INDONESIA PISA RESULT:
2022 ANALYSIS
Written by
Salwa Maziyatun Najah
UNIVERSITY OF THE PEOPLE
December, 2022
PISA stands for Programme for International Student Assessment. This assessment
evaluates students’ performance in Math, Science and Literacy (Program for International
Students Assessment (PISA) . (n.d.)). According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD), the group that administers PISA, PISA test results aims to show
where countries stand, and motivate policymakers to identify shortcomings and create education
reforms (The Purpose of PISA, 2013). Indonesia has participated in PISA since 2000. For 22
years, there is no significant progress in PISA result for Indonesian students. Indonesia always
gets in the 10 lowest ranks among all OECD countries. The table below (Apa itu PISA, 2018)
shows Indonesian students’ PISA result for literacy (blue line), science (yellow line) and
mathematics (red line). In 2018, the results were even getting worse than the previous results.
This was caused by many factors, including social, economic and political factors (Pratiwi,
2019).
PISA has both
positive and negative
effects for Indonesia as a
developing country. One
of the positive effect is
that it makes the
government always
evaluate education system in Indonesia. Since 2020, Indonesia ministry of education has
implemented a very breakthrough curriculum in Indonesia, Kurikulum Merdeka (Pratiwi, 2019).
This curriculum system encourages Indonesian students to understand the implementation of the
knowledge they learn. That is in line with what PISA test is about. PISA questions the students
how science, math and literacy is implemented in real-life problem. During PISA test, the
students must answer questions which are real-life-based using the Math/Science/Literacy theory
they have learned.
The second positive impact is that the government always receives positive suggestion
from OECD after the PISA test. In 2018, for instance, Indonesia Minister of Education stated
that the OECD has announced that there was no big discrepancy among students from different
economic background in Indonesia because the teacher used Information and Technology
innovations (Pratiwi, 2019). Therefore, it was suggested that Indonesia strengthen the
implementation of Information and Technology (IT) innovation in education to omit the
education gap between the rich and the poor students. Since then, Indonesia Ministry of
Education had so many programs related to IT.
However, there are also several negative impacts from PISA results. One of the negative
impact is that the government focuses more on the literacy, Math and Science subject. Those
three subjects become the king, the queen and the princess of school subjects. Many teachers
also have that kind of view. That belittles students who are good at physics and arts. Those
students will think that mastering physics and arts do not matter for the teacher, for the country,
even for the world (OECD and PISA tests, 2014).
The second negative impact is that it makes the country become underestimated. It is so
difficult for High School graduates from Indonesia to get accepted in the world’s best
Universities. The quota for them is only small. PISA results show the average Indonesian
students. There are other Indonesian students who are over the average. However, PISA results
have overshadowed their profile.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
PISA result might give one perspective of education for a country. It shows where the
country stands for Math, Science and literacy. However, as it has both good and bad impacts to
the country, every country must see it as one perspective only. There are other perspectives of
education quality which the government should consider for its country’s evaluation for
education system. Furthermore, PISA is an assessment of learning. There are still other
assessments according to UNESCO, which policy makers should consider. They include
assessment as learning and for learning (Earl & Katz, 2006). PISA result does not support what
UNESCO has suggested to improve our education for sustainable development (OECD and PISA
tests, 2014)
REFERENCES
Apa itu PISA (2018) Indonesia PISA retrieved from https://indonesiapisa.com/profil/
Earl, L., & Katz, S. (2006). Rethinking classroom assessment with purpose in mind:
Assessment for learning, assessment as learning, assessment of learning. Manitoba
Education, Citizenship and
Youth. https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/assess/wncp/full_doc.pdf
OECD and PISA tests are damaging education worldwide-academics. (2014).
Theguardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/06/oecd-pisatests-damaging-education-academics
Pratiwi, Indah (2019) Pengaruh PISA dalam Kurikulum Indonesia, retrieved from
https://jendela.kemdikbud.go.id/v2/kajian/detail/pengaruh-pisa-dalamperubahan-kurikulum-pendidikanindonesia#:~:text=Sejak%20tahun%202000%20Indonesia%20telah,oecd.org%2C
%202016).
Program for International Students Assessment (PISA) . (n.d.). IES, National Center for
Education Statisitics. https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/
The Purpose of PISA. (2013). The Center for Education
Reform. https://www.edreform.com/edspresso-shots/the-purpose-of-pisa/