Alumnado español de alto y bajo rendimiento en ciencias en PISA 2015: análisis del impacto de algunas variables de contexto

Abstract

In line with the previous results, the 2015 edition of the PISA program shows that one of the main problems of the Spanish education system is that almost 20% of students are in the lower two levels of performance and only 5% of students achieve the highest levels of competence in science. Firstly, this paper aims to characterize extreme performance groups of students in PISA 2015 Science. Second, to identify variables that have a significant impact on the performance of these groups in order to generate information that allows intervention by educational authorities or schools. For this, a secondary analysis is performed on the database of PISA 2015 Spanish students. The variables analyzed in this paper are indicators of different constructs measured in the context questionnaires administered to students, teachers and principals. The results show that the variables that most differentiate between the two extreme groups at student’ level are those related to perceived self-efficacy in science, interest and enjoyment of scientific issues, epistemological beliefs, among others. And, at school level the most impact indicator is related to the behaviors that make learning difficult emerge. The set of variables that make up this factor point to the importance of a school climate that favors and enhances an adequate classroom work environment.