MP accuses education authorities of withholding valuable PISA data

Education authorities are withholding schools’ own PISA results, a decision that undermines accountability and deprives schools of information they could use to support pupils, MP Jón Pétur Zimsen said in remarks reported by mbl.is.

Speaking during parliamentary business, the Independence Party MP called the decision political and said it was unacceptable to keep the information from schools. “Good information about educational outcomes is scarce,” he said, arguing that the data should be used to help children rather than protect the system and its weak points.

Zimsen said Iceland’s participation in PISA was distinctive because all pupils take the test, while other countries generally test a sample. He said the former Education Institution recognised in 2009 that this allowed Iceland to track individual schools’ results over time.

Schools were able to use the results to improve pupils’ performance in 2012 and 2015, when the data was available, he said. “Since then, the state has locked it away and is sitting on extremely valuable information that could help schools better support pupils.”

He added that Latvia and other countries use such data. The Latvian education ministry’s website says each participating school can receive information comparing its results with those of other schools, Zimsen said.