Do students make their best effort in large-scale assessment studies such as the "Programme for International Student Assessment" (PISA)? Despite six cycles of PISA surveys from 2000 to 2015, empirical studies regarding students' test motivation and experience of the tests are sparse. The present study examines students' test motivation…

This paper explores Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for Schools, a local variant of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD's) influential PISA that not only assesses an individual school's performance in reading, mathematics and science against international schooling systems, but also promotes 17…

Open-ended (OE) items are widely used to gather data on student performance in international achievement studies. However, several factors may threaten validity when using such items. This study examined Finnish coders' opinions about threats to validity when coding responses to OE items in the PISA 2012 problem-solving test. A total of 6…

Background: This paper analyses the role of, and approach to, policy referencing and borrowing in Hong Kong's recent reforms that culminated in the creation of its New Academic Structure and the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education. Main argument: It argues that Hong Kong has gone further than most jurisdictions not just in responding to…

Will my children's creativity be hindered if I place them within the rigidity of an East Asian school? Conversely, could my children's math and science skills benefit from the high expectations of an East Asian curriculum and teacher? The purpose of this study is two-fold. Firstly, it aims to demonstrate that comparison between Eastern and Western…

Introduction: Teachers in Finland are demanded to develop students' competencies in information literacy. However, they can meet this demand only by collaborating with public librarians. The aim in this case study was to explore the perspectives of teachers, librarians and students in a problem-based project and to analyse the advantages and…

The aim of this article is to examine teachers' constructions of the literacy competence levels of multilingual students. The study is based on a Latour-inspired theoretical understanding of standardised literacy testing as a social practice, and focuses on teachers' perceptions of and practices concerning compulsory national standardised literacy…

In this paper we explore the views and opinions of four secondary education science teachers regarding the teaching of scientific competences. Their views were gathered in the context of a training programme in which they had to design, implement, and assess their own teaching unit for developing students' scientific competences by means of…

Advances in learning approaches can enhance deeper levels of mathematical thinking and engagement through the use of new digital environments and technologies. The growing utilisation of portable digital devices in schools has meant there are enhanced tools to support mathematical learning and understandings. This article focused on those who work…

The need for and employment of qualified teachers have always been in the agenda since the foundation of our country. It is aimed with this study to reveal the convenience of the Content Knowledge Test for Teaching (CKTT), which was first held in 2014, in terms of the content of the classroom teaching undergraduate programs, general competencies…

The aim of this study is to reveal the opinions of teachers, who gave the science lessons that took effect in Turkey in 2004 and 2013, on the sub-components of the programs and to identify to what extent the objectives of the program have been achieved. In total 89 teachers, out of which 42 were females and 47 were males, in the study which was…