It’s a new year, and everyone is taking tests
It’s customary to take stock at new year, whether to appraise your waistline, relationships or the terrifying sociopolitical trajectory of western society. Personally, I’ve always tried to avoid it. It’s not taking stock that I’ve ever had a problem with, it’s the urge to make superficial resolutions to ‘fix’ the ‘problems’ I didn’t want to succumb to. But in the last couple of years I’ve been less of a stick-in-the-mud – I enjoy testing my willpower and drive for personal improvement as much as anyone.
This year, the education sector is joining in with the self-appraisal game, on an international scale. Last month, the results of both the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the IEA’s Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) league tables were published. For the home nations, they show mixed results.
Paul MacLellan discusses the evaluation game.
Thanks for using Education in Chemistry. You can view one Education in Chemistry article per month as a visitor.
Registration is open to all teachers and technicians at secondary schools, colleges and teacher training institutions in the UK and Ireland.
Get all this, plus much more:
Already a Teach Chemistry member? Sign in now.
Not eligible for Teach Chemistry? Sign up for a personal account instead, or you can also access all our resources with Royal Society of Chemistry membership.