Student's Educational Outcome is Influenced by Regional Culture. Analysis of Regional Differences and Patterns in Two Different Assessments in Finland
Author(s):
Jouni Vettenranta (presenting / submitting) Heidi Harju-Luukkainen
Conference:
ECER 2013
Network:
09. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement
Format:
Paper

Session Information

09 SES 08 A, Findings from International Comparative Achievement Studies and their National Extensions: Issues in Equity and Inequality

Paper Session

Time:
2013-09-12
09:00-10:30
Room:
D-308
Chair:
Jana Strakova

Contribution

All adolescents are bound into their living environment that has an impact on their lives and learning in many ways. For example individual’s mental functions develop in different social, historical, cultural and institutional contexts. In these environments we can find different cultural features that have an impact on student’s educational outcome. For example in PISA 2009 –assessments 10 percent of the variance between student’s reading literacy outcomes could be explained with parents economic, social and cultural status index (ESCS) in Swedish-language schools (Harju-Luukkainen & Nissinen 2011). This index comprised information from items of student’s wealth, cultural position, home educational resources as well as books at home and parent’s highest occupations status and educational level. We can also find many other studies where the educational outcome is associated with cultural factors (see for example Carbonaro 1998 and Israel et al. 2001, OECD 2010)).

 

In this paper we take a macro perspective on education and learning and focus on wider social, economic, political and historical context where people live in. We think that this cultural context in different areas, to some extent, locates learning outcomes of individuals. Our aim in this paper is to ask if we can find a regional accumulation of learning outcomes in Finland, and if we can find similar regional patterns in different assessments. We will focus on educational outcome of Swedish-language schools in Finland. This is due to the fact that the Swedish-speaking population can be found only in some living areas of Finland, which in turn makes the areal comparisons less complex.

 

Method

We examine the same schools that have participated in both PISA 2009 –assessment and in the School Health Promotion study (SHPS) during years 2008-2009. By examining the same schools we make the results more comparable. In PISA the data concerning reading literacy is studied. In the SHPS data related to student’s knowledge of intoxicants and sexual health related questions are studied. The areal variation and grouping of performance, and the SHPS-factors as well, are studied by means of a spatial statistical method, called kriging (e.g. Isaaks and Srivastava 1989, Brimicombe 2000). Plausible values, background factors and their standard errors are estimated at the nodes of a square grid of 10 km x 10 km over entire Swedish-speaking Finland. The estimation is done based on the nearest neighbors (PISA schools) weighted by distance. Corresponding contour maps are developed for visual observation.

Expected Outcomes

According to the results, there was a connection between these assessment’s outcomes and local environments. In our analysis we took a closer look at three different areas in Finland. In area 1 in SHPS students did achieve poor knowledge about intoxicants, poor to medium knowledge about sexual health and medium results in PISA reading literacy. In area 2 in SHPS students did achieve good knowledge about intoxicants but also good knowledge about sexual health. In PISA this area had highest score points in reading literacy. In area 3 in SHPS the students had poor knowledge about intoxicants, a medium knowledge about their sexual health and performed poorly in PISA -assessment. A matrix of the results is presented. These results raise natural questions about the cultural context of different areas and its impact on student’s educational outcome. To obtain local information, by connecting several assessments, can be useful in identifying special regional characteristics. This knowledge is useful for local authorities and for national education policy as well. It is crucial to identify local special characteristics for possible reconstructive actions and, on the other hand, in nationwide education policy it is important to consider if regional interventions are needed.

References

Brimicombe, A. 2000. Constructing and evaluating contextual indices using GIS: A case of primary school performance tables. Environment and Planning A. 32(11), pp. 1909-1933. Carbonaro, W. (1998) A little help from my friend’s parents: Intergenerational Cosure and Educational Outcomes. Sociology of Education 1998, Vol 71 (Octoer): 295-313. Harju-Luukkainen, H. & Nissinen, K. 2011. Finlandssvenska 15-åriga elevers resultatnivå i PISA 2009 –undersökningen. Finnish Institute for Educational Research. University of Jyväskylä. Isaaks, E.H. & Srivastava, R.M. (1989) Applied Geostatistics. New York: Oxford University Press. Israel, G., Beaulieu, L. & Hartless, G. (2001). The influence of Family and Community Social Capital on Educational Achievement. Rural Sociology. Volume 66, Issue 1, pages 43-68, March 2001 OECD (2010), PISA 2009 Results: Overcoming Social Background – Equity in Learning Opportunities and Outcomes (Volume II) http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264091504-en

Author Information

Jouni Vettenranta (presenting / submitting)
University of Jyväskylä
University of Jyväskylä
Heidi Harju-Luukkainen
University of Helsinki
Teacher Education
00014 Helsingin yliopisto

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