The PISA results for 15 year olds were released on the 4th December.

If we are really serious about improving the performance of the lowest attaining 20% then we have to take account of some of the findings of this research.

Consider this:

Streaming at an early age tends to increase the impact of socio-economic background on student performance, PISA 2006 indicates. The earlier students were stratified into separate institutions or programmes, the stronger was the impact which the school’s average socio-economic background had on performance.Streaming at an early age tends to increase the impact of socio-economic background on student performance, PISA 2006 indicates. The earlier students were stratified into separate institutions or programmes, the stronger was the impact which the school’s average socio-economic background had on performance.

What emerges from the research is that systems can change and when they do they can have a dramatic effect upon children’s knowledge and skills. So do we have the courage and conviction to really change to meet the needs of all children – or are the forces of inertia which exist within our system too resistant to such change?

I’ll be looking at this research in more detail over the weekend.