Publication: Poland Skilling Up the Next Generation: An Analysis of Poland’s Performance in the Program for International Student Assessment
Loading...
Date
2015-12-02
ISSN
Published
2015-12-02
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Facing the prospects of rapid demographic aging and decline over the coming decades, Poland needs a highly skilled workforce to help generate the productivity growth that it needs to fuel continued convergence of its living standards with those of its West European neighbors. Skilling up the workforce starts with equipping youth with the right cognitive and socio-emotional foundation skills. International research has identified three dimensions of skills that matter for good employment outcomes and economic growth: cognitive skills, such as literacy, numeracy, and creative and critical thinking or problem solving; socio-emotional skills and behavioral traits, such as conscientiousness, grit, and openness to experience; and job- or occupation-specific technical skills, such as the ability to work as an engineer. This report focuses on cognitive skills. It examines results for Poland from the program for international student assessment (PISA), which assesses the mathematics, reading, and science competencies of 15-year-olds. The overall effects of reform on Poland’s PISA scores have been positive, although isolating the precise impact of each reform element is difficult. There is evidence from PISA assessments replicated for older students in upper-secondary education in 2006, 2009 and 2012 that performance gaps previously found between vocational and general schools for 15-year-olds prior to the 1999 reform persist today in upper secondary education, where the performance of students in vocational upper-secondary schools trails that of their peers in general education.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank Group. 2015. Poland Skilling Up the Next Generation: An Analysis of Poland’s Performance in the Program for International Student Assessment. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23331 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Colombia - The Quality of Education in Colombia : An Analysis and Options for a Policy Agenda(Washington, DC, 2008-11-04)The main objective of this report is to analyze student learning in Colombia in order to foster policies to improve education quality that are grounded in research and the Colombian context. In 2006, Colombia participated for the first time in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which provides an important opportunity to benchmark the quality and equity of its education system globally and to inform its education policy. Using the PISA results, this report calls attention to the need for improved student learning in Colombia and provides new analytical work on the factors associated with learning in Colombia and other participant countries. Based on an assessment of the current state of the Colombian education system (chapter first), a review of the relevant literature (chapter second), an analysis of PISA (chapter third), and the report concludes with a set of policy options that may inform a future agenda for system design and reform (chapter fourth).Publication Education Quality and Opportunities for Skills Development in Albania : An Analysis of PISA 2000-2012 Results(Washington, DC, 2012)Albanian students improved their performance on PIS A1 reading, math, and science assessments between 2000 and 2012, a period over which access to upper secondary education expanded dramatically. The improvements are equivalent to a quarter to half a year of schooling in math and science and more than one year of schooling in reading. The improvements were realized despite substantial increases in enrollment and the attendant changes in the PISA sample composition. The gross enrollment rate in upper secondary education was only about 40 percent in 2000, but increased markedly to 72 percent in 2009 and 83 percent in 2012. A spike in enrollment usually results in lower average student performance due to the inclusion of poorer and traditionally excluded students. In the context of a rapidly expanding education system, it is remarkable that Albania managed to improve its average PISA scores. It is even more notable that the improvement came from significant advancements made by low-achieving students. Albania s improved PIS A scores coincide with the launch of intensive reform efforts in its education sector. The Government of Albania initiated the education sector strategy formulation process in 2002, which resulted in the 2004 passage of the National Education Strategy (NES) and the first attempt to develop a long-term roadmap for the sector. The NES served as the catalyst for a range of reforms, including: improved teacher recruitment, compensation, and management; a revised curriculum for basic and general upper secondary education; enhanced transparency and accountability through reform of the Matura, the national student assessment; reduced price and improved textbook quality through a reformed procurement process; and provision of textbook subsidies to the poorest households. While it is beyond the scope of this report to determine a causal relationship between the range of policy reforms and improved PISA scores, this report shows that socioeconomic variables played an important role. Explanatory analyses show that the effect of education variables cannot be disentangled from the effect of socioeconomic variables. Furthermore, with economic growth averaging 4.9 percent per year from 2000-2012, a viable explanation is that the general improvement in economic conditions helped to raise the tide on all social indicators, including PISA performance.Publication Intelligence, Personality, and Creativity : Unleashing the Power of Intelligence and Personality Traits to Build a Creative and Innovative Economy(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-11-04)Cognitive ability, as measured by IQ and background factors such as socioeconomic status and demographics have historically been seen as the principal determinants of a student s academic success. However, a growing body of research from psychology, education, behavioral economics and neuroscience is showing that personality traits also predict academic and work performance. This change in paradigm suggests that education systems face a more complex challenge than traditionally recognized: to work not only with the different types of intelligence possessed by students but also with their different personality traits in order to produce academic success measured by cognitive and non-cognitive skills. This paper reviews the research findings from the different literatures (psychology, education, behavioral economics, and neuroscience) that relate to these questions. Several good reviews summarize the findings on aspects of these questions, but rarely address all of the questions above. In particular, those reviews do not shed light on how education can improve both cognitive and non-cognitive skills and how such skills promote creativity and labor market outcomes. The scientific literatures on human intelligence and personality are large, but our focus is on the subset of research findings that relate intelligence and personality to academic performance. Likewise, the literature on creativity, innovation, and productivity is extensive, but our focus will be on the research findings that relate academic performance to creativity and, ultimately, to productivity in the workplace.Publication School and Work in the Eastern Caribbean : Does the Education System Adequately Prepare Youth for the Global Economy?