Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T11:14:17.471Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Media neglect of Indigenous student performance in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2001–2015

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2019

Edward Rock Davis ,
Rachel Wilson  and
John Robert Evans
Edward Rock Davis*
Affiliation:
School of Education and Social Work, Education Annexe, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Rachel Wilson
Affiliation:
School of Education and Social Work, Education Annexe, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
John Robert Evans
Affiliation:
Australian Centre for Public and Population Health Research, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Edward Rock Davis, E-mail: edav9683@uni.sydney.edu.au
Get access

Abstract

This research explores media reporting of Indigenous students’ Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results in two national and 11 metropolitan Australian newspapers from 2001 to 2015. Of almost 300 articles on PISA, only 10 focused on reporting of Indigenous PISA results. While general or non-Indigenous PISA results featured in media reports, especially at the time of the publication of PISA results, there was overwhelming neglect of Indigenous results and the performance gap. A thematic analysis of articles showed mainstream PISA reporting had critical commentary which is not found in the Indigenous PISA articles. The three themes identified include: a lack of teacher quality in remote and rural schools; the debate on Gonski funding recommendations and the PISA achievement gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. This study concluded the overwhelming neglect is linked to media bias, which continues to drive mainstream media coverage of Indigenous Australians.

Keywords

Aboriginal educationmedia biasmedia discourseProgramme for International Student Assessment
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , August 2021 , pp. 136 - 146
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allcott, H and Gentzkow, M (2017) Social media and fake news in the 2016 election. Journal of Economic Perspectives 31, 211–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Angus, L (2015) School choice: neoliberal education policy and imagined futures. British Journal of Sociology of Education 36, 395–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2016) 2016 Census: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples Quick Stats. Available at http://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/IQS7 (Accessed 22 July 2018).Google Scholar
Bagdikian, B (2004) The New Media Monopoly. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Baroutsis, A and Lingard, B (2017) Counting and comparing school performance: an analysis of media coverage of PISA in Australia, 2000–2014. Journal of Education Policy 32, 432–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beder, S (2004) Moulding and manipulating the news. In White, R (ed.) Controversies in Environmental Sociology. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, pp. 204–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowe, J and Gore, J (2017) Reassembling teacher professional development: the case for Quality Teaching Rounds. Teachers and Training 23, 352–366.Google Scholar
Braun, V and Clarke, V (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3, 77–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breakspear, S (2014) How Does PISA Shape Education Policy Making? Why How We Measure Learning Determines What Counts in Education, Seminar Series 240. Melbourne: Centre for Strategic Education. Available at http://simonbreakspear.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Breakspear-PISA-Paper.pdf (Accessed 22 July 2018).Google Scholar
Buckingham, J (2004) Aussies get high marks in world test. The Australian, 3, December 8.Google Scholar
Bullimore, K (1999) Media dreaming: representation of Aboriginality in modern Australian media. Asia Pacific Media Educator 6, 72–81.Google Scholar
Butler, R, Ho, C and Vincent, E (2017) ‘Tutored within an inch of their life’: morality and ‘old’ and ‘new’ middle class identities in Australian schools. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 43, 2408–2422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chesters, J and Haynes, M (2016) Reproducing social inequality within comprehensive school systems: The case of Australia. In Blossfeld, HP, Buchholz, S, Skopek, J and Triventi, M (eds), Models of Secondary Education and Social Inequality: An International Comparison. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, pp. 269–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COAG Reform Council (2010) National Indigenous Reform Agreement: Baseline Performance Report for 2008–09. Sydney: COAG Reform Council.Google Scholar
Cobbold, T (2012) Stark lessons for our nation. The Canberra Times, 23, December 14.Google Scholar
Connors, L (2007) Making Federalism Work for Schools: Due Process, Transparency, Informed Consent. Sydney: NSW Public Education Alliance.Google Scholar
D'Alessio, D and Allen, M (2000) Media bias in presidential elections: a meta-analysis. Journal of Communication 50, 133–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dinham, S (2013) The quality teaching movement in Australia encounters difficult terrain: a personal perspective. Australian Journal of Education 57, 91–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doherty, T (2004) Aboriginal performance tarnishes result. The Sydney Morning Herald, 6, December 8.Google Scholar
Dowling, A (2008) Unhelpfully complex and exceedingly opaque: Australia's school funding system. Australian Journal of Education 52, 129–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dreise, T and Thomson, S (2014) Unfinished Business: PISA Shows Indigenous Youth are Being Left Behind. Camberwell: ACER Press.Google Scholar
