Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has been conducted by the OECD at regular intervals since 2000 and is a broad assessment of the competencies of 15-year-old students. PISA is one of the international Large-Scale Assessments (LSA) in the field of education and allows the effectiveness of education systems to be compared both between countries and over time. It tests the competencies of 15-year-old students in reading, mathematics and science in OECD member countries and in many OECD partner countries and economies. Every three years, one of the three competency domains becomes the focus domain and is tested more extensively. The OECD also offers the option of testing other areas of competency, such as financial literacy. Switzerland has participated in PISA since 2000, and since 2015 exclusively with a national sample.

PISA is based on the concept of basic education (literacy), which enables young people to apply their knowledge and skills in a new environment, to analyse a variety of situations when faced with a problem, to think logically and to communicate effectively. It is of interest to know the extent to which young people have the skills to meet the challenges of school and work and to participate actively in society. Basic education is not only acquired in formal learning structures, but also includes individual components that go beyond cognitive educational outcomes, such as motivation to learn, confidence in one's own abilities and learning strategies. These individual non-cognitive educational outcomes, as well as other contextual characteristics relevant to education, are assessed in PISA through questionnaires at different levels (students, school administrators, teachers, parents), with Switzerland focusing exclusively on the student and school administrator levels.

PISA 2022 is being coordinated by ICER in collaboration with the Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) and the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).