Key Topics Covered

The Evolution of Truth and the Rise of MAIL 

MAIL In PISA & Its Impact On National Assessments

Lack of familiarity with and difficulty to measure MAIL

Simplify Complexity and Promoting MAIL

Building Future-Ready Systems

The Evolution of Truth and the Rise of MAIL 

Imagine a morning in 1995. A man waits by his doorstep for the daily newspaper. Reading it over breakfast and discussing the headlines with family over tea is a cherished ritual. The true joy of the morning news comes later, shared with friends through eager questions: "Did you know? Have you heard?"

Human curiosity has always drawn us towards stories. In the age of newspapers and television, editorial boards and professional journalists played a central role in deciding what reached the public. Although this system was never free from bias or misinformation, established editorial standards provided a recognisable structure of accountability. Kudos to the dedicated professionals who continue to uphold those standards today.

Then came social media, transforming how news was produced and shared. No single media organisation controlled the flow of information. Individuals could reveal truths that established outlets might overlook or suppress. Yet this democratisation also created new vulnerabilities. Research has shown that false information can spread faster and more widely than accurate information online (Vosoughi et al., 2018). As traditional editorial filters lost their influence, the responsibility for separating truth from distortion shifted to individuals, making media literacy a must-have skill.

Today, generative AI adds another layer of complexity, producing synthetic content at unprecedented speed and reshaping expectations of the workforce. But what does this mean for a young person? How can they remain competitive? Employers increasingly value AI-related and analytical skills alongside creativity, resilience, and collaboration (World Economic Forum, 2025). Young people therefore need to learn not only how to work with AI, but also how to question its outputs. Equally, media literacy helps them recognise manipulation, evaluate digital evidence, and protect their safety and informed participation in society.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the first results of PISA 2025 in September 2026. Across OECD countries, 46% of students reported using AI chatbots at least once a week to support their learning, while approximately 63% reported opportunities during school lessons to learn how to assess AI-generated information (OECD, 2026). 

Digital Engagement and Critical Evaluation: Evidence from PISA

Note. OECD averages; student self-reports. The indicators come from different PISA cycles and should not be interpreted as a trend. Percentages are rounded.

Sources: OECD (2024), PISA 2022 Results (Volume V); OECD (2026), PISA 2025 Results (Volume I).

Earlier PISA findings also revealed a gap between digital access and critical evaluation: only 51% of students reported that they could easily assess the quality of information found online (OECD, 2024). Although these measures do not directly establish students' ability to identify misinformation, they highlight the need for stronger evidence of how young people engage critically with digital content. Against this backdrop, the OECD is developing Media and Artificial Intelligence Literacy (MAIL) as the innovative assessment domain for PISA 2029 (OECD, 2026b).

MAIL In PISA & Its Impact On National Assessments

The inclusion of MAIL as the innovative domain of PISA 2029 represents an important development in international educational assessment. Rather than focusing solely on students' ability to operate digital tools, the proposed framework examines how they access and use information, analyse and evaluate digital content, participate and collaborate in digital environments, and create content responsibly). Its proposed use of simulated environments also offers opportunities to observe how students apply these competencies in realistic digital situations. 

For a 15-year-old student, PISA has traditionally evaluated the application of reading, mathematics, and science to real-world problems. By 2029, that real world will be shaped by algorithms and AI-generated content. A student may solve an algebraic equation yet struggle to recognise misleading information or question an AI-generated explanation. PISA's inclusion of MAIL therefore raises an important question for national assessment bodies: how can they capture these emerging competencies alongside established academic knowledge?

This international shift creates a mirroring effect for national assessment systems, outlined below: 

• From Digital Navigation to Critical Digital Judgement: Earlier digital assessment approaches have often emphasised students' ability to locate, interpret, and evaluate information in digital environments. PISA 2029 extends this perspective by incorporating interactions with AI systems and digital content within its proposed assessment framework (OECD, 2026b). For national assessment bodies, the implication is to review whether current assessments capture students' ability to evaluate AI-generated responses, recognise bias, question digital evidence, and make informed decisions. This may require carefully designed scenarios, new assessment tasks, and targeted updates to existing item banks.

