PISA 2018 Insights and Interpretations

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Insights and Interpretations

Andreas Schleicher PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations

Equipping citizens with the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve their full potential, to contribute to an increasingly interconnected world, and to convert better skills into better lives “needs to become a more central preoccupation of policy makers around the world. Fairness, integrity and inclusiveness in public policy thus all hinge on the skills of citizens. In working to About PISA

achieve these goals, more and more countries are Up to the end of the 1990s, the OECD’s comparisons might remember enough to follow in our footsteps; of education outcomes were mainly based on but if they learn how to learn, and are able to think looking beyond their own borders for evidence measures of years of schooling, which are not reliable for themselves, and work with others, they can go indicators of what people actually know and can do. anywhere they want. of the most successful and efficient education The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) changed this. The idea behind PISA lay in Some people argued that the PISA tests are unfair, policies and practices. testing the knowledge and skills of students directly, because they may confront students with problems they through a metric that was internationally agreed upon; have not encountered in school. But then life is unfair, linking that with data from students, teachers, schools because the real test in life is not whether we can PISA is not only the world’s most comprehensive and systems to understand performance differences; remember what we learned at school, but whether we and then harnessing the power of collaboration to will be able to solve problems that we can’t possibly anticipate today. and reliable indicator of students’ capabilities, it is act on the data, both by creating shared points of reference and by leveraging peer pressure. But the greatest strength of PISA lies in its working also a powerful tool that countries and economies The aim with PISA was not to create another layer methods. Most assessments are centrally planned and of top-down accountability, but to help schools and then contracted to engineers who build them. That’s can use to fine-tune their education policies…That policy makers shift from looking upward within the how tests are created that are owned by a company education system towards looking outward to the next – but not by the people who are needed to change is why the OECD produces this triennial report on teacher, the next school, the next country. In essence, education. PISA turned that on its head. The idea of PISA counts what counts, and makes that information PISA attracted the world’s best thinkers and mobilised the state of education around the globe: to share available to educators and policy makers so they can hundreds of experts, educators and scientists from the make more informed decisions. participating countries to build a global assessment. evidence of the best policies and practices, and Today, we would call that crowdsourcing; but The OECD countries that initiated PISA tried to whatever we call it, it created the ownership that was make PISA different from traditional assessments in critical for success. to offer our timely and targeted support to help other ways too. In a world that rewards individuals increasingly not just for what they know, but for what In a nutshell, PISA owes its success to a collaborative countries provide the best education possible for they can do with what they know, PISA goes beyond effort between the participating countries, the national assessing whether students can reproduce what they and international experts and institutions working within all of their students. have learned in school. To do well in PISA, students the framework of the PISA Consortium, and the OECD. have to be able to extrapolate from what they Subject-matter experts, practitioners and policy makers “ know, think across the boundaries of subject-matter from the participating countries worked tirelessly to disciplines, apply their knowledge creatively in novel build agreement on which learning outcomes are Angel Gurría situations and demonstrate effective learning strategies. important to measure and how to measure them best; OECD Secretary-General If all we do is teach our children what we know, they to design and validate assessment tasks that can reflect

those measures adequately and accurately across Since 2000, PISA has shown that education systems countries and cultures; and to find ways to compare can provide both high-quality instruction and equitable the results meaningfully and reliably. The OECD learning opportunities for all, and that they can co-ordinated this effort and worked with countries to support academic excellence in an environment that make sense of the results and compile the reports. also nurtures students’ well-being. PISA shows what countries are doing to support their students and PISA 2018 was the seventh round of the international provides an opportunity for countries to learn from assessment since the programme was launched in each other. This brochure summarises some of the initial 2000. Every PISA test assesses students’ knowledge findings from PISA 2018 and puts them into context. and skills in reading, mathematics and science; The full set of initial results can be found in PISA 2018 each assessment focuses on one of these subjects Results (Volume I): What Students Know and Can Do; and provides a summary assessment of the other PISA 2018 Results (Volume II): Where All Students Can two. In 2018, the focus was on reading in a digital Succeed; and PISA 2018 Results (Volume III): What environment; but the design of the assessment also School Life Means for Students’ Lives. Three additional made it possible to measure trends in reading literacy volumes of PISA 2018 Results – Are Students Smart over the past two decades. PISA 2018 defined about Money?; Effective Policies, Successful Schools; reading literacy as understanding, using, evaluating, and Are Students Ready to Thrive in Global Societies? reflecting on and engaging with texts in order to – will be published in 2020. achieve one’s goals, to develop one’s knowledge and potential, and to participate in society. PISA 2018 also Improving education collected extensive data on students’ attitudes and well-being. Over ten million students represented by PISA in average student in OECD countries, and performed on PISA 2018 assessed the cumulative outcomes of 2018 were not able to complete even the most basic a par with the 10% most advantaged students in some education and learning at a point at which most reading tasks – and these were 15-year-olds living of them (Figure 4). True, these four provinces in eastern children are still enrolled in formal education: the in the 79 high- and middle-income countries that China are far from representing China as a whole, but age of 15. The 15-year-olds in the PISA sample must participated in the test. In many countries, the quality the size of each compares to that of a typical OECD also have been enrolled in an educational institution of the education a student acquires can still best be country, and their combined populations amount at grade 7 or higher. All such students were eligible predicted by the student’s or his or her school’s socio- to over 180 million. What makes their achievement to sit the PISA assessment, regardless of the type of economic background. In fact, the 10% most socio- even more remarkable is that the level of income of educational establishment in which they were enrolled economically advantaged students outperformed these four Chinese regions is well below the OECD and whether they were enrolled in full-time or part-time their 10% most disadvantaged counterparts in reading average. At the same time, they have a long way to go education. Not all of the students who were eligible by 141 score points, on average across OECD when it comes to improving the social and emotional to sit the PISA assessment were actually assessed. countries. This adds up to the equivalent of over three outcomes, and other aspects of students’ well-being A two-stage sampling procedure first selected years of schooling in the countries which were able that were measured by PISA 2018, areas where other a representative sample of at least 150 schools, to estimate learning progress across school grades, countries excel (more on that later). taking into account factors such as location (state and this gap has essentially remained unchanged over It is also noteworthy that some of today’s highest-performing or province; but also whether the school is located the past decade. Moreover, there has also been no education systems have only recently attained their in a rural area, town or city) and level of education. real overall improvement in the learning outcomes of top positions. Less than 17% of 55-65 year-old Then, in the second stage, roughly 42 15-year-old students in OECD countries, even though expenditure Singaporeans scored at level 3 or higher in literacy students were randomly selected from each school to on schooling rose by more than 15% over the past in the Survey of Adult Skills (a product of the OECD sit the assessment. Most countries assessed between decade alone. Programme for the International Assessment of Adult 4 000 and 8 000 students. Students selected to sit the It might be tempting to drop this report, and any further Competencies, a kind of PISA for adults) – one of the PISA assessment received sampling weights so as to thought about improving education, right about now. smallest proportions amongst participating countries represent the entire PISA-eligible cohort. Impossible to change anything as big, complex and – while 63% of 16-24 year-olds did so, one of the Over the past two decades, PISA has become the entrenched in vested interests as education. largest proportions. And, as noted before, in PISA world’s premier yardstick for comparing quality, equity 2018, 15-year-old Singaporeans scored not statistically But keep reading. Why? Because 15-year-old and efficiency in learning outcomes across countries, differently from the four provinces/municipalities of China students in four provinces/municipalities of China and an influential force for education reform. It has in reading. Amongst OECD countries, Estonia has – Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang – helped policy makers lower the cost of political action advanced steadily to the top, despite the fact that its outperformed their peers in all of the other 78 by backing difficult decisions with evidence – but expenditure per student remains about 30% lower than participating education systems – in mathematics it has also raised the political cost of inaction by the OECD average (Figures 5 and 6). and science by a wide margin, and in reading, only exposing areas where policy and practice have been Singapore came close (Figures 1, 2 and 3). In fact, Portugal advanced to the OECD average level unsatisfactory. the 10% most disadvantaged students in these four despite being severely hit by the financial crisis. provinces showed better reading skills than those of the Some countries that still perform well below the

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4 © OECD 2019 © OECD 2019 5 S.. ean score S.. ean score

S hina 87 555 L. 4 S hina 80 591 Singapore 109 549 Singapore 94 569 aao hina 92 525 Figure 1 aao hina 81 558 4 Level Figure 2 ong ong hina1 99 524 ong ong hina 94 551 stonia 93 523 hinese aipei 100 5 31 anada 100 520 Reading apan 86 527 Mathematics inand 100 520 Comparing countries’ and economies’ orea 100 526 Comparing countries’ and economies’ Ireand 91 518 performance in reading stonia 82 523 performance in mathematics orea 102 514 etherands 93 519 Poand 97 512 Poand 90 516 Seden 108 506 Siterand 94 515 e eaand 106 506 anada 92 512 nited States 108 505 enar 82 509 nited ingdo 100 504 Soenia 89 509 apan 97 504 egi 95 508

