PAPER PRESENTED BY JOSU SIERRA IN TRENTO (ITALY), APRIL

2008

PISA 2006 CONFERENCE HOSTED BY OECD AND TRENTINO PROVINCE

Josu SierraDirector of the ISEI-IVEI

The Basque Education System

Overview

Basque Ministry of Education:

http://www.hezkuntza.ejgv.euskadi.net/r43-2722/en

Basque Institute for Reasearch and Evaluation in Education:

http://www.isei-ivei.net

Basque Country

Politically divided into three

different Administrations (Two

in Spain, one in France):

•Autonomous Community

of the Basque Country

•Navarre

•French Basque Country

The Autonomous Community of the Basque Country

Euskadi-Basque Country

Surface 7.234 Km2

Inhabitants 2.124.846 hab.

Density 293,7 inhabit/km2

Official Languages Basque and Spanish

Capital Vitoria-Gasteiz

THE BASQUE LANGUAGE• Two families of languages, the Uralic and the Indo-

European, are to be found in Europe, but Basque is not genetically linked to either, lacking ties to family or origin.

• It is likely that an early form of the Basque language was present in Western Europe before the arrival of the Indo-European languages to the area, including what became the Germanic languages, Celtic languages, and Western Romance languages.

• Today, Basque is a lesser-used language in the Basque territories.

The Basque Language• But the Basque Education

System can be a powerful tool to spread the knowledge of the language.

• The Basque language in the Education System today (Infant Education): more than the 90% of the students (Infant Education) enrolled in Basque Immersion Programmes

Linguistic Models in Education

9,4

30,1

60,5

Spanish

Basque MiddleImmersion

BasqueImmersion

Education: Main features

• Full responsibility in Education.

• 330.000 students (2005) (except university levels)

• Multilingual:– Official languages: Basque and Spanish (mainly Basque immersion)

– Main foreign language: English (starting at the age of 4)

– Three Linguistic Models to choose.

• Preschool: %100 of the students at school at the age of 3, 90% at 2.

• 45% of the curriculum decided in the Basque Country

• Compulsory Education: 6 to 16 years old.

•The Basque education System guarantees

the provision of compulsory education free of

charge from ages 6 to 16.

•Education is structured on four levels:

•Infant (0-5)

•Primary (up to age 12),

•Secondary (up to 16) and

•Further Education/ Vocational Training,

extending subsequently to university,

polytechnic and higher vocational training

college studies.

•In December 2002 a decree was passed

regulating early-learning canters for

children up to the age of 3.

•There are four universities in the Basque

Country, with a total of 28 faculties or colleges,

3 higher technical colleges and 11 university

colleges.

•The publicly-run University of the Basque

Country (EHU-UPV) provides higher education

in a range of areas, including Medicine,

Science, Fine Arts, Journalism, Economics and

Industrial Engineering.

Infant Education (0-5)

Primary Education (6-12)

Secondary Compulsory Education (13-16) c

ompulsory

High School

THE BASQUE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH AND EVALUATION IN EDUCATION

•Established in 2001

•Mission:

•Assess and evaluate the whole Education System

•Carry out Educational Research

•Manage the Educational Documentation centre.

www.isei-ivei.net

PISA 2006 RESULTS

THE BASQUE COUNTRY IS ON THE OECD MEAN IN SCIENCE, MATHS

AND READING

THE PISA PICTURE 2003-2006• PISA shows a similar picture of the Basque Education

in 2003 and 2006:

– OECD-average achievement in the 3 Key Competences.

– Equity, very similar results for all students.

– Less low scores than in the OECD but less excellence.

