This is a session of Topic 10: Innovative collaboration in statistics education

Collaborations between Statistics agencies and academia (schools/universities/colleges)

Organizer

• John Harraway (New Zealand) : Session chair

Abstract

A thirst by the public for knowledge about the effects of social, health and economic policies of a country is resulting in increased support for National Statistics Agencies responsible for the dissemination and accurate interpretation of data used for informed decision making by governments. Education is a key component of the process of informing citizens. Collaborations between statistics agencies and academia have been established and used in different parts of the world to convey such information to society at large. But other benefits accrue from these collaborations. Projects and resources based on official statistics are identified for motivating students in the classroom and lecture theatre. Members of both IASE and IAOS are being brought together to enhance these objectives. The 2013 IASE/IAOS Satellite conference in Macao is just one example of cooperation. Many statisticians are also members of both Associations and increasingly education and official statistics conferences have presentations which discuss joint projects. In this session there is an emphasis on successful well designed collaborations which enhance learning in statistics; innovative projects will be described and benefits discussed. Presenters will:

• highlight joint efforts of the two associations such as the IASE/IAOS Satellite in Macao in 2013
• identify resources for teaching based on official statistics
• discuss the cooperation present in the International Statistics Literacy Project (ISLP)
• discuss the ISLP Poster Competition and its effect on school statistics learning
• describe benefits from projects such as those submitted for the Best Cooperative Project competition and identify ideas for future work in education and official statistics
• discuss CensusAtSchool with an emphasis on cooperation between schools and national agencies
• identify programmes for the statistical training of decision makers in government
• show ways of introducing university statistics students to training in official statistics methodology

Papers