Astraia 109 503 3 Level inand 82 507 hinese aipei 102 503 Seden 91 502 enar 92 501 nited ingdo 93 502 ora 106 499 ora 90 501 eran 106 498 eran 95 500 3 Level 78 500 Soenia 94 495 Ireand 93 499 egi 103 493 eh epi 93 499 rane 101 493 Astria 80 496 Portga 96 492 atia 93 495 eh epi 97 490 rane 90 495 etherands 105 485 Ieand 93 494 Astria 99 484 e eaand 96 492 Siterand 103 484 Portga Astraia 92 491 roatia 89 479 ssia 86 488 atia 90 479 Ita 94 487 ssia 93 479 Soa epi 100 486 Ita 97 476 eorg 98 483 ngar 98 476 Spain 88 481 ithania 94 476 ithania 91 481 Ieand 105 4 74 ngar 91 481 ears 89 4 74 nited States 92 478 Israe 124 470 ears 93 472 eorg 108 470 ata 102 472 raine 93 466 roatia 87 464 re 88 466 Israe 108 463 Soa epi 100 458 re 88 454 reee 97 457 raine 94 453 hie 92 452 reee 89 451 ata 113 448 prs 95 451 Level 2 Level Seria 96 439 2 Level Seria 97 448 nited Ara irates 113 432 aasia 83 440 oania 98 428 Aania 83 437 rga 96 427 *S.D. = standard deviation garia 97 436 *S.D. = standard deviation osta ia 81 426 nited Ara irates 106 435 prs 98 424 1. Did not meet response-rate standards; further 1. Data did not meet the PISA technical standards but analyses could exclude a large bias in the published rnei arssaa 91 430 were accepted as largely comparable (see Annexes odoa 93 424 results due to non-response (see Annexes A2 and A4 oania 94 430 A2 and A4 in OECD (2019), PISA 2018 Results 86 4 21 ontenegro in OECD (2019), PISA 2018 Results (Volume I): What ontenegro 83 430 (Volume I): What Students Know and Can Do, PISA, 84 420 eio Students Know and Can Do, PISA, OECD Publishing, aahstan 87 423 OECD Publishing, Paris; 101 420 Paris; https://doi.org/10.1787/5f07c754-en). https://doi.org/10.1787/5f07c754-en. garia odoa 94 4 21 87 419 ordan Source : OECD, PISA 2018 a Aeraian 89 420 Source : OECD, PISA 2018 85 415 aasia Database, Table I.B1.4; Figure I.4.1. haiand 88 419 Database, Table I.B1.5; Figure I.4.2. 100 413 rai rga 85 418 ooia 89 412 hie 85 417 rnei arssaa 97 408 Level 6 Above 698.32 score points atar 98 414 Level 6 Above 669.30 score points atar 11 0 407 eio 78 409 From 625.61 From 606.99 Aania 80 405 Level 5 Level 5 to less than 698.32 score points osnia and eregoina 82 406 to less than 669.30 score points osnia and eregoina 79 403 75 402 From 552.89 osta ia From 544.68 98 402 Level 4 Level 4 Argentina to less than 625.61 score points Per 84 400 to less than 606.99 score points Per 92 401 85 400 From 480.18 ordan From 482.38 Level 3 Level 3 Sadi Araia 84 399 to less than 552.89 score points eorgia 88 398 to less than 544.68 score points Level 1 Level 79 393 haiand From 407.47 orth aedonia 93 394 From 420.07 Level 2 Level 2 orth aedonia 94 393 to less than 480.18 score points eanon 106 393 to less than 482.38 score points a Aeraian 74 389 From 334.75 ooia 81 391 From 357.77 Level 1a Level 1 aahstan 77 387 to less than 407.47 score points rai 88 384 to less than 420.07 score points eorgia 84 380 84 379 From 262.04 Argentina Below level 1 Below 357.77 score points

Level 1 Level Level 1b Panaa 88 377 to less than 334.75 score points Indonesia 79 379 Indonesia 75 371 From 189.33 79 373 Level 1c Sadi Araia oroo 75 359 to less than 262.04 score points oroo 76 368 eanon 113 353 Below level 1c Less than 189.33 score points osoo 77 366 osoo 68 353 Panaa 77 353 oinian epi 82 342 Phiippines 78 353 Phiippines 80 340 oinian epi 71 325 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

average 487 99 average 489 91 1 Level Below S.. ean score S.. ean score

average 487 99 average 489 91 1 Level Below S.. ean score

S hina 83 590 L. 4 PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations Singapore 97 551 aao hina 83 544 Figure 3 stonia 88 530 Figure 4•Mean performance in reading, by international decile of socio-economic status apan 92 529 inand 96 522 Science 98 519 orea Comparing countries’ and economies’ Country / Economy anada 96 518 performance in science 1 Kosovo Top decile ong ong hina 86 517 Dominican Republic hinese aipei 99 516 Lebanon Second decile Poand 92 511 Qatar Ninth decile Philippines e eaand 102 508 Morocco Bottom decile Soenia 88 507 Georgia Middle decile 99 505 Panama nited ingdo North Macedonia etherands1 104 503 Kazakhstan eran 103 503 Indonesia Level 3 Level Baku (Azerbaijan) Astraia 101 503 United Arab Emirates nited States1 99 502 Saudi Arabia Seden 98 499 Brunei Darussalam Bosnia and Herzegovina egi 99 499 Montenegro eh epi 94 497 Albania 88 496 Bulgaria Ireand Thailand Siterand 97 495 Argentina rane 96 493 Peru Malaysia enar 91 493 Colombia Portga1 92 492 Jordan ora 98 490 Brazil Romania Astria 96 490 Costa Rica atia 84 487 Iceland 89 483 Mexico Spain Israel ithania 90 482 Serbia ngar 94 481 Moldova Malta ssia 84 478 Uruguay eorg 98 477 Luxembourg Ieand 91 475 Greece Slovak Republic roatia 90 472 Chile ears 85 471 Lithuania 91 469 Netherlands raine Russia re 84 468 Latvia Ita 90 468 Belarus Ukraine 96 464 Soa epi Denmark Israe 111 462 Hungary ata 107 457 Croatia Norway reee 86 452 OECD average hie 83 444 Switzerland Seria 92 440 Slovenia Belgium prs 93 439

Level 2 Level Italy aasia 77 438 Turkey 103 434 Sweden nited Ara irates France rnei arssaa 96 4 31 Australia ordan 88 429 *S.D. = standard deviation Austria New Zealand 89 428 odoa 1. Data did not meet the PISA technical standards but Czech Republic haiand 82 426 were accepted as largely comparable (see Annexes United States rga 87 426 A2 and A4 in OECD (2019), PISA 2018 Results Portugal United Kingdom oania 90 426 (Volume I): What Students Know and Can Do, PISA, Korea garia 95 424 OECD Publishing, Paris; Canada https://doi.org/10.1787/5f07c754-en. 74 419 Finland eio Poland atar 103 419 Source : OECD, PISA 2018 Japan Aania 74 417 Database, Table I.B1.6; Figure I.4.3. Germany Chinese Taipei osta ia 73 416 Ireland ontenegro 81 415 Estonia ooia 82 413 Level 6 Above 707.93 score points Macao (China) Hong Kong (China) 92 413 orth aedonia From 633.33 Singapore Level 5 Per 80 404 to less than 707.93 score points B-S-J-Z (China) Argentina 90 404 From 558.73 Level 4 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 rai 90 404 to less than 633.33 score points Mean score osnia and eregoina 77 398 From 484.14 Level 3 a Aeraian 74 398 to less than 558.73 score points Note: Bottom, second, ninth and top deciles correspond to the average performance of students who are in the corresponding deciles of the distribution of the PISA index of economic, aahstan 76 397 From 409.54 social and cultural status across all countries and economies; the middle decile corresponds to students whose socio-economic status ranges from the 45th to the 55th percentile of this Level 2 Indonesia 69 396 to less than 484.14 score points distribution. Sadi Araia 79 386 From 334.94 Only results of countries and economies with at least 3% of students in each international decile are shown. Level 1a Countries and economies are ranked in ascending order of the mean reading performance of students in the international middle decile of socio-economic status. eanon 95 384 to less than 409.54 score points 81 383 From 260.54 Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Table II.B1.2.2; Figure II.2.2. eorgia 1 Level Level 1b oroo 67 377 to less than 334.94 score points osoo 65 365 Below level 1b Below 260.54 score points Panaa 85 365 Phiippines 75 357 oinian epi 71 336 00 00 00 00 © OECD 2019 9 agerage 489 94 S.. ean score

