Even better, regions of the country are below the OECD average – 12/06/2023 – Education

The performance of students from the South, Southeast and Center-West of the country exceeds the Brazilian national average in the three areas assessed (mathematics, reading and science) by Pisa 2022, an international basic education exam.

However, even though they have a higher score, none of the country’s regions can reach the average of OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) member countries.

The analysis shows that the South region has the highest scores. In mathematics, the average was 394 points, 15 more than the national average of 379, but still 78 points away from the OECD average (472).

The Northeast and North, however, presented scores below the national level in the three areas. In mathematics, for example, they had an average of 363 and 357, respectively — scores below those recorded, for example, by Palestinians and Indonesia (366), Morocco (365) and Uzbekistan (364).

In reading, the averages for the two regions were 382 and 392, respectively, which would place them between Cyprus (381), Saudi Arabia (383, Kazakhstan (386) and Malaysia (388). In science, they had 380 and 386, at the level from North Macedonia and Azerbaijan (380), Indonesia (383) and Georgia (384).

In national assessments, some states in the Northeast, such as Ceará and Pernambuco, tend to be among those with the highest performance in the country’s public network. The Pisa sample, however, does not allow data to be separated by state.

For Ernesto Faria, executive director of Iede (Interdisciplinarity and Evidence in Educational Debate), the data by region show a worrying scenario in the country.

“No large region stands out with quality education in Brazil. There is a lot of inequality, but not even the South region reaches the level of Chile”, he says.

With 394 in mathematics, the South would be equal to Thailand, which is seven positions ahead of Brazil in the Pisa 2022 ranking, but would be behind countries such as Mexico (395), Azerbaijan (397), Montenegro (406), Malaysia (409 ), Uruguay (409) and Chile (412).

The Southeast, the richest region in the country, had the second best performance. Still, it presents low numbers. In mathematics, he had an average of 388 points — 84 below the OECD average. If it were a country, this score would place it just three positions ahead of Brazil, after Colombia (383) and Costa Rica (385), but behind North Macedonia and Saudi Arabia, both with 389 points.

The Central-West, with 384 points in mathematics, was 88 points away and would be right between Colombia and Costa Rica.

“It is clear that mathematics is a great urgency, especially in public schools,” says Faria.

Historically, it is in mathematics that Brazil faces the greatest difficulty in ensuring adequate learning for its students. In the last two decades, the lowest scores in the country were in this area of ​​knowledge.

The Pisa 2022 data, released this Tuesday (5), showed that the Brazilian average was 5 points lower compared to 2018, when the country had a score of 384. In 2012, the national average reached 389 points.

But, even in the other two areas evaluated, South, Southeast and Central-West, they also fail to reach the OECD average. In reading, for example, the South’s average of 427 points exceeds the Brazilian average by 17 points, but is 49 points below the OECD average (476 points). If it were a country, the South would be just six positions ahead of Brazil, between Qatar (419) and Romania and regions of Ukraine (both with (428).

It also has the best score in science (421), but it is also 64 points below the average for member countries (485). In this case, the South would be 12 positions ahead of Brazil, tied with Bulgaria and just behind Kazakhstan (423).

Fabio Senne, coordinator of ICT research at the Internet Steering Committee in Brazil, points to a possible explanation for this lag in results from one region to another, although it is not decisive, he emphasizes: the better infrastructure present in the South and Southeast regions, compared to too much.

“Taking internet data, the South and Southeast are where there is more adoption of internet use, for example. This type of factor or connectivity condition can make a difference because many households did not have access or the network was not prepared to serve all users”, says Senne, highlighting that socioeconomic status is decisive, as students from more disadvantaged regions had to leave school to help their families during the pandemic.

“In the research we carried out during the pandemic, when we asked why the student wasn’t going to school, the answers we had were looking for a job, the family lost income, taking care of their siblings…”

Pisa 2022 assessed 690,000 15-year-old students, in 81 countries and regions around the world. In Brazil, the test was administered to 10,798 students from 599 schools.