Quebec students still rank among the best in the world in mathematics, according to the results of a vast international survey.
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The Canadian results of the latest edition of the Program for International Assessment (PISA) survey, carried out in 81 countries in 2022, were revealed on Tuesday.
However, these data must be interpreted with “caution”, due to methodological weaknesses, warns the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada.
Canada ranks “in the leading group in mathematics on the international scene”, in 9th place, while Quebec ranks 7th in the world.
Across Canada, Quebec students obtain the highest scores in the country.
“Quebec students particularly excelled in mathematics and ranked at levels comparable to those of some of the best-performing countries and economies in the assessment,” we read.
In Quebec, 83% of students obtained a basic level or higher in mathematics, while 15% of them reached level 5 or higher.
In science and reading, however, Quebec is within the Canadian average.
The results of Quebec students in reading have also declined since 2018, the province having experienced “one of the most pronounced declines”, it is indicated.
However, we must “exercise caution” in the interpretation of these results for most provinces of Canada, including Quebec, since the data “do not respect certain of the technical standards imposed by PISA”, we can read.
The organization, however, judged that the data from Canada “were generally of sufficient quality” for them to be taken into account as part of this international survey, it is specified.
“Inflated” results?
Stéphane Vigneault, coordinator of the École Ensemble movement, however, has serious caveats. He considers that these strong results could be “inflated” by unrepresentative sampling.
A high proportion of Quebec schools selected to be part of this survey refused to participate (nearly 40% of them), while the proportion of students who refused to participate is also higher than the norm. minimum required.
The results could therefore have been “overestimated”, since the refusal rate could have been higher in ordinary public schools and among weaker students, warns Mr. Vigneault.