• The "Audit and Upgrade" Imperative: Ministries do not need to discard their existing exam infrastructure. The strategic path forward, illustrated by Kazakhstan’s dual approach of launching the Admissions Insight Test (AIT) alongside traditional national exams, is to gradually modernize the national assessment system through parallel models and targeted item-bank updates. By embedding MAIL dimensions into core subjects or offering specialized assessment tracks, countries can modernize their frameworks systematically in a sustainable way.

• Elevating Local Capacity: To strengthen alignment between national assessments and the real-world competencies highlighted by PISA 2029, governments should invest in developing the expertise of local item authors, curriculum specialists, and assessment professionals. Building this internal capacity helps to make sure that national assessments reflect both internationally recognised competencies and local educational, linguistic, and cultural contexts.

Ultimately, PISA 2029 offers an opportunity to move MAIL from a developing educational concept towards a more systematically defined and measurable set of competencies. Education systems that begin reviewing their curricula and assessment practices today may be better positioned to understand students' strengths, identify learning gaps, and develop the capabilities needed to navigate an AI-driven world.

Lack of familiarity with and difficulty to measure MAIL

Let’s return to our 15-year-old student. He/she spends hours online every day, neither they nor the system around them has a clear definition of what digital judgement actually looks like in practice. Educational discussions sometimes place basic technical skills, such as conducting a web search or using an application, alongside more complex competencies, such as recognising algorithmic bias, evaluating evidence, and questioning AI-generated responses. For assessment professionals, the challenge is to distinguish these competencies clearly enough to define, teach, and measure them. This lack of clarity creates real headaches for assessment teams trying to measure these skills: 

• Confusing Tools with Thinking: Test developers often confuse technical know-how with critical judgment. Anyone can prompt AI to summarize a history topic, but spotting omitted viewpoints or hallucinated facts requires real critical thinking.

• Limitations of Traditional Tests: Standard selected-response items struggle to capture how a teenager handles fake news or manipulated media in real time. However, more interactive competencies may require scenario-based tasks that balance authenticity, validity, accessibility, and operational feasibility (American Educational Research Association et al., 2014).

• The Classroom Gap: We can't test skills that schools haven't taught yet. Expecting students to navigate the digital world smartly when their teachers haven't been trained in media and AI literacy simply isn't fair to the students.

A further distinction concerns the purpose and consequences of assessment. PISA is designed primarily to provide evidence about education systems, whereas national examinations may also determine individual progression, certification, or university admission. An assessment task suitable for monitoring national trends may not necessarily provide sufficient evidence for a high-stakes decision about an individual student. Before incorporating MAIL into such examinations, assessment bodies would need to investigate the validity of score interpretations, measurement precision, fairness, accessibility, and the potential consequences of using the results (American Educational Research Association et al., 2014). 

Simplifying Complexity and Promoting MAIL

How, then, can we make MAIL more accessible and relevant to education systems? While international frameworks provide useful reference points, national approaches must reflect local curricula, institutional capacity, and educational priorities. To communicate MAIL's practical importance to policymakers, educators, and assessment professionals, I propose two complementary pillars: 

• AI Literacy for Employability and Agency: Focus on developing the ability to understand and interact responsibly with AI systems. This includes evaluating AI-generated information, using prompts effectively, recognising limitations and bias, and applying human judgement when using AI tools. These competencies can support students' learning, adaptability, creativity, and preparation for a changing labour market (World Economic Forum, 2025).

• Media Literacy for Safety and Civic Resilience: Focus on developing the ability to evaluate digital information critically, verify source credibility, recognise manipulation and misleading content, and understand how online information can influence individual and collective decisions. These competencies can contribute to personal safety, informed civic participation, and resilience against misinformation (UNESCO, 2021).

These two pillars represent a practical way of communicating MAIL's importance rather than a replacement for the broader competencies described in the OECD framework.