OECD average saw remarkable improvements in the determination to build a first-class education Figure 5•Curvilinear trajectories of average performance in reading across PISA assessments their students’ performance, most notably Albania, system can achieve this even in adverse economic Direction and trajectory of trend in mean performance the Republic of Moldova, Peru and Qatar. Turkey’s circumstances, and their schools today will be their improvement between 2003 and 2018 may look economy and society tomorrow. So it can be done. Increasingly positive Steadily positive Positive, but flattening somewhat less impressive, but Turkey was able to (less positive over more recent years) double the coverage of the 15-year-olds who are And it must be done. Without the right education, PISA reading score PISA reading score PISA reading score enrolled in school and covered by PISA from 36% to people will languish on the margins of society, 73% during that period. Five other countries – namely countries will not be able to benefit from technological Albania, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico and Uruguay advances, and those advances will not translate into – also significantly increased enrolment rates in social progress. It will not be possible to develop fair secondary education over their participation in PISA and inclusive policies and engage all citizens if a lack and maintained or improved their mean reading, of education prevents people from fully participating in Countries/economies mathematics and science performance. This shows that society. 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015 2018 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015 2018 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015 2018

with a positive average trend Jordan (06) Estonia (06) Albania (01) Montenegro (06) the quality of education does not have to be sacrificed But change can be an uphill struggle. Young people Macao (China) (03) Portugal (00) Chile (01) Peru (01) when increasing access to schooling. Russia (00) Colombia (06) Poland (00) are less likely to invest their time and energy in better Germany (00) Qatar (06) Israel (02) Romania (06) Some countries were able to move to a more positive education if that education seems irrelevant to the demands of the “real” world. Businesses are less likely U-shaped Flat Hump-shaped trajectory in recent years after a period of stagnation (more positive over more recent years) (more negative over more recent years) or decline. Sweden showed an improving trend in all to invest in their employees’ lifelong learning if those PISA reading score PISA reading score PISA reading score three subjects between 2012 and 2018, reversing workers might move away for a better job. Policy makers earlier declines in mean performance. Argentina, the often prioritise the urgent over the important – even if Czech Republic and Ireland saw recent improvements the latter includes education, an investment in the future in reading; Denmark, Ireland, Jordan, Slovenia and well-being of society. the United Kingdom in mathematics; and Jordan and Montenegro in science. In some countries, some of these trends can be related to changes in the Read more about these issues in Chapters 4 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015 2018 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015 2018 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015 2018 demographic composition of the student body; but in Countries/economies and 9 in PISA 2018 Results (Volume I): What Argentina (01) Austria (00) Italy (00) OECD average-23 (00) Latvia (00) no country do such demographic changes alter the Students Know and Can Do. Czech Republic (00) Bulgaria (01) Japan (00) Belgium (00) Luxembourg (03) with no significant average trend Ireland (00) Canada (00) Mexico (00) Greece (00) Switzerland (00) picture dramatically. https://doi.org/10.1787/5f07c754-en Slovenia (06) Croatia (06) Norway (00) Hong Kong (China) (02) Chinese Taipei (06) Uruguay (03) Denmark (00) United States (00) Hungary (00) Turkey (03) PISA also shows that in most countries excellence And in Chapter 2 in PISA 2018 Results France (00) Indonesia (01)

in education is apparent amongst some of the most (Volume II): Where All Students Can Succeed. Increasingly negative Steadily negative Negative, but flattening disadvantaged students and schools. On average https://doi.org/ 10.1787/b5fd1b8f-en (less negative over more recent years) across OECD countries, one in ten disadvantaged PISA reading score PISA reading score PISA reading score students was able to score in the top quarter of reading performance in his or her country, indicating that disadvantage is not destiny. In fact, in Australia, Canada, Estonia, Ireland and the United Kingdom, all of which scored above the OECD average, more than 13% of disadvantaged students were academically

resilient. Similarly, more than 30% of immigrant students Countries/economies 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015 2018 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015 2018 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015 2018 Korea (00) Australia (00) Sweden (00)

in Brunei Darussalam, Jordan, Panama, Qatar, Saudi with a negative average trend Netherlands (03) Finland (00) Arabia and the United Arab Emirates scored in the top Thailand (01) Iceland (00) quarter of reading performance. These successes do New Zealand (00) not come about by chance. Factors that PISA shows Notes: Figures are for illustrative purposes only. Countries and economies are grouped according to the overall direction of their trend (the sign and significance of the average three- to be positively associated with academic resilience year trend) and to the rate of change in the direction of their trend (the sign and significance of the curvature in the estimate of quadratic trends). Only countries and economies with data from at least five PISA reading assessments are included. Not all countries and economies can compare their students’ performance over the include support from parents, a positive school climate same period. For each country/economy, the base year, starting from which reading results can be compared, is indicated in parentheses next to the country’s/economy’s name (“00” = and having a growth mindset (see more on this later). 2000, “01” = 2001, etc.). Both the overall direction and the change in the direction may be affected by the period considered. OECD average-23 refers to the average of all OECD countries with valid data in all seven assessments; Austria, Chile, Estonia, Israel, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the Slovak Republic, In the same way as social disadvantage does not Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States are not included in this average. Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Table I.B1.10; Figure I.9.1. automatically lead to poor educational performance for students and schools, the world is no longer divided between rich and well-educated nations and poor and badly educated ones. When comparing countries that score similarly in PISA, their income levels vary widely. History shows that countries with

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Getting ready for the digital world

While people have different views on the role that on weekend days. For young people, the digital world digital technology can and should play in schools, we is becoming a sizeable part of the real world. cannot ignore how digital tools have so fundamentally transformed the world outside of school. Everywhere, While improved access to new technologies provides digital technologies are offering firms new business unprecedented opportunities, it also raises the bar models and opportunities to enter markets and of what it means to be proficient in reading. Students transform their production processes. They can make growing up with a great smartphone but a poor us live longer and healthier, help us with boring or education will face real risks. The smartphone has dangerous tasks, and allow us to travel into virtual transformed the ways in which people read and worlds. People who cannot navigate through the exchange information; and digitalisation has resulted digital landscape can no longer participate fully in our in the emergence of new forms of text, ranging social, economic and cultural life. from the concise (text messages; annotated search- engine results) to the lengthy and unwieldy (tabbed, PISA shows how access to new technologies has multipage websites or complex archival material). In increased at a remarkable rate. In the 2009 PISA the past, students could find clear and often singular assessment, about 15% of students in OECD countries, answers to their questions in carefully curated and on average, reported that they did not have access government-approved textbooks, and they could to the Internet at home. By 2018, that proportion had generally trust those answers to be true. Today, they shrunk to less than 5%. The growth in access to online will find hundreds of thousands of answers to their services is likely to be even steeper than suggested by questions on line, and it is up to them to figure out these percentages, which hide the improvements in the what is true and what is false, what is right and what is quality of Internet services and the explosion of mobile wrong. While in many offline situations readers can Internet access over the past decade. assume that the author of the text they are reading is competent, well-informed and benevolent, when Furthermore, in all countries that distributed an optional reading online blogs, forums or news sites readers questionnaire on students’ familiarity with these must constantly assess the quality and reliability of the technologies as part of PISA 2018, the amount of time information, based on implicit or explicit cues related that 15-year-old students in OECD countries spent to the content, format or source of the text. on line outside of school increased between 2012 and 2018 – by an average of more than 1 hour per This is not exactly a new phenomenon, but the speed, day (on both weekdays and weekends). Students volume and reach of information flows in the current now spend about 3 hours on line outside of school on digital ecosystem have created the perfect conditions weekdays, on average, and almost 3.5 hours on line for fake news to thrive, affecting public opinion and

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Getting ready for the digital world

