How PISA measures students’ ability to collaborate

How does PISA measurestudents’ ability to collaborate?

Results from the PISA 2015 collaborative problem-solving assessment will be released on 21 November 2017.

Solving unfamiliar problems on one’s own is important, but in today’s increasingly interconnected world, people are often required to collaborate in order to achieve their goals. Teamwork has numerous benefits, from a diverse range of opinions to synergies among team members, and assigning tasks to those who are best suited to them.

Collaboration can also be fraught with difficulties. Instead of dividing tasks effectively, one team member might reproduce another’s work. Interpersonal tension and poor communication might also prevent the team from achieving its full potential. Working with others is a skill that might not be natural to everyone, but it can be developed with time and practice.

Every three years, PISA measures students’ ability to apply their knowledge in three core subjects – science, reading and mathematics – to familiar settings. These competencies, however, are not sufficient to thrive in life. Hence, PISA 2015 – for the first time ever in any international assessment – measures students’ ability to solve problems collaboratively in 52 education systems around the world.

So what should you look out for in late November when the collaborative problem-solving results are made public? Among other things:

 • Which country or economy has the highest average score in collaborative problem solving?

• As in PISA 2012, there is likely to be a positive relationship between performance in science, reading and mathematics, and performance in collaborative problem solving. If we compare students across different education systems who perform similarly in the three core PISA subjects, in which systems do students have the highest collaborative problem-solving performance?

 • Do boys or girls perform better in collaborative problem solving?

 • What are students’ attitudes towards collaboration?

 • Are there certain student behaviours or school policies associated with better performance in collaborative problem solving or with more positive attitudes towards co-operation?