Poorly performing teens ‘lack interest’

A lack of interest in reading and a carefree attitude to finishing tests are the main reasons why Irish teenagers scored badly at international level, experts believe.

After the disappointing reading and maths results for 15-year-olds in the last international rankings in 2009, the Educational Research Centre (ERC) at St Patrick’s College in Dublin analysed the results to try and find out why.

The ERC, which oversees International Student Assessment (PISA) in Ireland, initially identified factors that contributed to the decline, including:

* The increase in immigrant students;

* A drop in early school leavers;

* More students with special needs in mainstream schools;

* More low-performing schools than in previous tests.

In a more detailed report, the ERC has found further factors, including changes in reading behaviour since the last reading focused PISA tests in 2000.

They found a student’s background, behaviour and attitude had a bearing on the outcome. These included the language spoken at home, parental education and occupation, whether there are books at home, engagement in part-time work and positive attitudes towards reading.

The frequency and level of enjoyment of reading are strongly linked with scores in tests like PISA. The proportion of students who do not read for enjoyment rose from one-third to 42% between 2000 and 2009, with bigger increases among students from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

As previously reported by the Irish Examiner, the ERC also found higher numbers of students than in previous tests did not try as hard, because more questions were not attempted than in earlier PISA tests. The ERC found this fall-off in engagement on print reading and maths tests was not replicated on a digital literacy test also taken in PISA 2009.

“The digital reading test had the look and feel of a web-based environment that may have appealed more to 15 year olds. Also, it took just 40 minutes while the print-based assessment of reading took two hours.

“This suggests that in Ireland, an increase in the prevalence of ‘don’t-care’ may be as important, if not more so, than ‘can’t-do’, in interpreting the PISA 2009 results,” said the report.

The ERC says a number of measures are needed, including ways to enhance engagement with reading, both print and digital. They suggest a review of transition-year maths programmes and maintaining equity in the education system in the face of population and curriculum changes.