Overview

On October 22, 2020, the OECD released the sixth volume of the PISA-2018 International Report “Are students ready to thrive in an interconnected world?”.  This volume presents the results for the “innovative” domain of PISA-2018 – “Global competencies” (hereinafter - GC).  

The new volume analyzes the ability of 15-year-old students to learn issues of local, global and cultural significance; to understanding and evaluating the points of view and worldview of others; to participate in an open, appropriate and effective dialogue between cultures; and to action for shared well-being and sustainable development.

66 countries and territories of the world filled out a questionnaire on global competencies, and 27 countries were tested to assess the formation of global competencies. Kazakhstan administrated both test and the questionnaire.

According to the results for Global competencies (OECD, 2020), Kazakhstani students scored 408 points, which is 66 points lower than the average for 27 countries of the study (11 of them are OECD countries). Kazakhstan’s results are comparable with such countries as Indonesia, Morocco and Panama.

Only 20% of Kazakhstani students managed to complete tasks of the second and higher levels. Students at this level can correctly identify two different or more points of view on a particular situation, can reason beyond the described situation with minimal information, and can also give explanations and assessment of the situation.

The proposed research paper will seek to answer following research questions:

1. How well are students prepared for life in a globalized world?
2. What factors facilitate student’s ability to effectively engage in communication across cultures?
3. What factors hinders student’s ability to effectively engage in communication across cultures?

Research objective: identifying approaches to nurture global competences of students in secondary schools.

Framework: This research relies on PISA Global Competence Framework (OECD, 2019a), which perceives Global Competence as a multi-dimensional construct that combines knowledge, attitudes, skills and values applicable to global issues and intercultural situations. This framework identifies globally competent citizens as those, who are capable of examining issues on local, global and intercultural scales, understanding and appreciating various worldviews and perspectives, interacting with others respectfully and taking responsible action towards sustainability and collective well-being. Developing such competencies could promote respectful interaction in multicultural communities, boost individual’s employability skills, assist in establishing effective and responsible use of media platforms, as well as forming society that recognizes and engages in Sustainable Development Goals. Schools, as the framework highlights, do play major role in developing young people’s global competence, which is why identifying educational systems’ efforts in shaping global citizens is important.

In Kazakhstan, more than 19 thousand students representing more than 200 thousand 15-year-old students took part in the latest PISA-2018 survey. Across all participating countries except Russia, the sample design used for the PISA assessment was a two-stage stratified sample design (OECD, 2019b). Representative school sampling followed by within school sampling of students, who were selected by using systematic random sampling. Students took the test on global competences and filled out a context questionnaire including questions on their perspectives, attitudes and self-efficacy in communicating across local, national and global levels.

The national database that contains student answers for GC test and GC questionnaire will be analyzed further by taking into account national variables such as school location (urban and rural), language of instruction (Russian and Kazakh languages), geographical regions and educational programs. This will shed light on the factors that are behind the formation of global competences. Drawing on the conclusions of the results, the paper will present recommendations for policy makers and practitioners on the ways to develop effectively global competences. Kazakhstan is the only post-soviet country in Central Asia region that regularly participates in ILSA. Considering historic-cultural similarities we hope that the results and outcomes will be insightful for other Central Asia countries.

OECD (2020). PISA 2018 Results (Volume VI): Are Students Ready to Thrive in an Interconnected World?, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/d5f68679-en. OECD (2019a), "PISA 2018 Global Competence Framework", in PISA 2018 Assessment and Analytical Framework, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/043fc3b0-en OECD. (2019b). Technical report. Chapter 3, Sample design. Retrieved from www.oecd.org/edu OECD (2020). National PISA-2018 Database. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/pisa/data/2018database/