THE SAMPLE: TO OBTAIN RESULTS BY LINGUISTIC MODELS AND PUBLIC/PRIVATE

STUDENTS 2006LINGUISTIC MODELS

TOTALA B D

PUBLIC 226 215 1141 1582

PRIVATE P.F.* 849 636 862 2347

TOTAL 1075 851 2003 3929

*WITH PUBLIC FUNDS

STRATA

SCIENCE: 495, BETTER THAN IN 2003

500 495 488

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Fin

lan

dia

Ho

ng

Ko

ng-

Ch

ina

Can

adá

Ch

ina-

Taip

eiEs

ton

iaN

uev

a Ze

lan

da

Jap

ón

Au

stra

liaH

ola

nd

aLi

ech

ten

stei

nC

ore

aEs

love

nia

Ale

man

iaR

ein

o U

nid

oR

epú

blic

a C

hec

aSu

iza

Mac

ao-C

hin

aA

ust

ria

Bél

gica

Irla

nd

aH

un

gría

Suec

iaM

edia

de

la O

CD

EP

olo

nia

Din

amar

caFr

anci

aEu

skad

iC

roac

iaIs

lan

dia

Leto

nia

Esta

do

s U

nid

os

Litu

ania

Esp

aña

Rep

úb

lica

Eslo

vaca

No

rueg

aLu

xem

bu

rgo

Fed

erac

ión

Ru

saIt

alia

Po

rtu

gal

Gre

cia

Isra

elC

hile

Serb

iaB

ulg

aria

Uru

guay

Turq

uía

Jord

ania

iaTa

ilan

dia

Ru

man

iaM

on

ten

egro

Mex

ico

Ind

on

esia

Arg

enti

na

Bra

sil

Co

lom

bia

Tún

ezA

zerb

aiya

nQ

atar

Kir

gizi

stán

PU

NTU

AC

IÓN

OCDE 500

Poland 498

Denmark 496

France 495

BASQUE 495

Croatia 493

Iceland 491

Latvia 489

USA 489

Lituania 489

SPAIN 488

Slovak Rep. 488

Norway 486

COUNTRIES

AT THE

SAME LAVEL

THAN

BASQUE IN

SCIENCE

SCIENCE LEVELS: LESS “LOW SCORES” THAN OECD BUT LESS EXCELLENCE TOO

WE HAVE IMPROVED RESULTS IN 2006 COMPARING WITH 2003

THE PICTURE OF THE BASQUE EDUCATION SYSTEM

PISA 2006

ESCS AND SCIENCE: SLIGHTLY LOWER THAN EXPECTED

300

400

500

600

-2 -1,5 -1 -0,5 0 0,5 1 1,5

SCO

RE

ESCS OF SCHOOLS

SCIENCE AND ESCS OF SCHOOLS

A Pública

B Pública

D Pública

A Concertada

B Concertada

D Concertada

OCDE Centro

EUSKADI centro

Lineal (OCDE Centro)

Lineal (EUSKADI centro)

WORSE THAN OECD IN HIGH LEVELS OF ESCS

BETTER THAN OECD IN THE LOW LEVELS OF ESCS OECD

gradient

BASQUE gradient

MORE EFFICIENT SCHOOLS WITH LOW ESCS STUDENTS THAN OECD

EQUITY• Gerard F.M. (2001):”Le concept d’équité est lie a lajustice sociale: un système éducatif est d’autant pluséquitable qu’il réduit les disparités entre les plus fortset les plus faibles, entre les groupes favorises etdéfavorises.”

• « The concept of Equity is linked with the socialjustice: an education system is more equitable if itreduces disparities between the strongest and thewekest, between advantaged and disadvantagedgroups. »

ABSOLUTE EQUITY: % OF

STUDENTS AT >1 AND 1 LEVELS

(15,7%), BETTER THAN THE OECD

AVERAGE

EQUITY:LOW

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE BEST AND THE WORSE SCORES (PERC. 5 AND 95)263

273

280

281

288

293

295

295

296

300

303

308

310

311

312

313

313

328

328

333

337

344

348

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

MEXICO

BASQUE

COLOMBIA

FINLAND

PORTUGAL

POLAND

RUSSIA

SPAIN

KOREA

CHILE

GREECE

SWEDEN

URUGUAY

OECD

ITALY

NEHERLANDS

NORWAY

GERMANY

JAPAN

FRANCE

ARGENTINA

USA

UK

DIFFERENCE "BEST AND WORSE SCORES“ PISA 2006 SOURCE: IE

EQUITY: PUBLIC-PRIVATE SCHOOLS’ ESCS: THE LOWEST DIFFERENCE AMONG SPANISH

COMMUNITIES

-0,778

-0,568 -0,57

-0,415

-0,315-0,364

-0,465

-0,4-0,361 -0,367

-0,247-0,211

0,2070,158

0,122 0,095

0,211 0,229 0,2230,178

0,257

0,105

-1

-0,8

-0,6

-0,4

-0,2

0

0,2

0,4

Andalucía Galicia España Castilla y León

Cantabria Asturias Cataluña Navarra Aragón La Rioja País Vasco

ESCS PUBLIC-PRIVATE SCHOOLS

1 Público

2 Privado

MATHEMATICS AN READING RESULTS

2006

MATHEMATICS RESULTS 2006

Czec Rep. 510

Iceland 506

Austria 505

Slovenia 504

Germany 504

Sweden 502

Ireland 501

BASQUE 501

OECD 498

France 496

UK 495

Poland 495

MATHEMATICS:

