Dear Parent

PISA 2025: Your child’s opportunity to contribute to an international research study

In September, we are one of 121 Scottish schools and colleges taking part in an OECD international education study called PISA. Young people aged 15 or 16 have been selected randomly to provide a fair representation and your child has been chosen as one of our students to represent their country. Their contribution will help to shape the future of education in Scotland and they will receive Young Scot points in recognition of this.

What is PISA? The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an online interactive assessment which measures how well young learners can apply their knowledge to real-life situations. This video produced by Education Scotland explains more about PISA and further information can be found on the BBC Bitesize link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOMOlpnKDnw

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z7hvxg8#zmnbtcw

What will taking part in PISA involve for your child? Participating learners will be asked to complete an online, interactive assessment which covers topics including maths, reading, science and digital skills. Students in over 80 countries will be completing the same assessments, so they are designed to be inclusive. An online questionnaire will also allow your child to provide valuable feedback on their experiences of school. No preparation or revision is required and participants remain completely anonymous. For learners, it’s a chance to show how they can use their knowledge to tackle real-world problems – skills important for life after school. They can also practise taking tests without the pressure of having to achieve a particular result.

Why is PISA important? Countries, like Scotland, take part in PISA to see how well their education systems are working. Results help governments to identify strengths and areas to improve and can be used to shape the future direction of education policy for schools. PISA also provides valuable insights into contextual factors, such as views on learning science in school and how supportive their teachers are, and how these relate to student aspirations and achievements. We hope that parents encourage their children to take part in with this study, which is likely to be unique in their educational experience.

Why is it important that my child takes part? Your child is being sent a separate communication about PISA and will be told the date when it will be happening at our school. The success of PISA relies on invited students taking part as they cannot be replaced by another student in the school. All that is asked of students is that they do their best. They do not need to answer any questions that, for whatever reason, they might feel uncomfortable with tackling. Participation is voluntary and you have the right to withdraw your child from the study. Please contact me asap if you wish to do this; an explanation of your reasons for withdrawal would be helpful. You can email me on nlharrisw@northlan.org.uk

Privacy and data protection: The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) organises the PISA assessments in schools for the Scottish Government. Further information on PISA and how your child’s data is kept secure can be found on this webpage: www.nfer.ac.uk/pisa. The privacy notice provides details about the information that will be collected, how it will be used and your rights. If you would like to contact NFER about this study, please email pisascotland@nfer.ac.uk.

Your child’s contribution to this important study is highly valued and the Scottish Government is very grateful to everyone who takes part.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Billy Harris

Depute Head Teacher

Greenfaulds High School

Auchenkilns Road

Cumbernauld

G67 4AQ

01236794876