A few days ago the results for Spain came out in the "dreaded" Pisa Report 2015. Wow, what a surprise! Our country is situated for the first time in history along with the rest of the developed countries of the world. Of course, the Minister of Education Menéndez de Vigo has affirmed in his statements that the results have been a real success in a crisis situation and he highly recognizes the great effort of the teachers of our country and the quality of teaching
The Pisa Report 2015 is based on a scale where the average is 500 points. Based on this, our country has obtained the following results: 493 points in science, 486 in mathematics and 496 in reading. In this way and as I said before, Spain goes hand in hand with countries such as the United States, Norway and Sweden. Of course, after the overall results have decreased in relation to the previous Pisa Report.
Hey! Spain this year exceeds the OECD average! We are champions! Society enters a total euphoria when the results of the Pisa Report are made public. Now we can be proud of the Spanish students and teachers. Obviously, before analyzing the results, the teachers were a mess and the students were not on the ball. But it seems that these statements have changed when finally and for the first time in history we are within the mean.
I have no doubt that the Pisa Report is very useful. And I do not doubt its effectiveness in improving some aspects of educational quality. All I'm saying is that it's turning to label students based on a number and a grade. Does being in the OECD average mean having broken the educational gap in our country? Are there really people who think that? To break the educational gap in our country much more is needed than good results in the Pisa Report.
For something one starts? Well, depending on which way you look at it. If only importance is given to cognitive habilyties and it leaves out what emotional, personal, social and education for life and values (No, it is not worth saying that this is the task of the parents, please), well, yes, it starts with something. If the only objective of Spain with respect to education is to achieve better and better results without taking into account what really matters what is educational quality, yes, you start with something.
Even education experts say that it is very difficult to compare results between countries. Why? Well, very simple: because inside a classroom there are a lot of challenges (students with different abilities and capacities, school demotivation, unequal opportunities, school failure ...). Educational researchers affirm that the results are also influenced by the educational level of the parents and the rate of students who have repeated since the Pisa Report is carried out with fifteen years regardless of the grade in which the student is.
If any of you asked me right now if I am proud of the results of the Pisa Report, I would say half. I recognize that science skills, math skills and reading comprehension are important and that is basically what the 2015 report has focused on, but these results are not the only thing that Spain should pay attention to since it would possibly be suspended in many other educational aspects that are also of vital importance.
There are still many things in the pipeline to improve: more extensive, affordable and accessible teacher training (courses, many more scholarships for permanent training, workshops, talks, meetings), a correct teaching practice beyond passing the oppositions, not cutting back on important resources for educational centers and teachers (support staff and material objects), improve educational innovation, an active protocol that is useful to prevent bullying in the classroom, that gives the importance it deserves to emotional education and that of course is taken into account multiple intelligences in the classroom because not all students are going to be mathematicians or scientists in the future.
Where is it reflected if Spain has achieved all of the latter that I just mentioned? It is clear that not in the Pisa Report. But hey, "let them take away the dance" we have entered the OECD average and that must be celebrated.