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political choices. In this “post-truth” climate, quantity sources increases as the student progresses through the will need to help students develop a strong sense of seems to be valued more than quality when it comes assessment. (To see what some of these tasks were like, right and wrong, a sensitivity to the claims that others to information. Assertions that “feel right” but have no go to www.oecd.org/pisa/test/) make on them, and a grasp of the limits on individual basis in fact become accepted as truth. Algorithms and collective action. At work, at home and in the that sort people into groups of like-minded individuals The results from the PISA 2018 assessment suggest community, people will need a deep understanding of create social media echo chambers that amplify views, that improvements in education have not kept up with how others live, in different cultures and traditions, and and leave individuals uninformed of and insulated these rising demands. The proportion of 15-year-old how others think, whether as scientists or artists. The from opposing arguments that may alter their beliefs. students who scored at the highest levels rose only PISA 2018 assessment of global competence explored There is a scarcity of attention, but an abundance of marginally across OECD countries, from 7% in 2009 some of these capacities. Results from that assessment information. to 9% in 2018. These students, who attained Level 5 or will be published in 2020. 6 in the PISA reading test, were able to comprehend The more knowledge that technology allows students lengthy texts, deal with concepts that are abstract or to search and access, the more important becomes counterintuitive, and establish distinctions between Read more about these issues in Chapters 1 deep understanding and the capacity to make fact and opinion, based on implicit cues pertaining and 5 in PISA 2018 Results (Volume I): What sense of content. Understanding involves knowledge to the content or source of the information. Even in Students Know and Can Do. and information, concepts and ideas, practical Singapore, the country with the largest share of top https://doi.org/10.1787/5f07c754-en skills and intuition. But fundamentally it involves performers, only one in four 15-year-old students integrating and applying all of these in ways that was able to reach this level. In the four participating are appropriate to the learner’s context. Reading is Chinese provinces/municipalities, Canada, Finland no longer mainly about extracting information; it is and Hong Kong (China), at least one in seven students about constructing knowledge, thinking critically and were able to do so. making well-founded judgements. Contrast this with the findings from this latest round of PISA, which show Beyond the requisite knowledge and skills, PISA also that fewer than 1 in 10 students in OECD countries shows that students seem to read less for leisure and to was able to distinguish between fact and opinion, read fewer books of fiction, magazines or newspapers based on implicit cues pertaining to the content or because they want to (as opposed to because they source of the information. Education has won the race have to). Instead, they read more to fulfil practical with technology throughout history, but there is no needs, and they read more in online formats, such as guarantee that it will do so in the future. chats, online news or websites containing practical information. In 2018, more students considered The PISA assessments have evolved to better reading “a waste of time” (+5 percentage points, on capture these demands. In the 2018 assessment, average across OECD countries) and fewer students the description of what top-performing students are read for enjoyment (-5 percentage points) than their able to do in reading included not only being able to counterparts did in 2009. understand and communicate complex information, but also the capacity to distinguish between fact and Humans were always better at inventing new tools than opinion when reading about an unfamiliar topic. The using them wisely, but as the influence that schools – nature of texts and the type of problems included and families – have over what students read declines, in the PISA 2018 assessment of reading reflected it is essential that schools redouble their efforts to the evolving nature of reading in increasingly digital promote reading proficiency to meet the demands of societies. Specifically, the 2018 reading assessment the digitalised world. All students need to be able to placed greater emphasis on the ability to find, read complex texts, distinguish between credible and compare, contrast and integrate information across untrustworthy sources of information, and between multiple sources. In order to assess multiple-source fact and fiction, and question or seek to improve the reading, new assessment tasks were designed, accepted knowledge and practices of our times. based on texts composed of several smaller units, Beyond that, in a world shaped by artificial each created by a different author or authors or at intelligence, education is no longer just about teaching different times. Examples of these kinds of texts are an people something, but about helping people build a online forum with multiple posts and a blog that links reliable compass and the navigation tools to find their to a newspaper article. Computer delivery made it own way through an increasingly volatile, uncertain possible to use various digital navigation tools, such as and ambiguous world. Tomorrow’s schools will hyperlinks or tabs, and to present such tasks in realistic need to help students think for themselves and join scenarios, in which the amount of available text others, with empathy, in work and citizenship. They

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Figure 6•Students’ proficiency in reading (6a: computer-based assessment/6b: paper-based assessment)

Below Level 1c Level 1c Level 1b Level 1a Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6

Figure 6a Students at Level 1a or below Students at Level 2 or above B-S-J-Z China) Macao China) Estonia Singapore Ireland Hong Kong China) Finland Canada Poland Korea Denmark Japan United Kingdom Chinese Taipei Slovenia Sweden New Zealand United States Norway Australia Portugal Germany Czech Republic France Belgium Croatia Russia Building strong foundations Latvia OECD average Italy Belarus Austria The rising bar of success in education in the digital average across OECD countries. These students can Switzerland Netherlands age puts even greater pressure on education systems recognise the correct explanation for familiar scientific Lithuania to secure strong foundations. There is a great risk that phenomena and can use such knowledge to identify, Hungary Turkey technology will super-empower those with strong in simple cases, whether a conclusion is valid based on Iceland Luxembourg knowledge and skills while leaving those with weak the data provided. Greece foundations further behind. Israel Slovak Republic In some education systems low performers are spread Chile Only 77% of students, on average across OECD across many different schools, while in others, low Malta Serbia countries, attained Level 2 proficiency in reading performers tend to be clustered in certain schools, Uruguay Costa Rica (Figure 6). Level 2 marks the point at which students often compounded with social disadvantage. In United Arab Emirates have acquired the technical skills to read, and can use some of these countries the between-school variation Montenegro Mexico reading for learning. At a minimum, these students are in performance is the result of stratification and Malaysia Bulgaria able to identify the main idea in a text of moderate selection, and thus an in-built feature of the school Colombia Brazil length, find information based on explicit criteria, and system. In systems where low performers are more Qatar reflect on the purpose and form of texts when explicitly often concentrated in specific schools or types of Brunei Darussalam Albania directed to do so. schools, such as Germany, Hungary, Israel, Lebanon, Bosnia and Herzegovina Peru the Netherlands, the Slovak Republic and Turkey, it is Thailand The share of 15-year-old students, in grade 7 and important to ensure that especially those schools with Baku (Azerbaijan) above, who reached this basic level of proficiency Kazakhstan low performance receive adequate resources and Panama in reading ranged from close to 90% in the four Georgia support. Indonesia provinces/municipalities of China, Estonia, Macao Morocco Kosovo (China) and Singapore, to less than 10% in Cambodia, Interventions can also be targeted at socio-economically Dominican Republic Senegal and Zambia (countries that participated in disadvantaged students and/or schools. In almost Philippines Figure 6b Students’ proﬁciency in reading (paper-based assessment) the PISA for Development assessment in 2017). The all countries that participated in PISA 2018, students share of 15-year-old students who attained minimum who were disadvantaged compared with their peers Ukraine Romania levels of proficiency in mathematics (at least Level in their country were less likely to attain the minimum Jordan 2) varied even more – between 98% in Beijing, level of proficiency in reading. However, the strength Moldova Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang (China) and 2% in of the relationship between a student’s socio-economic Argentina Zambia. These numbers show that all countries still status and his or her performance varied greatly Saudi Arabia North Macedonia have some way to go towards reaching the global across countries and economies. In systems where the Lebanon goals for quality education, as defined in the UN relationship between the two was particularly strong,

% 100 80 60 40 20 0 20 40 60 80 100 Sustainable Development Goal for education, and including Belarus, France, Hungary, Luxembourg, Peru,

Note: Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the percentage of students who performed at or above Level 2. for many countries it remains a long way. Some 78% the Philippines, Romania and the Slovak Republic, Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Tables I.B1.1 and I.A2.1; Figures I.5.1 and I.5.2. of students attained Level 2 or higher in science, on interventions targeting disadvantaged students

16 © OECD 2019 © OECD 2019 17 PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations

Figure 6•Students’ proficiency in reading (6a: computer-based assessment/6b: paper-based assessment)

Below Level 1c Level 1c Level 1b Level 1a Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6

% 100 80 60 40 20 0 20 40 60 80 100 Sustainable Development Goal for education, and including Belarus, France, Hungary, Luxembourg, Peru,

16 © OECD 2019 © OECD 2019 17 PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations

