Pisa and the diagnosis of mathematics teaching in Brazil – 12/05/2023 – Marcelo Viana

The Ministry of Education released this Tuesday (5) the results of the 2022 edition of the International Student Assessment Program (Pisa), which, every 3-4 years, measures the achievement in mathematics, reading and science of 15-year-olds in more than 80 countries. In all three areas, Brazilian scores had small, statistically non-significant decreases. In mathematics, which was the focus of this edition, we achieved 379 points compared to 384 in the 2018 edition, the most recent.

It is known that the pandemic has had a harmful impact on the education landscape around the world, especially in mathematics. In fact, this was reflected in abrupt drops in Pisa scores, notably among the most advanced countries. In the case of Brazil, with a large part of the population in a situation of socioeconomic vulnerability and a fragile educational system, especially in the public network, which serves the majority of the population, there were strong reasons to fear an even worse outcome.

But there’s not much to celebrate: at 65^The position, we continue to be among the 20 worst countries in the world in mathematics. And the report shows that 73% of our young people are below Pisa level 2, considered necessary to exercise citizenship: in the OECD, which brings together the most advanced countries, this percentage is 31%.

A study recently carried out by Iede (Interdisciplinarity and Evidence in the Educational Debate), in technical partnership with Impa (Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics), outlines a blunt diagnosis of mathematics teaching in Brazil, based on concrete data.

He finds that at age 15, our young people are, on average, three years behind their peers in developed countries. The delay is even more striking among schools that serve the low-income population. In fact, there are few cases of low-income students achieving satisfactory results in Pisa. But inequalities go beyond socioeconomic level: color/race and, to a lesser extent, gender are equally important factors.

But the Iede study also offers some positive clues, in particular highlighting the role of knowledge olympiads, such as Obmep (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools), organized annually by Impa.

Schools that actively participate in Obmep have better results in assessments such as Saeb and Enem and have lower failure rates, in addition to having a higher percentage of teachers with adequate training to teach the subject.

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