The Pisa survey, done once every three years, provides more than a comprehensive comparison on which education systems are performing best among the 81 participating economies. It also offers a clear record since the surveys were launched in 2000 of whether literacy and numeracy are improving or declining worldwide.
More students are poor readers. Unicef says that only a third of the world’s 10-year-olds can read and understand a simple story. The previous Pisa survey found that 49 per cent of students agreed with the statement: “I read only if I have to.”
These concerns are echoed in the Ljubljana Reading Manifesto, unveiled in October: “While digital technologies offer much potential for new forms of learning, recent empirical research shows that the digital environment is having a negative impact on reading.” Signatories are particularly concerned about the temptations social media provides “to read in a superficial and scattered manner” and the need to encourage higher-level reading.
If educators are right that much of the decline in Pisa performance is down to social-media-induced “simplism” rather than traumatic pandemic disruption, our learning crisis is unlikely to be temporary. The tech-driven smart jobs of our economic future will require stronger literacy, numeracy and scientific competencies, and the slippage that the latest Pisa report describes is no small matter.
David Dodwell is CEO of the trade policy and international relations consultancy Strategic Access, focused on developments and challenges facing the Asia-Pacific over the past four decades