The Role of Family and School in Shaping Students’ Global Competence: Evidence from PISA 2018

• In Event: Roundtable Session 12
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: The impact and challenges of digital technology and education policies on youth

Proposal

Since the early 21st century, global competence has garnered considerable attention from international organizations and nations as they seek to shape the direction of sustainable development education within the context of globalization (e.g., OECD, 2016, 2018; UNESCO, 2013, 2015). Students engage in a complex web of interactions involving themselves, their schools, and their families, where any compromises in these relationships have explicit or implicit impacts on their development as global citizens (Woods & Kong, 2020; Yemini & Maxwell, 2018). To address this, the present study explores the influence of individual attributes, family background, and school context on students’ global competence, utilizing data from six countries/regions in the PISA 2018. Furthermore, considering the potential for global competence to vary across diverse national settings—shaped by local governance and historical culture (Goren & Yemini, 2017)—this study seeks to identify and elucidate both commonalities and variations in the factors impacting student global competence across the selected countries/regions.
Data for this study were derived from PISA 2018, an international assessment measuring the reading, mathematics, and science literacy of 15-year-old students across 79 countries and economies. Approximately 600,000 students participated in PISA 2018, representing around 32 million 15-year-olds enrolled in schools within the participating countries/economies. PISA 2018 also assessed an innovative domain: global competence, defined as the multidimensional capacity required to navigate our interconnected and evolving world (OECD, 2020). The study sample included data from Chile, Korea, Croatia, Hong Kong, Malta, and Panama, as part of PISA 2018. Given PISA’s complex sampling design, Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM) was employed to analyze the data. HLM offers statistical advantages over traditional regression methods, such as reducing aggregate bias and providing more accurate standard error estimates (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002). Therefore, HLM was utilized to examine the relationships between various student- and school-level variables and student global competence.
The analysis revealed that factors such as students’ gender, self-efficacy in global issues, economic, social, and cultural status (ESCS), and teachers’ intercultural attitudes had significant effects on students’ global competence in Chile, Korea, Croatia, Hong Kong, Malta, and Panama. Additionally, the results highlighted notable regional differences in the impact of these factors on students’ global competence across the six countries/regions studied. These findings provide valuable insights for educators and researchers, particularly concerning the importance of fostering equitable and balanced social, family, and school conditions that support education for global competence. The study underscores the critical role of teachers’ multicultural awareness and global consciousness in enhancing students’ global competence, emphasizing the necessity for comprehensive teacher training in these areas.

Authors

• Yanan Zhang, Renmin University of China

• XI WU, Shanghai Normal University

• Jiali Li, Shanghai Normal University

• Wei Wu, Institute of Education, Xiamen University