Comparer les systèmes éducatifs francophones à travers le monde grâce au PISA: pas si simple!

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) compares the results of 15-year-old students from a growing number of countries, mainly industrialized. This recurring evaluation of student achievement has been the subject of numerous publications. However, if Francophone countries participate with more or less favourable results, there is still very little literature comparing countries that share the French language. There are several reasons for this. The first problem lies in the definition of what is meant by “Francophone countries”. Although several countries participating in PISA belong to the political Francophonie, few of them have effectively administered tests in French and use it as the language of instruction. The countries of Sub- Saharan Africa, in contrast, do not participate in PISA. It is therefore impossible to make comparisons among all the countries where French is actually the, or one of the, languages of instruction. It is also necessary to identify the performance of schools where French is actually practiced in the countries using several languages of instruction and compare similar situations outside of this variable. From this perspective, international publications do not always provide information, which must then be sought in national reports. The situation of students educated in French but not using the language at home, further complicating comparisons, should probably also be taken into account.