application of PISA, which decreases the number of participating SEN students even more.

·  incluD-ed demands the PISA Governing Board to lower the ceiling of exclusion rates for SEN students from 2,5% to 1%, in order to guarantee participation of SEN students in inclusive, mainstream and special school settings in PISA (cf. ibid, p.129).

·  PISA is “financed exclusively through direct contributions from the participants' government authorities, typically Education ministries” (OECD PISA website). These contributions are made with public money by countries that have signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) whose article 24 refers to inclusive education. Therefore, the OECD should assure that international contractors responsible for the design and testing of the PISA surveys and national authorities have the technical material that allows for the assessment of SEN students.

incluD-ed requests further clarification of common definitions and classification systems used

·  incluD-ed welcomes the steps already taken to “develop and use common definitions of concepts” (OECD 2005 p. 12f) such as the reformulation of the definition of special needs education used for PISA (developed by the ISCD in 1997) reflecting policy developments and underlining the need for support, thus opening up the scope of “special educational needs” by focusing on the public or private resources (personal, material, financial resources) provided to identify students with special educational needs.

·  Nevertheless, incluD-ed calls for more clarification of the definitions since disability categories as well as the provision and meaning of support still differ in the OECD countries.

incluD-ed wishes to foster the use of the resource-based definition of special needs education

·  incluD-ed believes that the resource-based approach with its tri-partite classification system (A/Disabilities, B/Difficulties, C/Disadvantages) that all OECD countries agreed upon (cf. OECD/European Communities 2009, p. 21f) is a first step to standardizing international categories in the field of special needs education.

·  incluD-ed calls on the OECD to foster in all participating countries the use of this resource-based definition during the PISA study in order to have a reliable comparative framework enabling viable data comparisons. This would also accelerate the process of standardizing international categories in special needs education.

·  incluD-ed believes that the OECD should not only foster the use of the definitions, but also work on harmonizing international reporting of these data.

·  incluD-ed therefore calls on the OECD to further test and implement the tri-partite classification system in the (new) participating countries by offering financial support and training courses on the methodology of data collection and by encouraging national cross-agency collaboration. Doing so will improve the quantity and quality of the database and international comparability so that policy makers get more quality information in regards to education of students with disabilities and special needs.

incluD-ed underlines the real added value of data and evidence

·  incluD-ed is aware that the resources attributed to students depend on the wealth of a nation, its policies, political priorities, the attitudes of teachers, parents and societies, and the variation and availability of funding systems that have to be taken into account in the interpretation of the data.

·  incluD-ed is nevertheless convinced of the real added value of such evidence and data for allowing the generation of a comparative context and having “policy implications, especially concerning the efficient and equitable use of funds” (ibid., p.12).

·  incluD-ed is also convinced that such data, as pointed out by the OECD and European Communities, will foster a constructive exchange on inclusive education between international policy makers “contributing to the development of equitable and inclusive education systems” (ibid., p.13). Necessary reforms in education systems will be fostered, thus improving outcomes for students with special educational needs.

·  incluD-ed believes that despite the complexity of the issue, in regards to necessary resources and data collection, good practices can be gathered and presented in a guide, inspiring nations on how to realize special needs and inclusive education effectively.

incluD-ed requests that PISA surveys be accessible

·  incluD-ed asks that PISA test material be accessible for SEN students. The commonly used “pencil-and-paper tests” (OECD PISA website) should be available in Braille and other formats, allowing more SEN students to take part in the PISA survey.

·  Existing or planned online versions of the PISA survey (e.g. the electronic questionnaire EQ) should be available and designed in an accessible format, using for instance the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0).