would be particularly important. Since in Belarus, reading score amongst the lowest-performing 10% Hungary, Peru, the Philippines and the Slovak Republic of students; none of them saw a decline in average disadvantaged students were clustered in certain performance and 14 saw improvements. In only two schools, interventions targeting these schools would be of these 22 countries and economies did the scores most appropriate. of the highest-performing 10% of students actually decline. In many countries, immigrant students tended to be less likely than their native-born peers to attain the minimum level of proficiency in reading. Targeted support for immigrant students would seem most appropriate in Read more about these issues in Chapters Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, the 4-10 in PISA 2018 Results (Volume I): What Netherlands, Slovenia and Sweden, where at least Students Know and Can Do. 5% of students have an immigrant background. These https://doi.org/10.1787/5f07c754-en students are at least three times as likely as students And in Chapters 2, 4, 7, 9 and 10 without an immigrant background to score below the in PISA 2018 Results (Volume II): Where All minimum level of proficiency in reading. Students Can Succeed. Boys, especially disadvantaged boys, also need https://doi.org/ 10.1787/b5fd1b8f-en special support if they are to improve their reading performance. In all but 3 PISA-participating countries Reconciling equity and excellence and economies (the exceptions are the 4 PISA- participating provinces/municipalities of China, Estonia and Macao [China]) at least 20% of disadvantaged For those with the right knowledge and skills, background, including socio-economic status, gender boys did not attain the minimum level of proficiency in digitalisation and globalisation have been liberating or immigrant background. In other words, there can be reading. In 24 countries and economies, more than and exciting; but for those who are insufficiently numerous reasons why some students perform better 70% of disadvantaged boys scored below that level. prepared, they often mean vulnerable and insecure than others, but the performance differences should not work, and a life with few prospects. Economies are be the result of the conditions in which students learn. Perhaps most worryingly, the proportion of low shifting towards regional hubs of production that are Therefore, PISA measures equity by the extent to which performers, both girls and boys, increased between linked together by global chains of information and education outcomes, such as student performance, 2009 and 2018, on average across OECD goods, but that are concentrated where comparative students’ attitudes and beliefs, and students’ countries. While in all PISA-participating countries advantage can be built and renewed. This makes the expectations for their future, are related to students' and economies girls outperformed boys in reading in distribution of knowledge and wealth crucial, and that personal background. The weaker the relationship, the 2018, in 20 countries and economies girls’ reading is linked to the distribution of education opportunities. more equitable PISA considers a school system to be. performance declined over the past decade. Iceland, Italy, Japan and New Zealand, in particular, need For a start, PISA shows that the performance gap The motivation for that approach to defining equity to monitor this decline closely, even though boys’ between top-performing and low-achieving students is simple: children from wealthier families may find performance remained stable in these countries over varies widely across education systems. The largest many open doors to a successful life, but children from the period. gaps were found in Israel, Lebanon, Malta and the poor families often have just one chance in life – and United Arab Emirates, meaning that learning outcomes that is a good teacher and school that give them an Evidence from PISA shows that boys and girls can at age 15 in these countries are highly unequal. Not opportunity to develop their potential. Those who improve their performance. In the Czech Republic, surprisingly, the smallest differences between high miss that boat rarely catch up, and OECD data show Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Macao (China), Singapore, and low-achieving students tended to be observed that subsequent education opportunities in life tend to Slovenia, the United Kingdom and the United States, amongst countries and economies with the lowest reinforce early education outcomes. the proportion of top performers in reading increased mean scores. In Kosovo, Morocco and the Philippines, amongst both boys and girls, while the proportion of even the highest-performing students scored only In France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Peru and the low performers in reading remained stable or shrank. around the OECD average. Countries also differed in Slovak Republic, the gap in reading performance The Czech Republic, Denmark, Macao (China), the performance variation that lay between schools. between the 10% most socio-economically Singapore and Slovenia also saw a narrowing of In Finland, less than 7% of that variation lay between advantaged and the 10% most disadvantaged the gender gap in mathematics performance while schools, so the closest school is always the best school. students was over 170 score points – the equivalent of achieving at high levels. In Israel, that proportion was 78% (Figure 7). well over four years of schooling in the countries that were able to estimate progress across school grades. Some worry that if efforts and resources are directed Equity and socio-economic status Of course, where there are students with economic or towards low-performing students, high-performing social advantages, it is likely that they will be better students will suffer. However, PISA results show that However, equity does not mean that all students equipped to do well. This is not just about poverty countries can pull up low performers without adversely have equal outcomes in every subject; rather it means of material resources, but equally about poverty of affecting other students. For example, 22 countries that whatever variations there may be in education aspirations and hope. However, and as noted before, and economies saw improvements in the average outcomes, these should not be related to students’ in some countries even the most disadvantaged

18 © OECD 2019 © OECD 2019 19 PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations

students do well by international standards, which Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden, Figure 7•Variation in reading performance between and within schools shows that this relationship is not inevitable. disadvantaged students have at least a one-in-five chance of having high-achieving schoolmates. Within-school variation Between-school variation More generally, PISA shows that the impact of Israel social background on success in education varies High levels of social and ability stratification Lebanon Netherlands greatly across countries. The most impressive between schools can have an impact on the learning United Arab Emirates outcome of world-class school systems is that they opportunities available to students and thus on Bulgaria Germany deliver high-quality education across the entire education outcomes. Limited social diversity in schools Slovak Republic Hungary system. In Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, implies that disadvantaged students are more likely Czech Republic Turkey Finland, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Korea, Macao to be enrolled in schools that have disproportionately Qatar Italy (China), Norway and the United Kingdom, for large concentrations of low achievers – which, Belgium Serbia example, average reading performance was higher may negatively affect their performance. Unless Romania than the OECD average while the relationship disadvantaged schools are allocated sufficient Slovenia Argentina between socio-economic status and reading resources to compensate for their shortfalls, social and Switzerland Japan performance was weaker than the OECD average. academic segregation between schools may widen Luxembourg Singapore the gaps in outcomes related to socio-economic status. North Macedonia There seems to be no association between trends in Brunei Darussalam Peru mean performance and a widening or narrowing of The good news is that improving education is not all Hong Kong (China) Brazil performance gaps. Some countries improved in PISA about the volume of resources. PISA results show that Malta Uruguay mainly as a result of low-achieving students catching up to there is a positive relationship between investment B-S-J-Z (China) higher-performing students; others improved by nurturing in education and average performance – up to a Croatia Panama high performance amongst their top-performing students; threshold of USD 50 000 in cumulative expenditure Lithuania Chinese Taipei and many improved by helping all students succeed at per student from age 6 to 15 (Figure 9). However, Korea France higher levels. after that threshold, there is almost no relationship Colombia OECD average between the amount invested in education and student Greece The issue is more pertinent for education policy when Ukraine performance. For example, Estonia and Latvia invest Dominican Republic it comes to the interplay between a student’s and similarly in primary and lower secondary education Thailand a school’s social background and how these are Russia (a cumulative expenditure of about USD 65 000 Moldova related to learning outcomes. In many countries, the Macao (China) per student), yet Estonia scored more than 40 points Indonesia OECD average 71% school’s socio-economic context influences the kind Chile OECD average 29% above Latvia in reading. In turn, Australia, the United Morocco of education children are acquiring, and the quality Montenegro Kingdom and the United States all spend more than Jordan of schooling can shape the socio-economic contexts Philippines USD 107 000 per student from age 6 to 15, yet Belarus of schools. If schools are popular, house prices in scored no better than (and in some cases, below) Costa Rica their catchment areas can rise, further segregating the Kazakhstan Canada, Ireland and New Zealand, all of which Australia population. People with fewer assets, lower income Malaysia spend between 10% and 30% less. The results are Saudi Arabia and less education end up finding housing where Bosnia and Herzegovina similar when it comes to the relationship between United States education and social opportunities are poorer. The Georgia spending per student and the impact of social Mexico result is that in most countries, differences in education Albania background on reading performance, i.e. the countries Latvia outcomes related to social inequalities are stubbornly spending more do not necessarily show a weaker Kosovo United Kingdom persistent, and too much talent remains latent. Although Sweden

relationship between students’ socio-economic status between-schoolLess variation private schools tend to be more selective, which Poland and their performance. Estonia contributes to social segregation in the school system, New Zealand Portugal in many countries most of the social segregation across What may matter more after a threshold is reached Canada Denmark schools comes from within the public sector rather than is how resources are allocated. The picture is similar Ireland Norway from social segregation between public and private when comparing the learning time that students invest Baku (Azerbaijan) Iceland schools (Figure 8). (Figure 10). In Finland, the country where students Finland spend the least time learning, student performance % 110 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 % Some countries still have a long way to go in is comparatively high, whereas in the United Arab moderating between-school differences. In Argentina, Emirates, the country with the longest study hours, Note: All analyses are restricted to schools with the modal ISCED level for 15-year-old students. Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Peru, the learning outcomes are comparatively poor. The lack of Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the between-school variation in reading performance, as a percentage of the total variation in performance across OECD Slovak Republic and the United Arab Emirates, a typical countries. a correlation between the amount of learning time and Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Table II.B1.4.1; Figure II.4.1. disadvantaged student has only a one-in-eight chance learning outcomes illustrates that learning outcomes of attending the same school as high achievers (those are always the product of the quantity of learning who score in the top quarter of reading performance time, and the quality of learning and the instructional in PISA). By contrast, in 14 countries, including the environment. OECD countries Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland,

20 © OECD 2019 © OECD 2019 21 PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations

Figure 8•Segregation of advantaged and disadvantaged students Figure 9•Reading performance and spending on education

