§ Mr. BeggsTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the objective is of the Programme for International Student Assessment; when it was authorised; and by whom. [104511]
§ Jane KennedyThe international objective of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is to measure how well young people approaching the end of compulsory schooling are prepared to meet the challenges of today's knowledge societies. Through PISA, OECD member countries are collaborating to improve comparative indicators on the performance of education systems. Research and statistics provide the basis for sound, evidence-based policy making. The specific objective of Northern Ireland's participation, over and above enabling UK figures to be produced, is to build up a time series, independent of GCSE results and capable of international comparison, of data on how well pupils in Northern Ireland are performing in reading, maths and science.
Participation by Northern Ireland in PISA 2000 and PISA 2003 was respectively authorised by my predecessors: Tony Worthington in October 1997 and Martin McGuinness in September 2000.
§ Mr. BeggsTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which schools in Northern Ireland participated in the 2003 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA); on what basis these schools were selected; and what average length of time was taken for each school to complete the PISA. [104512]
§ Jane KennedyIn keeping with the National Statistics Code of Practice, the identities of schools taking part in the PISA survey are confidential to the Office for National Statistics and the Central Survey Unit of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).
Schools were selected at random in proportion to the number of their pupils born in 1987. The list of schools was first stratified according to the following:
537WSchool type (secondary/grammar/independent)Secondary and grammar schools were grouped further according to their GCSE results.All the sub-groups thus produced were divided according to the five Education and Library Board areas.PISA assessments and pupil questionnaires take three hours to administer. Principals are also asked to spend 40 minutes on a questionnaire about the school.
§ Mr. BeggsTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the total cost is of the 2003 Programme for International Student Assessment. [104513]
§ Jane KennedyThe estimated financial cost to the Department of Education is £267,000.
§ Mr. BeggsTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether parents were informed of their child's participation in the Programme for International Student Assessment; and how pa rental consent was obtained. [104515]
§ Jane KennedyEach school that agreed to take part in the study nominated a 'School Co-ordinator' who was supplied with a 'School Co-ordinator's Manual' describing all the procedures associated with the study, from the build-up to the survey through to the administration of the test. The school co-ordinator was also provided with letters and leaflets for the parents of each child selected to take part in the survey. The letters were provided in unsealed envelopes, giving the school the option of adding a letter of their own or a reply slip. It was for the school to decide whether to send the letter and leaflet by post to the parents, or give them to the pupils to take home. The information for parents included a clear statement of what the survey was about, its voluntary nature, information for parents on how to withdraw their child from the survey, and information on what was involved and how long it would take.