I want to discuss a new study on PIAAC, the lesser-known adult sibling of PISA. PIAAC measures, among other things, literacy and numeracy among adults, while PISA assesses related skills among 15-year-olds. There was something in the Flemish results in 2024 that fascinated me. I wrote on my Dutch blog: By 2012, average PISA scores… Read More PISA scores fall. PIAAC scores don’t. How can that be?
This blog has an AI problem. No, not because it was written by AI (although I translated it with AI’s help). Or rather, I have an AI research problem. The problem is that I am increasingly unsure which new studies on AI and education are still worth discussing here. I have a monthly podcast in… Read More This blog has an AI problem
Heleen Reynolds writes great summaries of books about education. Now she made a summary of our book, which she describes as: Cognitive science draws on psychology, and this EXCELLENT book not only gives a comprehensive (and readable) background, it is FULL of useful applications for your classroom. Super useful! Download summary Download ‘Do This’ version
We are in the final week of the summer holiday here in Flanders. Many parents, and even quite a few pupils, if they are honest, will say that the summer break is simply too long. It is a discussion that comes back with some regularity, and one I get called about every few months. And… Read More Should the summer holiday be shorter, or perhaps longer?
This weekend, I came across this piece on ScienceDaily. Like any good press release, the message is one that rather invites you to click: speaking several languages could keep your brain up to thirteen years younger. This sounds promising, especially if you speak several languages. The newspaper articles almost write themselves, but before you download… Read More What should you do when a press release claims multilingualism can make your brain 13 years younger?
My wife was at a conference in Finland last week and sent me this link, along with the slide below, saying, “this might be interesting for your blog.” At first sight, it is about a large-scale experiment in which children in Finland start something resembling kindergarten a year earlier, at five instead of six. Primary… Read More Who actually expects the most from educational innovation?
Anyone who has been following my work and this blog for a while will know that I am quite interested in collective teacher efficacy and collective student efficacy. This post is related to the first of these concepts. Depending on the type of school you work in, there are subject departments, working groups, professional learning… Read More A team meeting does not make a team
This video is maybe less ok if you’re a big fan of Paddington… Check here for more Funny on Sunday.
A Finnish study followed young people for eight years, tracking their physical activity and screen time at different points and then examining how these were associated with their cognitive performance in adolescence. Sounds impressive, and it is. And things get particularly interesting when more screen time appears to be positively associated with cognition. But… we… Read More This longitudinal study seems to turn everything we know about screen time upside down
On September 8th, the OECD will publish the new PISA results. The results will not be released in December as before, but at the beginning of the school year. And, I must admit, I am quite torn about this. In each PISA cycle, one particular domain takes centre stage. It will be neither mathematics nor… Read More PISA 2025 Is Coming. But What Does It Actually Measure?