Post-PISA improvement planning: implications for institutional accountability

The PISA 2022 follow-up during 2024 provides the immediate reference point for consideration of post-PISA improvement planning in 2024. The relevant policy question is how the stated public objective is translated into responsibilities that can be applied, supervised and reviewed. The unit of review should correspond to the full reach of the decision, including significant differences in provision and population.

The relevant context is provided by PISA 2022 follow-up during 2024. Its relevance to implementation should be assessed against the affected jurisdiction, learner population and form of provision. In the context of post-PISA improvement planning, the international development warrants attention, but a consequential conclusion still requires current, attributable and representative evidence for the affected scope.

When examining post-PISA improvement planning, the first PISA 2022 results were released on 5 December 2023, with mathematics as the principal assessment domain and reading and science also reported. The cycle was conducted after major disruption to education systems. Comparisons require attention to participation, coverage and the exceptional context; changes from earlier cycles should not be attributed to a single cause without further evidence.

Policy context for post-PISA improvement planning

For post-PISA improvement planning, the public interest is not confined to institutional compliance. Governing bodies should receive sufficient, reliable and timely information to oversee education quality, learner protection and material institutional risk.

Review of implementation should be based on a stated method rather than general assurance. For the arrangements, an improvement plan should connect a verified problem with a specific intervention, accountable ownership, resources, milestones and a measure of effect. In reviewing post-PISA improvement planning, broad intentions should be converted into decisions capable of review. Decision-makers should receive an intelligible account of how the result was reached and where it should not be applied.

A narrow control over the issue may create false assurance. In the present context, governing bodies receiving activity data instead of outcome evidence, conflicts not identified and management assurance accepted without testing may produce acceptable aggregate reporting while individual learners remain exposed to material disadvantage. As regards post-PISA improvement planning, a sample confined to compliant cases cannot establish the reliability of the control.

Responsibilities and affected parties

Assurance of post-PISA improvement planning should draw on more than one form of evidence. Useful records include independent review records, corrective-action verification, conflict declarations and controls, risk and assurance plans, and governing-body papers and decisions. Within the scope under review, system-wide assurance cannot be inferred from a favourable case chosen after the event.

Decisions concerning the arrangements should remain traceable to the information available for the stated reference period. For post-PISA improvement planning, transparent treatment of reporting changes prevents artificial movement from being read as substantive progress or decline.

• Preserve a traceable decision record.
• Assign decision authority explicitly before it informs a consequential decision.
• Test management assurance.
• Escalate material exceptions, identifying the accountable function and affected scope.
• Verify corrective action independently before it is relied on for a decision with material effect.

Implementation risks

For post-PISA improvement planning, the applicable expectation should be capable of consistent application. For the arrangements, oversight should test whether formal commitments are reflected in decisions, resource allocation, provider conduct and accessible routes for review. Definitions should provide a stable basis for decisions while allowing relevant differences to be identified and justified.

The method for the measure is to prioritise actions by learner impact and control weakness, establish dependencies, test implementation at suitable intervals and retain unresolved items until effectiveness is verified. In the context of post-PISA improvement planning, amend the plan where evidence does not support the original causal assumption. Averages should be tested against adverse cases that may indicate unequal effect or incomplete operation.

The implementation record for the issue should identify the instrument being applied, its status, the competent authority, the affected jurisdiction and the action expected of each responsible body. For post-PISA improvement planning, binding obligations should remain distinct from policy commitments and measures adopted by institutions. Transition arrangements require defined dates, protections during implementation and a scheduled assessment of readiness.

For implementation, governing bodies should receive a concise account of the intended result, affected scope, principal risks, evidence limitations and unresolved exceptions.

Oversight and follow-up

Proportionality in relation to post-PISA improvement planning does not mean reduced protection for learners exposed to greater risk. Governance structures do not provide assurance merely because committees exist. Membership, information quality, challenge, decisions and follow-through determine whether oversight is effective. A policy direction should not be presented as a uniform legal obligation where national implementation differs. Within the scope under review, providers remain responsible for identifying the requirements that apply to their own activities.

For post-PISA improvement planning, no individual measure is sufficient to establish effective operation of the policy position across the affected scope. A conclusion concerning post-PISA improvement planning should be revised when stronger evidence materially changes the assessment of implementation, outcome or risk.