Barriers and Facilitators of Introducing PISA in Mongolia

Author: Byambasuren Erdenesuren

Erdenesuren, Byambasuren, 2018 Barriers and Facilitators of Introducing PISA in Mongolia, Flinders University, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work

Terms of Use: This electronic version is (or will be) made publicly available by Flinders University in accordance with its open access policy for student theses. Copyright in this thesis remains with the author. You may use this material for uses permitted under the Copyright Act 1968. If you are the owner of any included third party copyright material and/or you believe that any material has been made available without permission of the copyright owner please contact copyright@flinders.edu.au with the details.

Abstract

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial survey conducted by many countries in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which aims to evaluate education systems and provide comparable data from participating countries by testing the knowledge and skills of 15-year-old students. Students are assessed in science, mathematics, reading, collaborative problem solving, and financial literacy, the results of which assist in measuring and evaluating standards of scholastic performance and equity in education around the world. The Mongolian Governmental Sustainable Development Goal for the upcoming 15 years seeks to introduce the PISA initiative by the year 2021 in Mongolia.

This study explores barriers and facilitators likely to affect the introduction of PISA in Mongolia. This qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 12 participants; adults from both the secondary school sector and at ministerial levels in Mongolia. Thematic analysis of the interviews found that the difference in knowledge about PISA between the various stakeholders has a political impact on the Education sector as well as management issues namely, time, finance and planning. These can be the most influential barriers for Mongolia when the country introduces PISA. However, the current needs of the country, acceptance of PISA into Mongolian high-level policies and the influence of international trends to accept PISA are defined as the strongest facilitators for the introduction of PISA in Mongolia. This dissertation argues that in advance of introducing PISA in a country such as Mongolia, there is a strong need for educational research to facilitate information sharing between stakeholders in order for them to gain scholarly knowledge to inform considerations which may burden or foster the processes inherent in implementing PISA.

Keywords: PISA, barriers, facilitators, recommendations, introducing PISA

Subject: Education thesis

Thesis type: Masters
Completed: 2018
School: College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
Supervisor: Grace Skrzypiec