(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2008)This report comprises the first phase of analytical activities and focuses on the relevance of the education and training systems in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Its findings confirm the importance of strengthening the link between OECS education and training systems and employers' needs. Analytical findings have also informed the design of a project in St. Lucia to pilot a new market-driven training model requiring close partnership between the public and private sectors. The second phase has already been discussed with the OECS governments and is in the preparation stage. It will develop innovative approaches to expand, diversify and finance nurse training programs to efficiently reduce local shortages within the context of a growing global demand and migration of trained nurses from the Caribbean. The third phase is expected to investigate the factors contributing to learning outcomes, particularly at the primary and secondary levels. The study will inform policies and actions that could lead to improved education quality, which Caribbean stakeholders have identified as fundamental to ensuring a more competitive regional workforce in the longer run. This report's analyses and conclusions confirm many views expressed by government officials, educators, youth, students, teachers, labor union members, private sector representatives, and development partners who participated in two events: (i) the St. Lucia Industry Roundtable for Skills for the Tourism Industry, in November 2005, and (ii) the Caribbean Lifelong Learning Forum in May 2006.1 The report also was reviewed both internally at the World Bank by leading experts in education and training, and externally by OECS stakeholders, including government officials, the Caribbean Examinations Council(CXC), and University of the West Indies.Publication Kazakhstan : Student Assessment(Washington, DC, 2012-01)Kazakhstan has focused on increasing student learning outcomes by improving the quality of education in the country. An effective student assessment system is an important component to improving education quality and learning outcomes as it provides the necessary information to meet stakeholders' decision-making needs. In order to gain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of its existing assessment system, Kazakhstan decided to benchmark this system using standardized tools developed under The World Bank's Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) program. SABER is an evidence-based program to help countries systematically examine and strengthen the performance of different aspects of their education systems. SABER-student assessment is a component of the SABER program that focuses specifically on benchmarking student assessment policies and systems. The goal of SABER-student assessment is to promote stronger assessment systems that contribute to improved education quality and learning for all. The importance of assessment is linked to its role in: providing information on levels of student learning and achievement in the system; monitoring trends in education quality over time; supporting educators and students with real-time information to improve teaching and learning; and holding stakeholders accountable for results. The SABER-student assessment framework is built on the available evidence base for what an effective assessment system looks like. The framework provides guidance on how countries can build more effective student assessment systems. The framework is structured around two main dimensions of assessment systems: the types/purposes of assessment activities and the quality of those activities. Assessment systems tend to be comprised of three main types of assessment activities, each of which serves a different purpose and addresses different information needs. These three main types are: classroom assessment, examinations, and large scale, system level assessments. This report focuses specifically on policies in the area of student assessment.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Supporting Youth at Risk(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008)The World Bank has produced this policy Toolkit in response to a growing demand from our government clients and partners for advice on how to create and implement effective policies for at-risk youth. The author has highlighted 22 policies (six core policies, nine promising policies, and seven general policies) that have been effective in addressing the following five key risk areas for young people around the world: (i) youth unemployment, underemployment, and lack of formal sector employment; (ii) early school leaving; (iii) risky sexual behavior leading to early childbearing and HIV/AIDS; (iv) crime and violence; and (v) substance abuse. The objective of this Toolkit is to serve as a practical guide for policy makers in middle-income countries as well as professionals working within the area of youth development on how to develop and implement an effective policy portfolio to foster healthy and positive youth development.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Doing Business 2014 : Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises(Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2013-10-28)Eleventh in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 185 economies, Doing Business 2014 measures regulations affecting 11 areas of everyday business activity: Starting a business, Dealing with construction permits, Getting electricity, Registering property, Getting credit, Protecting investors, Paying taxes, Trading across borders, Enforcing contracts, Closing a business, Employing workers. The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2013, ranks economies on their overall “ease of doing business”, and analyzes reforms to business regulation – identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. The Doing Business reports illustrate how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. Doing Business is a flagship product by the World Bank and IFC that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. More than 60 economies use the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground. In addition, the Doing Business data has generated over 870 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals since its inception.Publication Europe and Central Asia Economic Update, Fall 2024: Better Education for Stronger Growth(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-17)Economic growth in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) is likely to moderate from 3.5 percent in 2023 to 3.3 percent this year. This is significantly weaker than the 4.1 percent average growth in 2000-19. Growth this year is driven by expansionary fiscal policies and strong private consumption. External demand is less favorable because of weak economic expansion in major trading partners, like the European Union. Growth is likely to slow further in 2025, mostly because of the easing of expansion in the Russian Federation and Turkiye. This Europe and Central Asia Economic Update calls for a major overhaul of education systems across the region, particularly higher education, to unleash the talent needed to reinvigorate growth and boost convergence with high-income countries. Universities in the region suffer from poor management, outdated curricula, and inadequate funding and infrastructure. A mismatch between graduates' skills and the skills employers are seeking leads to wasted potential and contributes to the region's brain drain. Reversing the decline in the quality of education will require prioritizing improvements in teacher training, updated curricula, and investment in educational infrastructure. In higher education, reforms are needed to consolidate university systems, integrate them with research centers, and provide reskilling opportunities for adult workers.Publication World Development Report 1984(New York: Oxford University Press, 1984)Long-term needs and sustained effort are underlying themes in this year's report. As with most of its predecessors, it is divided into two parts. The first looks at economic performance, past and prospective. The second part is this year devoted to population - the causes and consequences of rapid population growth, its link to development, why it has slowed down in some developing countries. The two parts mirror each other: economic policy and performance in the next decade will matter for population growth in the developing countries for several decades beyond. Population policy and change in the rest of this century will set the terms for the whole of development strategy in the next. In both cases, policy changes will not yield immediate benefits, but delay will reduce the room for maneuver that policy makers will have in years to come.