Science achievement and socio-economic status: A ... - Pisa

The “Cultural competence” construct is made up by the following single items:In general, how often do your parents:a) Discuss political or social issues with you? Never or hardly ever. A few times ayear. About once a month. Several times a month. Several times a week.b) Discuss books, films or television programmes with you? Never or hardly ever. Afew times a year. About once a month. Several times a month. Several times aweek.c) Listen to classical music with you? Never or hardly ever. A few times a year.About once a month. Several times a month. Several times a week.Finally, the construct “Cultural possessions” consists of the following items:In your home, do you have:a) classical literature (e.g. Shakespeare)?. Yes or No.b) books of poetry? Yes or No.c) works of art (e.g. paintings)? Yes or No.C. Social capitalThere are one construct used that explicitly measures social capital. The construct iscalled “Social competence”, and three single items are applied:In general, how often do your parents:d) Discuss how well you are doing at school? Never or hardly ever. A few times ayear. About once a month. Several times a month. Several times a week.e) Eat the main meal with you around a table? Never or hardly ever. A few times ayear. About once a month. Several times a month. Several times a week.f) Spend time just talking to you? Never or hardly ever. A few times a year. Aboutonce a month. Several times a month. Several times a week.D. Parents’ occupations as a measure of socio-economic statusIn PISA, the parents’ occupations are also used as a measure of socio-economicstatus. The questions asked about the parents’ occupations are as following:1. What is your mother’s main job? (e.g. School teacher, nurse, sales manager)If she is not working now, please tell us her last main job.Please write in the job title:_________________2. What does your mother do in her main job? (e.g. Teaches high school students,cares for patients, manages a sales team).If she is not working now, please tell us her last main job.Please use a sentence to describe the kind of work she does or did in that job.The same questions are asked about the student’s father. Firstly, the occupationsgiven are coded by the use of a system called the International Standard Coding ofOccupations (ISCO). This is a detailed classification system for occupations whereeach occupation is given a four-digit code. Ganzeboom and Treiman (1996) havedeveloped an algorithm for defining socio-economic levels for each of the occupationcategories. This has been done by the use of data from several countries. The indexused is called the International Socioeconomic Index of Socioeconomic status (ISEI).4