Swiss Review 2/2020

Swiss Review / April 2020 / No.2 22 Society MIREILLE GUGGENBÜHLER Ivana is raising chickens. She asks the following question on an online forum related to chicken health: “Is it okay to give aspirin tomy hen? She is two years old and I think she has hurt her leg. I can’t get to the veterinary surgeon until Monday, and the vet isn’t answering the phone. My hen seems to be in a lot of pain. I’d like to give her something to make her feel better.” Ivana’s question is part of a task featured in the latest Pro- gramme for International Student Assessment (PISA) school performance study. The PISA study, which compares educa- tional attainment around the world, is carried out every three years in the OECD member countries and in OECD partner countries. PISA assesses the knowledge and skills of 15-year-old students in reading, mathematics and science. Does the hen need an aspirin or a vet? The latest PISA study focused mainly on reading – its “on- line forum on chicken health” being a prime example. Fif- teen-year-olds not only had to read Ivana’s question accu- rately but also understandwhat Ivanawanted to know. Did she want to knowwhether she could give aspirin to the in- jured hen or howoften she could give aspirin to the injured hen?Was Ivana asking how to find a vet? Or was she asking if she could determine the pain level of an injured hen? Students had to click on their choice to answer the ques- tion. For the first time ever, the PISA assessment included these interactive test questions in addition to the tradi- Fewer schoolchildren understand what they read The latest PISA study has found that Swiss schoolchildren are losing the ability to read a text and understand what it means. The country’s leading teacher has called it a language crisis. tional paper-based reading tasks. According to the authors who summarised Switzerland’s PISA results, this made sense because the test must always take societal develop- ments into account – one of which is digitalisation. Hence, the definition of reading skills now takes the ability to use digital media into consideration. Switzerland’s latest PISA test results show a number of trends compared to the results of the 2015 assessment: ■ ■ Reading performance has declined ■ ■ The percentage of students who enjoy reading has decreased ■ ■ The percentage of students with reading difficulties has increased Mean performance in reading in Switzerland is not much different to the average mean performance across OECD countries. However, European countries including Fin- land, Sweden, Germany, France and Belgium performed significantly better than Switzerland. Films instead of books during free time Why has Switzerland seen a decline in reading skills and reading enjoyment among young people, and why has the proportion of Swiss students with reading difficulties in- creased? In her role as chair of the umbrella organisation of teachers in Switzerland, the LCH, Dagmar Rösler has to contend with education issues on a daily basis. The results of the PISA study reflect her experiences as a teacher. “I too have noticed inmy work that fewer children are read- ing,” she says. “Digital media are competing with books. Children now watch films in their free time instead of reading books.” The latest PISA results underscore this statement. Some 50 out of 100 Swiss students indicated that they did not read for enjoyment. In 2000, this applied to only 30 out of 100 students. There is, however, a very close cor- relation between reading enjoyment and reading skills, according to PISA, so should we be doing more to pro- mote reading as an enjoyable activity? “We are already doing a lot. Teachers know that reading is very impor- tant,” says Rösler, and she adds: “At the moment, school is probably still the place where young people read the Dagmar Rösler be- lieves that reading has to start at home. Photo: donated Fifty out of 100 Swiss students say they don’t enjoy reading. She belongs to the other 50. Photo: Keystone