0.40 Average performance in reading (in score points) 555 Chile .52 Singapore 0 Peru ² = 0.35 R Costa Rica Panama 2 Hong Kong (China) R = 0.49 Thailand Brazil y=x 530 Estonia Canada Macao (China) Colombia Finland B-S-J-Z (China) Ireland 0.30 Hong Kong (China) Lebanon New Zealand Korea Uruguay Indonesia Australia United Kingdom 1 Mexico Poland Sweden Romania Hungary Japan Turkey 505 Chinese Taipei United States Czech Republic Slovenia Morocco Slovak Republic Germany Norway 0.25 Singapore Slovenia Portugal Jordan Argentina France Viet Nam Czech Republic Belgium Macao (China) 2 Albania Croatia Austria 25 22 United Arab Emirates Latvia Netherlands OECD average: 487 points 24 Moldova 480 Russia 3 Spain Belarus Italy Serbia Bulgaria Belarus Hungary Iceland 0.20 19 Luxembourg Poland Lithuania Ukraine Lithuania Israel Qatar 13 Latvia OECD average Switzerland 11 15 Turkey 17 Israel Slovak Republic 9 16 20 12 1. Philippines 14. North Macedonia Croatia 10 455 Chile 6 Georgia 2. Dominican Republic 15. Ukraine 14 7 Greece Greater segregation of advantaged students segregation Greater 0.15 18 23 Malta 21 Russia 3. United Kingdom 16. Netherlands 8 4 Serbia Malta Kosovo 4. Finland 17. Brunei Darussalam Korea 5. Sweden 18. Kazakhstan 5 Japan Ireland 6. Greece 19. Germany Romania Mexico New Zealand 7. Chinese Taipei 20. United States 430 Moldova Norway Uruguay 0.10 Canada Denmark e 8. Bosnia and Herzegovina 21. Estonia g Montenegro Montenegro a 9. Baku (Azerbaijan) 22. Malaysia r Jordan Bulgaria e 10. France 23. Italy Iceland v Malaysia a 11. Belgium 24. Luxembourg Colombia Brazil Qatar

D 12. Saudi Arabia 25. Portugal C Bosnia and Herzegovina Brunei Darussalam E 13. Australia 405 0.05 O Peru Argentina North Macedonia 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 Thailand Greater segregation of disadvantaged students Kazakhstan 380 Panama Notes: All analyses are restricted to schools with the modal ISCED level for 15-year-old students. The isolation index measures whether students of type A are more concentrated in some schools. The index is related to the likelihood of a representative type A student to be enrolled in Indonesia schools that enrol students of another type. It ranges from 0 to 1, with 0 corresponding to no segregation and 1 to full segregation. A socio-economically advantaged student is a student in the top quarter of the PISA index of economic, social and cultural status (ESCS) in his or her own country/economy. 355 A socio-economically disadvantaged student is a student in the bottom quarter of the PISA index of economic, social and cultural status (ESCS) in his or her own country/economy. Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Table II.B1.4.7; Figure II.4.5. Dominican Republic

Philippines OECD average: USD 89 092 330 Many education systems can do better in aligning OECD countries, 40% of teachers in disadvantaged 0 50 000 100 000 150 000 200 000 250 000 300 000 350 000 resources with needs and moderate social inequality schools but 48% of teachers in advantaged schools Cumulative expenditure per student over the theoretical duration of studies (in US dollars) amongst schools. When it comes to the allocation had at least a master’s degree; and in 42 countries of material resources, much progress has been and economies, principals of disadvantaged schools Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Tables I.B1.4 and Figure; 1.4.4. achieved. According to PISA, some school systems were significantly more likely than those of advantaged succeed in providing sufficient material and staff schools to report that their school’s capacity to provide greatest difficulty meeting Singapore’s high standards. underlying expectation is that the ethos, management resources to all schools, including disadvantaged instruction was hindered by a shortage of education In Japan, officials in prefectural offices will transfer style and teaching methods of the high-performing schools. In Bulgaria, Denmark, Latvia, Norway and staff. PISA also found that in 7 of the 19 countries and effective teachers to schools with weak faculties to make school can be transferred to the poorer-performing Poland, instruction appeared not to be hindered by economies that distributed an optional questionnaire sure that all students have equally capable instructors. school. shortages of educational material or staff, according for teachers, the proportion of teachers with less than Shanghai has established a system of financial transfer to school principals, and there was no significant five years of experience was larger in disadvantaged payments to schools serving disadvantaged students In the state of Ceará, in Brazil, the highest-performing difference in these reports between principals of schools than in advantaged schools. Students then and career structures that incentivise high-performing schools receive a significant reward in additional advantaged schools and those of disadvantaged face a double disadvantage: one that comes from their teachers to teach in disadvantaged schools. Shanghai financial resources that allows them to hire more schools (Figure 11). Many countries have introduced home background and another that is created by the also pairs high-performing districts and schools with specialised teachers and experts. They do not use formula-based approaches to funding whereby the school system (Figure 12). low-performing districts and schools, so that the these additional resources in their own school; but are resources allocated to a school depend on its socio- authorities in each can exchange and discuss their required to allocate them to the schools that struggle economic context. OECD analyses show that it is not as simple as paying development plans with each other, and institutes for most. So everyone wins: the high-performing schools teachers who work in disadvantaged schools more; teachers’ professional development can share their gain additional prestige and an expanded team, and However, attracting the most qualified teachers to it requires holistic approaches in which teachers feel curricula, teaching materials and good practices. The the low-performing schools benefit from the expertise the most challenging classrooms remains a major supported in their professional and personal lives government commissions “strong” public schools to of high-performing schools – which might have been challenge for most countries. For example, PISA results when they take on additional challenges, and when take over the administration of “weak” ones by having more valuable to them than additional money. show that in several countries, more teachers are they know that additional effort will be valued and the “strong” school appoint one of its experienced All this being said, it is often difficult for teachers to allocated to disadvantaged schools than advantaged publicly recognised. Some education systems have leaders, such as the deputy principal, to be the schools, but these teachers tend to be less experienced been moving in this direction. Singapore sends its best allocate scarce additional time and resources to the principal of the “weak” school, and sending a team children with the greatest needs. People who laud and hold lower qualifications. On average across teachers to work with the students who are having the of experienced teachers to lead in teaching. The

22 © OECD 2019 © OECD 2019 23 PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations

Figure 8•Segregation of advantaged and disadvantaged students Figure 9•Reading performance and spending on education

22 © OECD 2019 © OECD 2019 23 PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations

Figure 10•Reading performance and total learning time per week Figure 11•Difference in shortage of educational material and staff, by schools’ socio-economic profile Results based on principals’ reports

Average performance in reading (in score points) 555 Index of shortage of education staff Index of shortage of educational material Singapore B-S-J-Z (China) Peru Uruguay United Arab Emirates Thailand 530 United Kingdom Macao (China) Australia Finland Hong Kong (China) Hong Kong (China) Estonia Turkey Norway Canada Luxembourg Australia Ireland Poland Korea Brazil United States Japan Saudi Arabia Sweden Colombia 505 Chinese Taipei Slovenia Denmark Panama New Zealand Belgium Philippines Germany Czech Republic Portugal Argentina France B-S-J-Z (China) Disadvantaged schools Switzerland Latvia Israel Netherlands Croatia Russia OECD average: 487 points have more resources 480 Lithuania Austria United States Italy than advantaged schools Iceland New Zealand Slovenia Hungary Israel Luxembourg Turkey Malta Greece Dominican Republic Slovak Republic Macao (China) 455 Chile Indonesia Jordan Morocco Canada Disadvantaged schools United Arab Emirates United Kingdom have fewer resources Belgium than advantaged schools 430 Costa Rica Switzerland Ireland Uruguay Mexico Montenegro Spain Bulgaria Denmark Colombia Brazil Qatar Germany Lebanon 405 Brunei Darussalam Peru Sweden Korea Thailand Baku (Azerbaijan) OECD average Slovak Republic 380 Greece Mexico Russia Norway Viet Nam Japan 355 Chile Malaysia Hungary Dominican Republic Qatar Kazakhstan OECD average: 44 hours Estonia 330 Serbia Czech Republic 35 40 45 50 55 60 Chinese Taipei Learning time (in hours per week) Bosnia and Herzegovina Iceland Note: Learning time is based on reports by 15-year-old students in the same country/economy in response to the PISA 2015 questionnaire. France For Beijing-Shanghai-Jiangsu-Zhejiang (China) (labelled as B-J-S-Z [China] on the figure), data on learning time amongst students from Beijing-Shanghai-Jiangsu-Guangdong (China) were used. Albania Netherlands Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Table I.B1.4; and OECD, PISA 2015 Database, Figure II.6.23; and PISA 2018 Figure I.4.5. Belarus Singapore Montenegro Georgia the value of diversity in classrooms are often talking public policy should strive to achieve for all children. Italy Costa Rica about the classes other people’s children attend. Achieving greater equity in education is not only Portugal Ukraine It is challenging to convince socio-economically a social justice imperative, it is also a way to use Poland Kosovo advantaged parents whose children go to school with resources more efficiently, increase the supply of Croatia Latvia other privileged children that everyone is better off skills that fuel economic growth, and promote social Finland when classes are socially diverse. Policy makers, too, cohesion. Not least, how we treat the most vulnerable Bulgaria Moldova find it hard to allocate resources where the challenges students and citizens shows who we are as a society. Lithuania Romania are greatest and where those resources can have the North Macedonia biggest impact, often because poor children usually -2.00 -1.50 -1.00 -0.50 0 0.50 1.00 don’t have someone lobbying for them. It is worth Mean index difference between advantaged and disadvantaged schools studying how countries that have addressed these challenges successfully have dealt with the political Notes: Statistically significant differences are shown in a darker tone. The socio-economic profile is measured by the school’s average PISA index of economic, social and cultural status. economy of these changes. For this analysis, the sample is restricted to schools with the modal ISCED level for 15-year-old students. Countries and economies are ranked in ascending order of the difference in the mean index of shortage of education staff. In sum, all countries have excellent students, but too Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Tables II.B1.5.13 and II.B1.5.14; Figure II.5.5. few countries have enabled all of their students to excel and fulfil their potential to do so. The education that wise parents want for their children is what

