Lack of interest does not explain Iceland’s poor PISA results

Icelandic students work just as hard as students in comparable countries, and lack of interest does not explain their weak performance in PISA tests, mbl.is reports.

Haukur Arason, an associate professor at the University of Iceland’s School of Education, said Icelanders often try to dismiss poor results such as those seen in recent PISA assessments.

This year’s results showed that more than one in four Icelandic tenth-grade students failed to reach basic proficiency in reading comprehension, science and mathematics.

“It has often been claimed that Icelandic children who take PISA do not try as hard as teenagers in other countries. That is simply wrong,” Haukur said.

He said the digitally administered PISA tests include several measures of student effort. These can show, for example, whether students read questions before answering and whether they skip questions. Students are also asked questions about the test itself.

“It turns out that children in Iceland put in just as much effort as children in countries we compare ourselves with, and in fact more than in many other countries,” Haukur said.

Asked whether insufficient effort or interest could explain Icelandic students’ poor performance, he answered: “No.”

Haukur discussed the latest PISA results earlier this week on Dagmál with Sigríður Ólafsdóttir, an associate professor at the University of Iceland’s School of Education and a literacy specialist.