·  Supportive technology for SEN students should be allowed during the PISA test and the time given to answer the survey adapted to the students’ regular learning conditions, since “test-questions [are] prepared mainly for pupils in mainstream schools [and] are not, on the whole, appropriate for the kind of pupil educated in Special Schools” (Oxford Review of Education, 2003, p.149) or SEN students in inclusive school settings. The result is that special needs schools are “usually omitted from inquiries” (ibid.) because they may be too challenging an assessment for the pupils.

incluD-ed requests that an obligatory questionnaire on inclusiveness and accessibility of schools and the school system be included

·  incluD-ed asks to include an obligatory questionnaire on the inclusiveness and accessibility of schools for school principals in the additional PISA background surveys since most of the OECD countries and participating economies have ratified the UN CRPD. Questions should also cover educational policies and the social climate in regards to inclusion.

·  These questionnaires should go beyond the central years of schooling to include pre-primary and upper secondary phases of education by maintaining compulsory education as a separate category, thus gathering even more useful data.

·  Relevant factors related to the “inclusiveness” and “accessibility” of schools and the education system in general include: accessibility of buildings, provision of vital learning supports, appropriate teaching and learning resources, available grants, adequately trained teachers, individualized teaching programs, attitudes towards inclusion among teachers, coordinated transition arrangements, and the existence of support services for students with disabilities and learning difficulties (list non-exhaustive).

·  The aforementioned questionnaire should be complemented by a questionnaire for students, asking for their personal, social and learning experiences in an inclusive school setting.

·  Gathering this information would allow each country’s status quo and progress on the way of implementing the UN CRPD regulation to be seen, and could motivate countries participating in the PISA survey to improve their education systems in regards to inclusion.

incluD-ed calls for even closer collaborations with governments

·  incluD-ed recommends working closely with governments and education ministries in all OECD countries. In particular, European Member States should support inclusion since “the domain of Special Education Needs is part of the wider agenda promoted by the Lisbon strategy” (OECD/European Communities 2009, p.9) and one of the objectives of the EU 2020 strategy. Monitoring progress within the Lisbon Strategy in the field of education is linked to the use of indicators and benchmarks. Policy making in Europe therefore needs “more information in order to promote and monitor inclusive policies vis-à-vis the education of students with disabilities, learning difficulties and disadvantages” (ibid).

·  The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission should continue to support the OECD in conceiving, developing, implementing and monitoring surveys such as the PISA study. Other collaborations, such as between the Centre for Research on Lifelong Learning (CRELL), the Directorate General for Education and Culture of the European Commission and the Education Directorate of the OECD, should be fostered in order to “improve the quality and international comparability of the data available” (ibid., p.16).

Finally, incluD-ed shares the views of the OECD and the European Communities:

“Special educational needs is a topic on which more research and information must be gathered if appropriate policies [in line with EU and OECD criteria], such as those aimed at inclusion, are to be promoted and monitored vis-à-vis education for students with disabilities, learning difficulties and disadvantages” (OECD/European Communities 2009, p.16).

Notes to the editors: The European Network on Inclusive Education & Disability, incluD-ed, promoted by Fundación ONCE, is a collaborative and multi-stakeholder initiative whose primary goals are promoting, identifying, disseminating and exchanging good practice on inclusive education for people with disabilities across Europe, in order to promote opportunities for employability and working inclusion. Currently, its member organisations are: Association des Paralysés de France (APF), Fundación ONCE, Kynnys ry and Rytmus. In Local Promoting Groups (LPGs) in European cities, the network comprises local authorities, schools, universities, companies, public services, local associations, experts and other stakeholders who work together to promote initiatives in the areas of inclusive education and disability.

Documents referred to:

OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). URL: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/

OECD (2005); Students with Disabilities, Learning Difficulties and Disadvantages. Statistics and Indicators. URL http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/students-with-disabilities-learning-difficulties-and-disadvantages_9789264027619-en.

OECD/European Communities (2009): Students with Disabilities, Learning Difficulties and Disadvantages in the Baltic States, South Eastern Europe and Malta. Educational Policies and Indicators. URL: http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/students-with-disabilities-learning-difficulties-and-disadvantages-in-the-baltic-states-south-eastern-europe-and-malta_9789264076860-en

Oxford Review of Education (2003): Cautions on OECDs Recent Educational Survey (PISA). Vol. 29, No. 2.

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