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Figure 12•Percentage of teachers with at least a master’s degree, by schools’ socio-economic profile Equity and immigration However, the considerable cross-country variation Results based on principals’ reports in performance between immigrant students and The number of students with an immigrant background students without an immigrant background is striking, Disadvantaged schools Advantaged schools has grown considerably over the past 20 years in even after accounting for socio-economic status. Poland most OECD countries. In 2015 alone, an estimated Finland Even if the culture and the education acquired before Slovak Republic 4.8 million immigrants arrived in OECD countries, a migrating have an impact on student performance, the Croatia Bulgaria wave that reinforced a long and steady upward trend. country where immigrant students settle seems to matter Czech Republic How schools and education systems respond to the Germany significantly. Estonia challenges and opportunities that arise with immigrant Luxembourg Italy flows has profound implications for the economic and The average performance disadvantage of immigrants Ukraine Georgia social well-being of all members of society, including should not mask the finding that many immigrant Switzerland immigrants themselves. students overcome considerable obstacles and excel Albania Kosovo academically. On average across OECD countries, Chinese Taipei On average across OECD countries, some 13% Hong Kong (China) 17% of immigrant students scored in the top quarter Baku (Azerbaijan) of students in 2018 had an immigrant background, of reading performance in the country where they sat United States up from 10% in 2009. In most countries, immigrant France the PISA test. In Brunei Darussalam, Jordan, Panama, Romania students tended to be socio-economically Spain Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Russia disadvantaged, with the largest proportions in Austria, more than 30% of immigrant students performed at that OECD average Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Lithuania level. Similarly, in Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Jordan, Israel the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia and Sweden, Korea Macao (China), Panama, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates where nearly one in two immigrant students was Thailand Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, immigrant Kazakhstan disadvantaged. students scored higher than or at least at the same level Belgium Sweden as their native-born peers. Despite the considerable Ireland However, despite media-stoked concern, this growth Costa Rica in the share of students with an immigrant background challenges they face, they succeed in school – a Serbia testament to the great drive, motivation and openness Argentina did not lead to a decline in the education standards in Mexico that they and their families possess. Lebanon host communities. That may be surprising, but only at Malta first glance. While it is true that migrants often endure Iceland In 1954, the United States opened its borders to an Greece economic hardship and precarious living conditions, Qatar immigrant from Syria. His son, Steve Jobs, became Turkey many immigrants bring to their host countries high Canada one of the world’s most creative entrepreneurs who Brunei Darussalam aspirations for education, and valuable knowledge revolutionised six industries: personal computers, Singapore and skills. On average across OECD countries, the Panama film, music, telephony, tablet computing and digital New Zealand majority of the first-generation immigrant students who Portugal publishing. Jobs’s life story may sound like a fairy Netherlands took part in the PISA 2015 assessment had at least one tale, but it is firmly rooted in reality. While immigrants Philippines parent who had attended school for as many years as United Kingdom are over-represented amongst poor performers in Australia the average parent in the host country. Viet Nam PISA, in half of PISA-participating countries and Moldova Jordan Still, many children with an immigrant background face economies, one in five immigrant students managed Colombia to score in the top quarter performance in their host Morocco enormous challenges at school. They need to adjust Peru countries. Amongst countries where more than 45% Chile quickly to different academic expectations, learn in a Slovenia new language, forge a social identity that incorporates of immigrant students are disadvantaged (including Indonesia Austria, Denmark, Greece and Slovenia), the share Dominican Republic both their background and their adopted country of Malaysia of immigrant students who attained the top quarter North Macedonia residence – and withstand conflicting pressures from Bosnia and Herzegovina family and peers. These difficulties are magnified when of reading performance in their country was as large Brazil Montenegro immigrants are segregated in poor neighbourhoods as the share of disadvantaged students who attained B-S-J-Z (China) that level. In France and Germany, more immigrant Saudi Arabia with disadvantaged schools. It should thus come as no Belarus students than disadvantaged students attained that Uruguay surprise that PISA data have consistently shown, in most countries, a performance gap between students with level. These students, who manage to overcome the 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 an immigrant background and native-born students. double disadvantage of poverty and an immigrant Percentage of teachers background, have the potential to make exceptional Notes: Statistically significant differences are shown in a darker tone. In 2018, the average difference in reading contributions to their host countries. Education levels correspond to level 5A master’s degree and level 6 of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED-1997). The socio-economic profile is measured by the school’s average PISA index of economic, social and cultural status. performance across OECD countries between For this analysis, the sample is restricted to schools with the modal ISCED level for 15-year-old students. immigrant and non-immigrant students was 41 score Most immigrant students and their parents hold an Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the percentage of teachers in disadvantaged schools with at least an ISCED 5A qualiﬁcation. points in favour of non-immigrant students. The ambition to succeed that in some cases surpasses OECD average-36 refers to the arithmetic mean across OECD countries (and Colombia), excluding Spain. the aspirations of families in their host country. That Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Table II.B1.5.4; Figure II.5.1. difference shrank to 24 score points after accounting for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profile is remarkable, given that immigrant students in most (Figure 13). countries are more disadvantaged and do not

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Figure 13•Difference in reading performance, by immigrant background perform as well as students without an immigrant from immigrant families were doing far better than Score-point difference in reading performance between immigrant and non-immigrant students, before and after accounting for background. When comparing students of similar their counterparts in the Netherlands, where housing socio-economic status socio-economic status, the difference between segregation had led to school segregation.

Before accounting for socio-economic status After accounting for socio-economic status immigrant and non-immigrant students in their expectations for their future education grows even Over the years, OECD’s analyses have established United Arab Emirates some pointers for policy. A quick-win policy response Qatar larger. This is important, as students who hold ambitious Saudi Arabia yet realistic expectations about their future are more is to provide language support for immigrant students Macao (China) with limited proficiency in the language of instruction. Brunei Darussalam likely to put effort into their learning and make better United States use of the opportunities available to them to achieve Common features of successful language-support Jordan Immigrant students scored lower their goals (Figure 14). programmes include sustained language training Hong Kong (China) than non-immigrant students Australia across all grade levels, centrally developed curricula, Israel The large variation in performance between immigrant teachers who are specifically educated in second- Serbia and non-immigrant students in different countries, even Canada language acquisition, and a focus on academic Croatia after accounting for socio-economic background language, and integrating language and content Kazakhstan and country of origin, suggests that policy can play learning. United Kingdom Montenegro a significant role in minimising those disparities. The Russia key is to dismantle the barriers that usually make it Since language development and general intellectual New Zealand development are intertwined, it seems best not to Singapore harder for immigrant students to succeed at school. Ireland The crunch point is not necessarily the point of entry, postpone teaching the mainstream curriculum until Panama but afterwards, when educators and school systems students fully master their new language. What is Malta Costa Rica decide whether or not to offer programmes and important is to ensure close co-operation between France support specifically designed to help immigrant language teachers and classroom teachers, an Baku (Azerbaijan) students succeed. approach that is widely used in countries that seem Luxembourg Immigrant students scored higher Germany than non-immigrant students most successful in educating immigrant students, such Belgium Designing education policies to address immigrant Greece as Australia, Canada and Sweden. Italy students’ needs – particularly language instruction – is Netherlands not easy, and education policy alone is insufficient. Offering high-quality early childhood education, OECD average-36 Switzerland For example, immigrant students’ performance in PISA tailored to language development, is another policy Portugal is more strongly (and negatively) associated with the response. Participating in early education programmes Slovenia concentration of disadvantaged students in schools Norway can improve the chances that immigrant students start Austria than with the concentration of immigrants or of students school at the same level as non-immigrant children. Denmark who speak a language at home that is different from Targeted home visits can encourage enrolment in early Estonia Lebanon the language of instruction. childhood education and can help families support Sweden their child’s learning at home. Iceland Reducing the concentration of disadvantage in Finland schools might require changes in other social policy, However, spending on early childhood education, in -100 -50 0 50 100 such as housing or welfare, to encourage a more Score-point dif. and of itself, is not enough. Key to success is helping balanced social mix in schools. Consider this: when children from disadvantaged backgrounds develop the the influx of low-skilled immigrants to Europe began kinds of cognitive, social and emotional skills that they to grow rapidly in the 1970s, the Netherlands chose might not acquire at home. Notes: Statistically significant differences in reading performance are shown in a darker tone. Countries where less than 5% of students had an immigrant background are not represented in the figure. to accommodate the migrants in large, specially Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the gap in reading performance related to immigrant background, after accounting for students' socio-economic status. constructed urban housing blocks. The neighbouring A third high-impact policy option is to build specialist OECD average-36 refers to the arithmetic mean across OECD countries (and Colombia), excluding Spain. Flemish Community of Belgium, whose schools are run knowledge in the schools receiving immigrant children. Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Table II.B1.9.3; Figure II.9.6. on policies very similar to those in the Netherlands, This can involve providing special education for teachers chose to give vouchers to migrant workers to to better tailor instructional approaches to diverse supplement the amount that they would otherwise have student populations and support second-language to spend on housing. They could use these vouchers learning. It can also help if teacher turnover is reduced wherever they wished. The result was that there were in schools serving disadvantaged and immigrant fewer Flemish schools composed entirely of the sons populations, and if high-quality and experienced and daughters of migrant workers. Years later, the teachers are encouraged to work in these schools. Netherlands faced an enormous challenge to educate Hiring more teachers from ethnic minority or immigrant students from the public housing projects whom they backgrounds can help reverse the growing disparity had not been able to integrate into their education between an increasingly diverse student population system and who continued to be low achievers. By and a largely homogeneous teacher workforce, contrast, in the Flemish Community of Belgium, where especially in countries where immigration is a more the migrants had been more dispersed, students recent phenomenon.

