Performance in science, epistemic conceptions, and STEM vocations in Spain’s autonomous communities: evidence from PISA 2015, improvement policies, and practices

Francisco López Rupérez
Isabel García García
Eva Expósito Casas

Abstract

Knowledge plays a vital role as the key to long-term economic development, at both the national and regional levels. Furthermore, the new circumstances require the exercise of mature citizenship at an intellectual level and responsible citizenship in the political sphere. By its very nature, science education can make a decisive contribution towards achieving the two goals of economic development and civic progress. From this dual perspective, this work analyses the data from PISA 2015. Its aim is to provide an empirical analysis of the relative positions of the 17 Spanish autonomous communities in terms of science education. It focuses on three main variables and how they are related: students’ performance in science, their epistemic conceptions, and their STEM vocations. A number of recommendations for improvement policies and practices relating to this evidence are made.

This is the English version of an article originally printed in Spanish in issue 272 of the revista española de pedagogía. For this reason, the abbreviation EV has been added to the page numbers. Please, cite this article as follows: López Rupérez, F., García García, I., & Expósito Casas, E. (2019). Rendimiento en ciencias, concepciones epistémicas y vocaciones STEM en las comunidades autónomas españolas. Evidencias desde PISA 2015, políticas y prácticas de mejora | Performance in science, epistemic conceptions, and STEM vocations in Spain’s autonomous communities: evidence from PISA 2015, improvement policies, and practices. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 77 (272), 5-27. doi: 10.22550/REP77-1-2019-09

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Author Biography

Francisco López Rupérez has a Doctorate in Physical Sciences from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and is a Professor of Secondary School Physics and Chemistry. He has been the Director General for Educational Centres of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport, Secretary General for Education and Professional Training in that Ministry, and Chair of the National Schools’ Council. He is currently Director of the Educational Policies Chair at the Camilo José Cela University.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2613-9652

Isabel García García is a Graduate in Mathematical Sciences from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and is a Professor of Secondary School Mathematics. She has been Head of Area in the National Schools’ Council and was responsible for the 2012 to 2016 editions of the “Informe sobre el estado del sistema educativo (Report on the state of the educational system)”. She currently collaborates with the Educational Policies Chair at the Camilo José Cela University.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9884-6148

Eva Expósito Casas has a Doctorate in Education from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Research Methods and Assessment in Education II at the National Distance Education University. She is a member of the Complutense’s Measuring and Evaluating Educational Systems research group (MESE) and the Educational Psychology Counselling and Counsellor Skills research group (GRISOP).

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7943-3228

Citación recomendada | Recommended citation

Rupérez, F. L., García, I. G., & Casas, E. E. (2019) . Performance in science, epistemic conceptions, and STEM vocations in Spain’s autonomous communities: evidence from PISA 2015, improvement policies, and practices. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 77(272). https://www.revistadepedagogia.org/rep/vol77/iss272/10