Pathways to Success Education and Skills (PISA)

After completing compulsory education, are today's youth equipped to participate fully in society? In 2000, Canada explored this question and launched the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS), a follow-up to the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). YITS is a longitudinal study that tracks 30 000 Canadian students who took part in the PISA 2000 assessment and, with interviews every two years, follows their progress from secondary school into higher education and the labour market. YITS complements PISA's measurement of individual competencies and offers significant new policy insights in understanding students' choices at different ages and the impact of these decisions on consequent education and labour market outcomes. The Canadian example serves as a model for other OECD countries seeking a strategy to better comprehend the social and economic impact of competencies acquired in school and the causal nature of these relationships. Pathways to Success is a collaborative effort between the OECD and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. It presents findings from this study and showcases the potential of a longitudinal component of PISA such as YITS. FURTHER READING: PISA 2006: Science Competencies for Tomorrow's World (OECD, 2007) THE OECD PROGRAMME FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ASSESSMENT (PISA) PISA is a collaborative process among the 30 member countries of the OECD and nearly 30 partner countries and economies. It brings together expertise from the participating countries and economies and is steered by their governments on the basis of shared, policy-driven interests. Its unique features include: The literacy approach: PISA defines each assessment area (science, reading and mathematics) not mainly in terms of mastery of the school curriculum, but in terms of the knowledge and skills needed for full participation in society; A long-term commitment: It enables countries to monitor regularly and predictably their progress in meeting key learning objectives; The age-group covered: By assessing 15-year-olds, i.e. young people near the end of their compulsory education, PISA provides a significant indication of the overall performance of school systems; The relevance to lifelong learning: PISA does not limit itself to assessing students' knowledge and skills but also asks them to report on their own motivation to learn, their beliefs about themselves and their learning strategies, as well as on their goals for future study and careers.