For national assessment bodies, translating these priorities into practice requires a gradual approach. The first step is to review existing curriculum standards and assessment frameworks to identify where MAIL competencies are already represented and where gaps remain. Assessment teams can then develop and pilot targeted tasks involving source verification, AI-generated information, ethical decision-making, and digital communication. Evidence from these pilots should inform further improvements to item design, scoring approaches, teacher development, and technical infrastructure. Importantly, introducing new competencies should not mean immediately introducing new high-stakes examinations. A phased approach, supported by validation and local capacity building, offers a more sustainable path towards effective assessment reform.

Building Future-Ready Systems

Let's return one last time to our 15-year-old student, this time with a question for policymakers and assessment professionals. Will we leave them to navigate an unmonitored digital landscape on their own, where manipulative algorithms steal their attention, skew their perception of reality, and compromise their safety? Or will we step in, upgrade our assessment systems, and equip them with the skills to stay secure, informed, and competitive?

The inclusion of MAIL in PISA 2029 reflects growing international recognition that students need competencies extending beyond traditional academic knowledge (OECD, 2026b). AI literacy can support their preparation for future learning and employment by developing the ability to work critically and responsibly with emerging technologies. Media literacy, meanwhile, can strengthen their capacity to evaluate information, recognise manipulation, and participate wisely in digital society. At the of the day, these competencies contribute to preparing young people not only to consume information and technology, but also to engage with both independently, ethically, and confidently.

Ultimately, assessment reform requires more than introducing new technologies or item types. It calls for a shift in perspective: moving beyond excessive dependence on textbook coverage and making sure that what we measure reflects broader curriculum standards and the competencies students need in real life. Assessment alone cannot solve every educational challenge, but it can help bring what we teach, measure, and value closer to the realities of a changing world.

Maybe this gentle shift in perspective, applied with clarity and without unnecessary administrative friction, is precisely what will illuminate the path for 15-year-olds reaching towards the future. And maybe generations to come, welcomed at their doorstep by an assessment system that recognises their true potential, will be inspired to live as creative, critical, and deeply engaged citizens, growing into the very leaders who will nurture, protect, and carry this new culture of learning forward in a continuous, living cycle..

About the Author

Vali is an educational assessment expert and quality auditor, recognized for promoting excellence and reform-driven scaling in assessment organizations. He mentors edtech & assessment firms on reform-aligned scaling by promoting measurement excellence, drawing on his field expertise, government experience, and regional network.

He holds a master’s degree in educational policy from Boston University (USA) and Diploma of Educational Assessment from Durham University (UK). Vali has supported national reforms in Azerbaijan and, through his consultancy with AQA Global Assessment Services, works with Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic to align assessment systems with international benchmarks such as CEFR, PISA, and the UIS technical criteria. He also works as a quality auditor in partnership with RCEC and most recently audited CENEVAL in Mexico. In addition, he promotes awareness of the use of technology across the assessment cycle through his work with Vretta. Fluent in Azerbaijani, Russian, Turkish, and English, he brings a deep contextual understanding to cross-country projects.

If you would like to discuss how national assessment systems can evolve to measure emerging competencies, including media and AI literacy, or how assessment reform can better prepare learners for a changing world, please feel free to contact Vali Huseyn at: vali@bu.edu | LinkedIn

References

1. American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council on Measurement in Education. (2014). Standards for educational and psychological testing. American Educational Research Association. https://www.testingstandards.net/

2. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (n.d.). PISA 2029 media and artificial intelligence literacy. https://www.oecd.org/en/about/projects/pisa-2029-media-and-artificial-intelligence-literacy.html

3. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2024). PISA 2022 results (Volume V): Learning strategies and attitudes for life. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/c2e44201-en

4. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2026). PISA 2025 results (Volume I): Future-ready students. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/73451bc5-en

5. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2021). Media and information literate citizens: Think critically, click wisely! (Second edition of the UNESCO model media and information literacy curriculum for educators and learners). https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/media-and-information-literate-citizens

6. Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. Science, 359(6380), 1146–1151. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap9559

7. World Economic Forum. (2025). The future of jobs report 2025. https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025/