Gaston Ternes

 

PISA: When Language Outweighs Competence

Every three years, the OECD publishes the PISA study, comparing the performance of 15-year-old students in reading, mathematics, and science, and producing international rankings. Luxembourg will participate again after a six-year absence, with results from this session expected by the end of 2026. According to Gaston Ternes, this is the perfect time to question the relevance and reliability of these comparisons.

PISA is presented as scientific, neutral, and globally comparable. To ensure objectivity, strict criteria are applied: each student must take the test in the official language of instruction. In Luxembourg, this means German or French in national schools, and English in international schools.

Yet participants must choose a single language for the entire test. Two-thirds of Luxembourgish students opt for German and must solve mathematics problems in that language, even though the subject has been taught in French for the past three years. This highlights how OECD criteria fail to reflect the reality of Luxembourg’s education system, where the relationship between language and competence is far more complex.

Statistical adjustments can only partially compensate for this mismatch. In most countries, the language of instruction coincides with the mother tongue; in Luxembourg, it does not. Our students are not less competent, but they face greater challenges in understanding texts in the test language. PISA thus primarily measures language skills rather than subject-specific performance.

Let’s be clear: for PISA, multilingualism is treated as a handicap, even though it is one of our greatest strengths. Students who can switch spontaneously between languages develop cognitive flexibility, networked thinking, and comparative skills – precisely the abilities required in a modern, globally oriented education.

Luxembourg should not merely allow itself to be assessed by the OECD; it should actively contribute to the evolution of these studies. PISA tests should allow students to choose the language freely according to the subject or section. Evaluating competent use of multiple languages should be mandatory, not limited to optional modules that currently do not affect the ranking. Even better, the ability to use multiple languages flexibly should become a core indicator.

PISA could thus become a real laboratory for the future of learning in Luxembourg. An adapted methodology could demonstrate that thinking in multiple languages is not a disadvantage but an advantage. Using several languages within a subject alongside the language of instruction could make language a tool rather than a barrier to learning.

This is a crucial path for Luxembourg: showing that competence does not mean thinking in a single language, but navigating seamlessly between several.

 

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