Identifying the Factors Influencing the Scientific Competence in Andalusia: A Multilevel Study of the PISA 2012 Results

In this paper we investigate the factors that contribute to the performance of Andalusian students in the scientific competence aspect of the PISA 2012 tests. The variables included refer to the students and schools. Multilevel analysis of the variables reveals that between 9.58% and 14.68% of the differences in the performance are due to characteristics of the schools and that most of the variance is explained by the characteristics of the students. The most significant variables with respect to scientific competence, in a negative sense, are grade repetition, immigrant status and female gender; in a positive sense, they are family and sociocultural background and pre-primary schooling. In the light of these results, we discuss implications for education policy actions. This study shows the multilevel analysis model to be a very useful tool in education studies.