Income Inequality Predicts Competitiveness and Cooperativeness at School

Competitiveness and cooperativeness are important predictors of social and learning outcomes at school. Drawing on evidence suggesting that contexts with high income inequality foster an ethos of competitiveness and inhibit cooperativeness in the economic environment, we examine whether income inequality is also associated with more competitiveness and less cooperativeness in the academic environment. We conducted four preregistered studies to test this idea. In Study 1, analysis of the OECD PISA 2018 dataset (≈500,000 15-year-old students from 75 countries) revealed that students from economically unequal countries perceive their schoolmates as more competitive and less cooperative. In Study 2a-2b, analysis of the PISA 2003 (250,000+ students from 38 countries) and PISA 2000 (75,000+ students from 32 countries) datasets revealed that students from unequal countries are themselves more competitive and, surprisingly, also more cooperative. Follow-up analyses resolved this apparent paradox, showing that students from unequal countries are oriented towards instrumental rather than intrinsic cooperativeness (i.e., using cooperation as a strategic tool to achieve academic success rather than for the enjoyment of the activity itself). Study 3 offers a conceptual experimental replication (≈850 young adults imagining going back to school) and indicates that induced income inequality (i) increases perceived competitiveness, (ii) decreases perceived cooperativeness, (iii) prompts an orientation towards competitiveness, and (iv) prompts an orientation towards instrumental rather than intrinsic cooperativeness. Results are discussed in relation to the multidisciplinary literatures on the psychology of income inequality, the selective function of school systems, coopetition, self-determination, and cooperative learning.

Latvian Students’ Understanding of Global Problems and Readiness to Get Involved in Solving Them in OECD PISA 2018 Comparison

Students’ life in the modern globalized world gives them many new possibilities and at the same time also creates new serious challenges putting forward also new requirements. Students’ understanding of the global problems (climate changes and global warming, global health (including pandemics), migration, international conflicts, famine or insufficient food, the causes of poverty, etc.) become more and more important. The aim of the study is to analyze the results of Latvia’s fifteen years old students in the OECD PISA 2018 in the aspect of the global competence paying a more detailed attention to the students’ understanding of the global problems and their readiness to take action for collective well-being. The research questions are follows: 1) What is Latvian students’ global competence in the international comparison and what is its relation to the characteristics of students, their families and school; 2) What is Latvian students’ understanding of the global problems and readiness to get involved in their solution? The descriptive statistical analysis employs the data from surveys/questionnaires (66 countries) and tests (27 countries) included in PISA 2018 international data basis. Latvian students’ performance in the cognitive test of the global competence is considerably higher than the average of the participating countries, and as regards the OECD countries we are on the average level. In Latvia, students of capital Riga schools have the highest level of global understanding, it is lower in other cities and even lower in rural schools. Latvian students have a slightly lower readiness to get involved in solving the global phenomena and participation in concrete activities than the average in OECD countries.

Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice and the OECD PISA Global Competence Framework

Globalisation has become increasingly important in education, and national systems are no longer defined only by the nation-state. The role of intergovernmental organisations such as the OECD has also become increasingly important, particularly through the development of the PISA tests and the publication of international comparison tables. With a growing recognition of educating for an international and globalised future, the OECD assessed global competence for the first time in 2018, with results released in October 2020. The power that the OECD exerts over its member states, and indeed further, in the field of education through the global competence assessment demonstrates social reproduction. This article examines the OECD’s 2018 Global Competence Framework from a Bourdieusian perspective. An analysis is undertaken of the framework using Bourdieu’s thinking tools of habitus, field and capital, and the mechanisms of pedagogic authority, pedagogic action and pedagogic work, demonstrating an unconsciously agreed power differential between social groups. The OECD, as well as policy-makers at a national level, must consider such implications in anticipating future policy developments in order to enable systemic injustices to be overcome and educational equality to be achieved.

Italian students’ performance and regional decomposition

We relate students’ math scores in the OECD-PISA test to school characteristics. The average math score for Italian students has been increasing in 2009. The determinants of this growth are analyzed by the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition, that is particularly useful in comparing groups. The progress in educational attainments shows a different composition between northern and southern schools. In the North-Center regions, improvements are explained by school endowments, while in the South they are also driven by external factors that are not explained by the estimated model and are linked to improvements in students' attitude to education leading to a more favorable disciplinary climate. The regional gap decreases but does not disappear.

La literacy matematica nella scuola italiana

L’articolo analizza le differenze di genere nella literacy matematica nella fase iniziale del ciclo di istruzione secondario. Attraverso un approccio multidisciplinare e l’analisi di dati ottenuti dall’indagine OECD-PISA, si dimostra come lo svantaggio delle studentesse sia correlato significativamente a dimensioni non cognitive come la fiducia, le aspettative e gli stereotipi assorbiti in ambito familiare e scolastico. Le evidenze suggeriscono l’opportunità di ridurre gli ostacoli all’investimento in discipline STEM, per aumentare le prospettive occupazionali e di inclusione delle donne. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This paper analyzes gender gap in mathematical literacy in the early stage of secondary education. Using a multidisciplinary approach and data drawn from OECD-PISA surveys, we show that the disadvantage of female students is related to non-cognitive dimensions such as confidence, expectations and stereotypes absorbed in the family and school environment. The evidence suggests the opportunity to reduce obstacles faced by female in investing in STEM disciplines, in order to increase their employment and labor market inclusion perspectives

Review of national financial education policies aimed at the young

Purpose: The paper investigates and synthesizes an in-depth overview of national financial education policies and strategies aimed at the young, highlights the best practices, gives recommendations for the most efficient financial education efforts at the national level and the implementation of an efficient financial education policy in Croatia. Methodology: The analysis is conducted as a case study of financial education policies and strategies aimed at the young of the countries that achieved the best results on the OECD PISA test, Australia, the United States of America and the United Kingdom. Results: The examined countries have national financial education policies with similar aims, fields of financial education and strategies of evaluation but, although they are part of the curriculum, the programs are mostly not standardized and financial education efforts towards teachers and parents are not emphasized. Conclusion: To be efficient, a financial education program aimed at the young has to be relevant, customized according to participants’ characteristics, has to relate knowledge to a specific action, has to be longterm, successfully evaluated, standardized on the national level, implemented at a younger age and have a specified aim. Financial education should be considered as an independent subject in formal education.