Cracked again in the Pisa tests: Colombia ranked in the worst place among OECD members in creative thinking

How to generate, evaluate and improve ideas is part of creative thinking, and on this point Colombia did not do well at all in the Pisa tests when examining students, occupying the worst position among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): It ranked 28th among the 64 countries in which this measurement was applied.

The test was carried out on students over 15 years of age and it is the first time that this evaluation has been carried out within the Pisa tests, which seek to measure how students participate with their ideas in improvements for the country.

The first place in the general ranking was occupied by Singapore, with 41 points, in a list in which they also stand out South Korea and Canada, topping the list with 38 points each, Australia with 37 and New Zealand with 36.

In the case of Colombia, the outlook is not at all positive and, by occupying the last place with only 26 points, this represented seven points below the OECD average, which means the lowest record within the economies that belong to that club of good practices.

In terms of the region, the country is in fifth place, followed by Chile with 31 points, Mexico and Uruguay with 29 points and Costa Rica with 27. For its part, after Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Panama and El Salvador are registered with 23 points.

The study indicated that “In Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica and Panama, students obtained relatively lower scores in creative thinking after taking into account their reading performance, despite scoring one point higher than expected to take into account.”

A result that for some generated indignation when they saw the low level of preparation of the students in these tests in which Colombia has not had good scores in Mathematics and Literacy.

The councilor of Bogotá, Diana Diago, was one of those who showed her annoyance due to the strike of the Fecode teachers' union affecting the education of children and that they are not prepared for this type of tests, by refusing to be evaluated as teachers.

“While the Fecode union is carrying out strikes, worried because they are now going to qualify the teachers, Colombia continues to be the worst OECD country in the PISA tests. It is totally inconceivable that the education of our children is being put at risk, while teachers are on strike,” he noted on his X account.

The OECD explained that the objective of evaluating creative thinking is because it is one of the fundamental characteristics and with greater demand of the global labor market and will gain more momentum, among them, due to socioeconomic advances.