Ewart, J (1997) The scabsuckers: regional journalists’ representation of Indigenous Australians. Asia Pacific Media Educator 3, 108–117.Google Scholar
Forsey, M, Proctor, H and Stacey, M (2017) A most poisonous debate: Legitimizing support for Australian private schools. In Koinzer, T, Nikolai, R and Waldow, F (eds), Private Schools and School Choice in Compulsory Education: Global Change and National Challenge. Germany: Springer, pp. 49–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillis, S, Polesel, J and Wu, M (2016) PISA data: raising concerns with its use in policy settings. The Australian Educational Researcher 43, 131–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gonski, D, Boston, K, Greiner, K, Lawrence, C, Scales, B and Tannock, P (2011) Review of Funding for Schooling—Final Report. Canberra: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.Google Scholar
Gorur, R and Wu, M (2015) Leaning too far? PISA, policy and Australia's ‘top five’ ambitions. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 36, 647–664.Google Scholar
Gray, J and Beresford, Q (2008) A ‘formidable challenge’: Australia's quest for equity in Indigenous education. Australian Journal of Education 52, 197–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffen-Foley, B (2002) The Fairfax, Murdoch and Packer dynasties in twentieth-century Australia. Media History 8, 89–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groseclose, T and Milyo, J (2005) A measure of media bias. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 120, 1191–1237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hallinan, C and Judd, B (2009) Race relations, Indigenous Australia and the social impact of professional Australian football. Sport in Society 26, 69–79.Google Scholar
Henry, F and Tator, C (2002) Discourses of Domination: Racial Bias in the Canadian English Language Press. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hippocrates, C and Meadows, M (1996) Race Reporter: A Report on an Investigation Into the media and the Representation of Race Relations. Brisbane: Queensland Anti-Discrimination Commission.Google Scholar
Hobbs, M and Owen, S (2016) Stifling dissent: the Murdoch press and its campaigns against its ‘critics’. Communication Research and Practice 2, 137–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofstetter, CR (1976) Bias in the News: Network Television Coverage of the 1972 Election Campaign. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.Google Scholar
Jakubowicz, A and Seneviratne, K (1996) Ethnic Conflict and the Australian media. Sydney: Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, University of Technology.Google Scholar
Jakubowicz, A, Goodall, J, Marin, T, Mitchell, LR and Seneviratne, K (1994) Racism, Ethnicity and the media. St Leonards: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Jerrim, J (2015) Why do East Asian children perform so well in PISA? An investigation of Western-born children of East Asian descent. Oxford Review of Education 41, 310–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kabir, N (2006) Representation of Islam and Muslims in the Australian media, 2001–2005. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 26, 313–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keating, J and Klatt, M (2013) Australian concurrent federalism and its implications for the Gonski Review. Journal of Education Policy 28, 411–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenway, J (2013) Challenging inequality in Australian schools: Gonski and beyond. Discourse Studies in Cultural Politics of Education 34, 286–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohut, A (2004) How Journalists see Journalists in 2004. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.Google Scholar
Lee, T (2005) The liberal media myth revisited: an examination of factors influencing perceptions of media bias. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 49, 43–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leigh, A and Ryan, C (2008) How and why has teacher quality changed in Australia? Australian Economic Review 41, 141–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lichter, SR (2017) Theories of media bias. In Kenski, K and Jamieson, KH (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Political Communication. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 403–416.Google Scholar
Lichter, SR, Rothman, S and Lichter, LS (1990) The Media Elite. New York: Hastings House.Google Scholar
Lingard, B (2016) Think tanks, ‘policy experts’ and ‘ideas for’ education policy making in Australia. Australian Educational Researcher 43, 15–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marks, GN (2017) Students in Australian catholic and independent schools have more positive learning environments: evidence from the 2012 PISA study. Journal of School Choice 11, 426–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayer, D, Mitchell, J, Macdonald, D and Bell, R (2005) Professional standards for teachers: a case study of professional learning. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education 33, 159–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCallum, K (2007) Indigenous violence as a ‘mediated public crisis’. Paper read at Communications, Civics, Industry—ANZCA2007 Conference Proceedings. Available at http://www.canberra.edu.au/researchrepository/items/da2b9d3a-3218-6dfe-452b-91ddd1dad31b/1/ (accessed 21 March, 2019).Google Scholar