THE SAME RESULT IN 2003

EVOLUTION 2003-2006: SAME RESULT

READING RESULTS 2006

Japan 498

China Taipei 496

UK 495

Germany 495

Denmark 494

Slovenia 494

Macao China 492

OECD 492

Austria 490

France 488

BASQUE 487

Iceland 484

Czec Rep. 483

Norway 484

Hungary 482

Latvia 479

Luxemburg 479

READING:

EVOLUTION 2003-2006: LOWER SCORE IN 2006

ISEI-IVEI

BASQUE COUNTRY

PISA 2006SCIENCE RESULTS AND REGIONS, COMMUNITIES AND TERRITORIES

0,260,21

0,17 0,17

0,09 0,08

0

-0,04 -0,04-0,08

-0,12 -0,12 -0,13 -0,14 -0,14 -0,15 -0,15 -0,16 -0,17 -0,18-0,21

-0,26

-0,32 -0,34

-0,64-0,7

-0,6

-0,5

-0,4

-0,3

-0,2

-0,1

0

0,1

0,2

0,3

0,4

ESC

S

SUBNAT

ESCS “SUBNATIONAL” PISA 2006

ESCS LEVELS

VARIANCE EXPLAINED BY ESCS: SMALL INFLUENCE OF THIS VARIABLE

1,3 2,33,9 4,5 4,6 5,1 5,7 6,4

9,010,7 10,8 11,7

17,818,9 19,3

23,024,2 24,8 25,4 26,5

28,3 28,7 29,331,2

38,6

0,0

5,0

10,0

15,0

20,0

25,0

30,0

35,0

40,0

45,0

PERCENTAGE OF THE BETWEEN SCHOOLS VARIANCE EXPLAINED BY ESCS-SCIENCE

SCIENCE RESULT AND ESCS: SLIGHTLY LOWER THAN EXPECTED

400

420

440

460

480

500

520

540

560

-0,7 -0,6 -0,5 -0,4 -0,3 -0,2 -0,1 0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4

SCO

RE

ESCS

SCIENCE AND ESCS

Friuli VGFlemish C.

Sicilia

Basque

Scotland

Liguria

Bolzano

Veneto

Andalusia

Campania

MATHEMATICS RESULT AND ESCS: SLIGHTLY BETTER THAN EXPECTED

300

350

400

450

500

550

600

-0,7 -0,6 -0,5 -0,4 -0,3 -0,2 -0,1 0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4

SCO

RE

ESCS

MATH AND ESCS

VénetoGalicia

Flemish C.

Basque

La Rioja

Scotland

AndalusiaLiguria

Trento

Sicilia

C.-León

READING SCORE AND ESCS: EXPECTED RESULT

300

350

400

450

500

550

-0,7 -0,6 -0,5 -0,4 -0,3 -0,2 -0,1 0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4

SCO

RE

ESCS

READING AND ESCS

Flemish C.

Scotland

Liguria

Trento

Basque

Friuli VG

Galicia

Veneto

Andalusia

Sicilia

Bolzano

CHANGES THAT WE ARE IMPLEMENTING NOW

• New Curriculum Decree, introducing Basic Competences.

• Our amount of hours in science is the lowest comparing with the Spanish Communities: we will increase teaching hours in Science.

DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT

• We will start in 2009 with census external assessments (all students every year)

• The aim is to know the acquisition of the Basic Competences in Primary 4th and L. Secondary 2nd, 2 years before the end of the Primary and Secondary, to solve problems and improve results.

• The 8 Competences: Competences in Science and Technology, Learning to learn, Mathematical Competence, Linguistic Communication, Information and Communication Technologies, Social and civic Competences, Personal autonomy and entrepreneurship.

A COMBINATION OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS

• We will provide, the next year, tests for schools for internal voluntary assessment.

• At the same time we will apply external tests to provide reliable and comparable measures to the school, professors and parents.

• It is a very challenging project for the ISEI-IVEI: 35.000 students every year with short periods for data analysis an reporting.

EUROPE 2010 INDICATORS AND THE BASQUE COUNTRY

THE LISBON OBJECTIVES

PERCENTAGE OF

STUDENTS FINISHING

POST-COMPULSORY

SECONDARY

EDUCATION 2005

BASQUE COUNTRY: 80.4

EU: 77.3

PARTICIPATION IN

LIFELONG LEARNING 2005

BASQUE COUNTRY: 15.1

EU: 10.8

EARLY SCHOOL LEAVERS

RATE 2005

BASQUE COUNTRY: 13.9

EU: 14.9

MATEMATICS, SCIENCE

AND TECHNOLOGY

GRADUATES 2005

BASQUE COUNTRY: 25.3

EU: 12.3

THANK YOU

www.isei-ivei.net