International comparisons of education systems are an important part of educational research. They provide a practical way of capturing the extent to which particular approaches to the design and organization of education systems either aggravate or attenuate differences in student experiences and outcomes.

Studying how well other countries educate their citizens, and deliver opportunities to learners within their education and training systems, helps us evaluate our own education system. Exploring policy developments and initiatives in different countries is also an important means for identifying improvement opportunities.

 

International Study of City Youth

The International Study of City Youth (ISCY) is a study of high school students and the schools they attend in major cities of the world. The study is designed to compare how well school systems in major cities of different industrialised countries in Europe, North America and Australia and Asia are preparing young people for further study and careers. It provides information on students’ secondary school options, their trajectories into college and employment, and their integration into civic and economic life. The study examines how these experiences and outcomes vary for different groups of students.

ISCY follows matched cohorts of Year 10 students in participating cities who in the base year completed numeracy and literacy tests as well as a questionnaire about their background, plans for the future, and views on school and society. It also has measures of social and emotional skills such as resilience, conscientiousness, confidence and creativity.

Teachers and school leaders also completed questionnaires on teaching, learning, school resources and context.

Baseline survey data were collected in 2014-2015 from principals, teachers and more than 40,000 students in 400 participating schools in 14 cities.

The information collected provides insights into how educational paths and achievement shape student education and career trajectories, civic engagement, and well-being. The data help identify which students do best in the final years of schooling, and which students are at risk of being left behind. Its comparative nature offers the opportunity to identify policies and practices that promote better outcomes as young people transition out of secondary education. It is a unique opportunity to identify which policies and programs in which school systems deliver the best outcomes, from which other systems can learn.

Download The International Study of City Youth: A brief overview (PDF, 142KB).

  • Barcelona
  • Bergen
  • Bordeaux
  • Ghent
  • Hong Kong
  • Montreal
  • Melbourne
  • Reykjavik
  • Sacramento
  • San Diego
  • Santiago
  • Tijuana
  • Turku
  • Wroclaw

The International Study of City Youth brings together researchers from around the globe. The study’s network comprises key education research centres in different countries and provides forums for researchers to meet regularly to present and discuss results from collaborative research projects, and to share insights into research methods, educational policy and practice focused on improving opportunities and outcomes. The network also supports a publications program based on the ISCY research findings.

The research centres include:

 

A number of agencies have contributed funds in support of ISCY. This includes the Australian Research Council which provided the initial funding for the project. The Victorian Department of Education kindly contributed funds for work on critical tasks. Research efforts in different cities were often supported by grants from national or regional research agencies and also by participating universities and research institutions which employed and supported research staff. The support from all of the agencies is gratefully acknowledged.

Australian Research Council

The Australian Research Council provided funding through two successful competitive grant applications:

  1. ARC Discovery Project DP1095928 (AU $249,438)

A Tale of six cities: Explaining social inequality in secondary school systems: an international comparative study

The study was proposed as a way of exploring why educational inequality persists in different countries. It highlights the role of curriculum as a vehicle for distinguishing between students in more or less sharp ways and of selective schooling as a vehicle for gaining access to the most discriminating paths in the curriculum. It points to ways in which schooling can operate more equitably without sacrificing quality.

  1. ARC Linkage Funding Project Number LP150101177 (AU $224,726)

Tracking student outcomes: expanding the International Study of City Youth

The project expanded the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), which tracks students in 14 cities through their final years of school and post-school transitions. Through partnership with the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, it analyses achievement data for participating students and student non-cognitive (social and emotional) skills with the aim of helping address the demand from education policy-makers and providers for better measures of system performance at senior secondary level.

Victorian Department of Education & Training

The Victorian Department of Education and training (DET) provided funding in support of ongoing work comparing the ISCY sample of Melbourne students with students in other cities. The grant was provided as part of the Strategic Research Program agreement between the University of Melbourne and DET to work on agreed research projects.  

American Educational Research Association

Collaborative work on social and emotional skills was presented at a conference organised at the University of California Santa Barbara. The conference, including travel and accommodation costs, was supported by a grant from the American Educational Research Association to support educational research conferences.

An ISCY book series published by Springer is available. It includes a book by Andres Molina on educational inequality and social cohesion in the city of Santiago, a book on credentials and the International Baccalaureate by Quentin Maire, and a major edited volume on student resisters in different ISCY cities edited by Jannick Demanet and Mieke Van Houtte.

A new book on inequality in skills using ISCY is to be published in 2023 by the American Educational Research Association.

There are a number of PhDs that have been completed using ISCY data, including:

  • School Segregation and Social Cohesion in Santiago, (VU) by Andres Molina, 2020
  • On My Way: A Sociological Study on the Contextual Determinants of Higher Education Enrollment and Success, by Isis Vandelannote (UGent) (2021)
  • Expect the (un)expected. The role of the school and education system in students' expectations for higher education, by Laura Van den Broek (UGent) (2020)

CIRES researchers included

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Measuring student skills

The Centre for International Research on Education Systems (CIRES) at Victoria University, in partnership with the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA), undertook an ISCY extension study to examine the measurement of social and emotional skills.

The project compared student self-report, direct assessment and teacher judgement of select social and emotional skills and key capabilities within a sample of case study schools in Melbourne. Participants from the various schools were brought together in a workshop, which was jointly coordinated by the VCAA and CIRES, to discuss research findings and the relevance of the skills.

This project was developed on the basis of a key technical paper published online by CIRES. The paper drew on existing literature to develop new and robust scales for measuring skills, engagement and dispositions using student self-report surveys that are suited for international comparison.

 

CIRES researchers included

Related