McCallum, K (2016) Mediatisation, marginalisation and disruption in Australian indigenous affairs. Media and Communication 4, 30–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCallum, K and Waller, L (2017) Indigenous media studies in Australia: traditions, theories and contemporary practices. In Budarick, J and Hans, GS (eds), Minorities and Media. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 105–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McConney, A, Oliver, MC, Woods-McConney, A and Schibeci, R (2011) Bridging the gap? A comparative, retrospective analysis of science literacy and interest in science for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian students. International Journal of Science Education 33, 2017–2035.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKnight, D (2010) Rupert Murdoch's news corporation: a media institution with a mission. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 30, 303–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meadows, M and Molnar, H (2002) Bridging the gaps: towards a history of Indigenous media in Australia. Media History 8, 9–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meadows, M, Hippocrates, C and van Vuuren, K (1997) Targeting the media. Comparing print and television news coverage of Indigenous affairs. Australian Journalism Review 19, 73–87.Google Scholar
Mellor, S and Corrigan, M (2004) The Case for Change: A Review of Contemporary Research on Indigenous Education Outcomes. Melbourne: ACER Press.Google Scholar
Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (2008) Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. Carlton South: MCEETYA.Google Scholar
Newman, N, Fletcher, R, Kalogeropoulos, A, Levy, DAL and Nielsen, RK (2017) Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2017. Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.Google Scholar
O'Connor, C (2004) Australia's education system gets full marks. The Canberra Times, 11, December 13.Google Scholar
OECD (2016) PISA 2015 Results: Excellence and Equity in Education. Paris: OECD Publishing.Google Scholar
Penfold, A (2014) Making a difference in Indigenous education. The Australian, 18, October 18.Google Scholar
Perry, LB and McConney, A (2013) School socioeconomic status and student outcomes in reading and mathematics: a comparison of Australia and Canada. Australian Journal of Education 57, 124–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, JT (1996) Journalistic bias toward new religious movements in Australia. Journal of Contemporary Religion 11, 289–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowe, E and Lubienski, C (2017) Shopping for schools or shopping for peers: public schools and catchment area segregation. Journal of Education Policy 32, 340–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sikora, J and Biddle, N (2015) How gendered is ambition? Educational and occupational plans of Indigenous youth in Australia. International Journal of Educational Development 42, 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmons, K and Lecouteur, A (2008) Modern racism in the media: constructions of ‘the possibility of change’ in accounts of two Australian ‘riots’. Discourse & Society 19, 667–687.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skrzypiec, G and Lai, MY (2017) Social psychology meets school mathematics in PISA 2012: an application of the theory of planned behavior in Australia. Psychology 8, 2146–2173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Song, S, Perry, LB and McConney, A (2014) Explaining the achievement gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students: an analysis of PISA 2009 results for Australia and New Zealand. Educational Research and Evaluation 20, 178–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stempel, GH (1969) The prestige press meets the third-party challenge. Journalism Quarterly 46, 699–706.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, G (2014) NAPLAN, MySchool and accountability: teacher perceptions of the effects of testing. The International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives 12, 62–84.Google Scholar
Thomson, S (2016) Lifting Australian Performance in Mathematics. Camberwell: ACER Press.Google Scholar
Tovey, J and Patty, A (2013) We are failing our children. The Sydney Morning Herald, 1, December 4.Google Scholar
Treagust, DF, Won, M, Petersen, J and Wynne, G (2015) Science teacher education in Australia: initiatives and challenges to improve the quality of teaching. Journal of Science Teacher Education 26, 81–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Dijk, TA (1991) Racism and the Press. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Waldow, F, Takayama, K and Sung, Y (2014) Rethinking the pattern of external policy referencing: media discourses over the ‘Asian Tigers’ PISA success in Australia, Germany and South Korea. Comparative Education 50, 302–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, L and Ryan, C (2010) Choosers and losers: the impact of government subsidies on Australian secondary schools. Australian Journal of Education 54, 86–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, DM (1950) The gate-keeper: a case study in the selection of news. Journalism Quarterly 27, 383–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson-Clark, C (2004) Australian students read the way. The West Australian, 18, December 8.Google Scholar
Windle, J (2014) The rise of school choice in education funding reform: an analysis of two policy moments. Education Policy 28, 306–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woods-McConney, A, Oliver, MC, McConney, A, Maor, D and Schibeci, R (2013) Science engagement and literacy: a retrospective analysis for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. Research in Science Education 43, 233–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yates, L (2013) Revisiting curriculum, the numbers game and the inequality problem. Journal of Curriculum Studies 45, 39–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar