Modern school becomes a space where a child learns to analyze, research, ask questions, and draw conclusions. This is the logic behind education at Respublika Kids Elementary School, where a project to integrate PISA elements into the daily educational process has started.
The focus shifts from reproducing knowledge to working with it, from the classroom to real-life situations, from answers to the process of reasoning and finding solutions.
PISA as an Approach to Skills Development
PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) is an international study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that evaluates students’ ability to apply knowledge in real-life contexts.
Key focus areas:
- reading with comprehension and working with information
- mathematical literacy
- scientific thinking
- data analysis, argumentation, decision-making
Ukraine has participated in the PISA study since 2018. Its results have become a guide for transforming educational programs. Special emphasis is placed on developing functional literacy – the skill that determines a child’s readiness to act in a complex, changing world.
How PISA Works at Respublika Kids Elementary School
At Respublika Kids, PISA is embedded in education as a tool for developing thinking.
Nataliia Halymova, Deputy Director for Educational Work at Respublika Kids Primary School and Head of PISA Integration, explains:
“At Respublika Kids, this idea has turned into living practice: the goal is not to test, but to teach how to think, analyze, draw conclusions, and argue one’s position.
Here, a child doesn’t just look for ‘the right answer,’ but learns to see connections, ask questions, find solutions, and defend their own ideas. This approach forms the foundation for functional literacy – the ability to effectively use knowledge in everyday life.”
Knowledge stops being abstract. It starts working as a tool for understanding situations and choosing actions.
Teamwork as the Foundation for Change
The integration of PISA approaches at Respublika Kids is systematic work by a team of educators.
“During breaks, the team of innovative teachers at Respublika Kids works on creating tasks in PISA format: they develop, test, and analyze materials, identify common difficulties and ways to overcome them.
Test assignments cover questions in mathematics, Ukrainian and English languages, literary reading, as well as the integrated course ‘I Explore the World,’ which ensures the synthesis of knowledge from different areas and lays the groundwork for comprehensive development of critical thinking. These developments are then implemented in lessons, where students become little researchers who learn to think independently and logically,” comments Nataliia Halymova.
This immersion creates a natural connection between subjects and forms in children the ability to perceive the world comprehensively, not fragmentarily. In lessons, students argue their own ideas, work with graphs and tables, analyze texts and situations.
Questions That Shape Deep Thinking
The educational process is built around questions that trigger analytical thinking:
- “How will you prove that?”
- “What conclusion follows from this table?”
- “What would you do in this situation?”
- “What facts support your opinion?”
The lesson transforms into research, where the path to the solution is important.
“We don’t just test knowledge – we teach children to think. This is the essence of modern education,” notes Nataliia Halymova.
According to her, working with such tasks helps teachers better understand students’ educational needs and more accurately build a development strategy for each child.
Why This Approach Matters from an Early Age
PISA covers 15-year-old students in over 80 countries worldwide. The skills measured by the study are formed gradually through daily work on thinking.
Early integration of PISA logic develops the ability to:
- critically analyze information
- make informed decisions
- act in complex situations
- adapt to changes
- argue one’s own position
When a real need arises in learning, communication, or making a choice, the child already has tools for action.
“By starting to work with this model already in elementary school, we are forming a generation ready to live in a dynamic world, make decisions, and act confidently,” comments Nataliia Halymova.
Education as Preparation for Life
Lessons in PISA format create an environment where knowledge works every day. Text analysis, working with data, choosing behavioral strategies – all this becomes part of the regular educational process.
School forms experience that a child uses immediately in learning, communication, and interaction with the world.
A+ Educational Holding: Systemic Changes from Elementary School
The A+ Educational Holding implements approaches that respond to modern global challenges. Respublika Kids demonstrates how a competency-based education model shapes thinkers, researchers, and responsible citizens from the first years of schooling.
Here, educational experience is laid down that works in real life.
Discover New Horizons of Learning with Us
At Respublika Kids, education becomes a space for development, where every lesson makes sense, and every situation is an opportunity for growth.
This is how the thinking of the future begins.
