Facing the Future: A Focus on Mathematical Literacy among Australian 15-Year-Old Students in PISA 2003.

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a survey of the knowledge and skills of 15 year olds that was first carried out in 2000 and repeated every three years to measure the changes that take place over time. This document details the results of PISA 2003, focusing on Australia’s results and how the Australian students performed in comparison with students from other countries. It shows how well prepared Australian students are to meet the challenges of the future, whether they have the ability to analyse, reason and communicate their ideas effectively, and whether they have the capacity to continue learning throughout life. Overall, Australian students performed consistently well in the four assessment domains: mathematics, reading, scientific literacy and problem solving. Key messages for Australia from PISA 2003 include: in relation to socioeconomic background, students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds have a distinct advantage; in relation to Indigenous students, a very small proportion of students performed well in mathematical literacy; and in relation to gender differences, while there was no overall gender differences apparent in mathematical performance, males tended to be over-represented at the upper levels of achievement.