15-year-old students in Brazil remain among the worst in the world

15-year-old students in Brazil remain among the worst in the world, according to the results of Pisa 2022, an international exam carried out with young people from 81 countries and economies. Compared to 2018, Brazil fell five points in mathematics, three points in reading and one point in science. This was the first Pisa after the Covid-19 pandemic, but the level of knowledge presented by Brazilians is practically the same since 2009. The official data from the survey were released this Tuesday (5).

Brazil’s scores are well below the level expected for the age group and the average achieved by other countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), responsible for the assessment. Students in Brazil achieved a score of 379 in mathematics, 410 in reading and 403 in science. The average of OECD students was 480 in mathematics, 482 in reading and 491 in science, a lower performance compared to previous editions, mainly because of the pandemic, but still much higher than the grades of Brazilian students.

In the general ranking, Brazil rose a few positions due to the fact that other countries had a worse situation, many of them due to the closure of schools during the pandemic. Brazil is in 65th position in mathematics, 52nd in reading and 62nd in science. Singapore appears at the top of the list, with 575 points in mathematics, 543 in reading and 561 in science. Cambodia has the worst indexes with a score of 336 in mathematics, 329 in reading and 347 in science. Despite this, the Asian country grew in all areas: 12 points in mathematics, 8 in reading and 17 in science.

“The tendency of those lower down is to fall less, because they have nowhere to fall. And this is the situation in Brazil”, points out João Batista Oliveira, PhD in Education from Florida State University. He also explains that countries with extremely low scores are able to achieve more relevant results with small improvements, as is the case of Cambodia.

Ineffective measures and poor teacher training

“We don’t have effective educational policies. A lot of money is spent, a lot is said, but everything is done wrong or not at all”, says João Batista. For him, Brazil needs to rely on scientific evidence when developing public educational policies, but unfortunately the political issue has more weight. “First, they seek consensus, then they see what can be done”, he reinforces.

Pisa is a test that does not evaluate acquired knowledge, but the ability of 15-year-old students to apply concepts in new situations. Like in the job market, for example. “There is no point in teaching students what machines will do or already do for them. Simply memorizing times tables no longer makes sense”, says Claudia Costin, who held the position of senior director of education at the World Bank and is president of Instituto Singulares. Given this scenario, the assessment is applied not only by countries, but also by regions according to their economic variations. China, for example, is divided into Macau and Hong Kong.

Claudia Costin raised some points that could explain the Brazilian Pisa 2022 numbers. On the one hand, Brazil was the country that kept schools partially or completely closed during the pandemic. On the other hand, she believes that the advancement of comprehensive education may have helped Brazil not lose so much, especially in mathematics. “There has been important progress since 2020, even with the pandemic, in full-time school. The process of teaching mathematics that really makes the student think mathematically cannot be done part-time”, says Costin.

Another aspect that, according to the expert, harms Brazil’s results is related to the poor training of teachers. Costin believes that the practical aspect is little discussed in undergraduate courses. “The teacher should not be a ‘mathematics expert’. He should be an expert at teaching mathematics,” she says. She concludes by comparing that “we train teachers without any or very little connection to practice. Chile, for example, has a national law that requires there to be a dialogue between theory and practice in the training that teachers receive at college.” Chile is the best country in Latin America according to the Pisa 2022 results.

Results from Brazil

Mathematics
Of the total, 73% of Brazilian students did not reach level 2 of the survey (ranging from 1 to 6), the minimum expected performance for the age group. Level 2 attests to the ability to interpret and recognize simple situations represented mathematically, such as comparing the total distance between two alternative routes or converting prices in different currencies. Taking into account the average scores of students from 81 countries and economies evaluated by the OECD, 69% reached at least this level. Levels 5 and 6 were achieved by just 1% of Brazilian students, while 9% of all OECD students achieved this result. Students at these levels can work with complex and unfamiliar mathematical situations and can select, compare and evaluate appropriate strategies for solving mathematical problems.

Reading
Around 50% of Brazilian students reached level 2 or more in reading skills – that is, the other half did not reach the expected knowledge. Only 2% of Brazilian students are at the highest levels of proficiency (5 and 6). While level 2 students can identify the main idea of ​​a medium-sized text and find explicit information, level 5 and 6 students can differentiate between fact and opinion and find implicit information in the text. Of the total number of students assessed by the OECD, 74% are above level 2 and 7% are at levels 5 or 6.

Sciences
Less than half of Brazilian students (45%) achieved level 2 or one level above in science – the OECD average is 76%. They can understand the explanation for common scientific phenomena and analyze, based on data, whether a conclusion is valid. The number of Brazilian students at levels 5 and 6 is 1%, while the OECD average is 7%. These students are now able to apply knowledge autonomously in unfamiliar situations.

Pisa methodology

Pisa 2022 was attended by 690,000 students from all over the world. The sample represents 29 million young students aged 15 from 81 participating countries and economies. In Brazil, almost 11 thousand students participated in the assessment. The evaluation, which is carried out every three years and was scheduled for 2021, was postponed a year because of the pandemic.

Students received a test for each subject and had two hours to answer the questions. The questions had different formats, some multiple choice and others open, when it is necessary to construct the answer. In addition, students and school directors filled out a Pisa questionnaire to gather information about the contexts in which they operate.