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Figure 14•Proportion of high-skilled employees in the labour force and students with realistic and ambitious expectations The harder challenge is avoiding concentrating other social and emotional dimensions of learning that Based on students’ reports in PISA and WISE database immigrant students in the same, underachieving schools. may have a stronger impact on children as they think Schools that struggle to do well for native-born students about what they want to be when they grow up. Percentage of high-achieving students¹ who expect to complete tertiary education (PISA) will struggle even more with a large population Percentage of employed adults with tertiary education (WISE database²) Amongst the 15-year-olds assessed by PISA, only 1% Russia of children who cannot speak or understand the Canada language of instruction. Countries use different of girls reported that they want to work in ICT-related Singapore occupations, compared with 8% of boys who so Israel approaches to address the concentration of immigrant Ireland reported, on average across OECD countries. In Japan and other disadvantaged students in particular Luxembourg Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia and Finland schools. One way is to attract other students to Belgium these schools, including more advantaged students. Ukraine, more than 15% of boys reported that they United Kingdom expect to work in an ICT-related profession; but in no Lithuania A second is to better equip immigrant parents with Estonia PISA-participating country or economy did more than Australia information on how to select the best school for their Norway 3% of girls so report. It seems even when they excel in New Zealand child. A third is to limit the extent to which advantaged Switzerland schools can select students. mathematics or science in PISA, boys and girls have Sweden very different expectations for their future occupation France Latvia Extra support and guidance for immigrant parents (Figures 16a and 16b). More than one in four boys Netherlands OECD average-36 can also help. While immigrant parents may have reported than they expect to work as an engineer or Denmark Iceland high aspirations for their children, they may feel science professional when they are 30 years old, but Greece limited in their capacity to support their children if fewer than one in six girls so reported. Almost one in Chile Slovenia they have poor language skills or an insufficient three high-performing girls, but only one in eight boys Poland Kazakhstan understanding of the school system. Programmes to with the same proficiency reported that they expect to Bulgaria Germany support immigrant parents can include home visits to work as health professionals. Macao (China) encourage these parents to participate in educational Georgia Data from earlier PISA assessments suggest that girls Hungary activities, employing specialised liaison staff to improve Costa Rica do not seem to be getting much encouragement from Hong Kong (China) communication between schools and families, and Moldova their parents either. In all countries and economies Malta reaching out to parents to involve them in school- Croatia based activities. surveyed on this question in 2012, parents were more Saudi Arabia likely to expect their sons, rather than their daughters, Serbia Dominican Republic to work in a STEM field – even when boys and girls Czech Republic Equity and gender Uruguay performed equally well in mathematics and science. Slovak Republic Technically, the industrialised world had closed the North Macedonia In 2012, some 50% of parents in Chile, Hungary Austria gender gap in education – as measured in average and Portugal reported that they expect their sons to Portugal Malaysia years of schooling – by the 1960s. That made a huge have a career in science, technology, engineering or Italy Turkey difference, as about half of the economic growth in mathematics, but less than 20% of parents held such Qatar OECD countries over the past 50 years was due to Romania expectations for their daughters. Mexico higher educational attainment, mainly amongst women. Thailand The picture is very different when it comes to reading. Indonesia But women still earn 15% less than men, on average in In all countries and economies that participated in 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 % OECD countries, and 20% less amongst the highest-paid workers. Some analyses suggest that this is because PISA 2018, girls significantly outperformed boys in 1. Students who attain at least Level 2 in all three core domains and Level 4 in one of them. men and women who do similar work are not paid reading – by 30 score points. The narrowest gender 2. WISE refers to the World Indicators of Skills for Employment; for more information, please refer to https://www.oecd.org/employment/skills-for-employment-indicators.htm. gaps (less than 20 score points) were observed in Notes: Only countries and economies with available data are shown in this figure. the same. But a more important factor is that men and Tertiary education corresponds to ISCED levels 5A, 5B or 6 according to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED-1997). women pursue different careers, and those career Argentina, the four provinces/municipalities of China, Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the percentage of employed adults with tertiary education. OECD average-36 refers to the arithmetic mean across OECD countries (and Colombia), excluding Spain. choices are often made early in life. Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama and Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Table II.B1.6.8; Figure II.6.3. Peru; the widest (more than 50 score points) were In mathematics and science, PISA 2018 suggests that observed in Finland, Jordan, the Republic of North gender differences are generally small (Figure 15). Macedonia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Boys outperformed girls just by five score points in Emirates. mathematics, on average across OECD countries, and girls outperformed boys in science just by two A comparison of results in reading performance score points. Only in Argentina, the four provinces/ between 2009, when reading was also the main municipalities of China, Colombia, Costa Rica and subject assessed in PISA, and 2018 shows that, Mexico did boys significantly outperform girls in in several countries and economies, the gender science, while the opposite was true in 33 countries gap in reading performance narrowed over time. and economies. However, while claiming victory It shrank significantly in 36 of the 62 countries and in having closed gender gaps in girls’ and boys’ economies that participated in both the 2009 and cognitive abilities, education may have lost sight of 2018 PISA assessments. In 17 of those countries

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Figure 15•Gender gap in reading and mathematics performance Figure 16a•Gender gap in career expectations amongst top performers in mathematics and/or science

A. Science and engineering professionals 1. Turkey 8. Latvia 15. Baku (Azerbaijan) 22. Ireland 29. Uruguay 2. Portugal 9. Croatia 16. Montenegro 23. United Kingdom 30. United States Girls Boys 3. Australia 10. Macao (China) 17. Denmark 24. Canada 31. Czech Republic Percentage of top performers 4. Switzerland 11. Singapore 18. Chinese Taipei 25. Russia 32. Poland 5. Netherlands 12. Slovak Republic 19. Belarus 26. New Zealand Argentina 0.7 6. France 13. Germany 20. Luxembourg 27. Hungary Lebanon 2.2 7. Lebanon 14. Romania 21. Bosnia and Herzegovina 28. Kosovo Greece 4.3 25 Albania 2.3 Qatar Chile 1.9 Girls perform better than Qatar 3.9 boys in mathematics Turkey 5.5 Sweden 14.7 Brazil 1.4 15 Thailand R² = 0.63 United Kingdom 16.2 North Macedonia 1.6 Philippines Malta Saudi Arabia Australia 14.1 Dominican Republic Brunei Darussalam 4.0 Indonesia Iceland Montenegro Hong Kong (China) Israel United Arab Emirates 1.9 Brunei Darussalam Serbia 5.8 North Macedonia France 13.3 5 Malaysia Albania Norway Finland Denmark 13.3 Kazakhstan Georgia Moldova Ireland 10.5 Morocco Sweden Jordan Bulgaria Hungary 9.6 0 Korea 7 5 Croatia 32 6.8 Lithuania Greece Belgium 17.4 18 11 28 25 21 B-S-J-Z (China) 6 17 31 Serbia United Arab Emirates 6.5 -5 1 24 3 12 Slovenia 10 22 Israel 11.1 14 Gender gap in mathematics performance (in score points) Mexico Chile 19 20 8 Estonia 19.4 13 4 Panama 15 9 Ukraine Portugal 13.2 Malaysia 2.6 29 2 27 26 Estonia 30 16 Malta 9.7 Japan Brazil 23 Austria Luxembourg 12.4 -15 Argentina Slovenia 15.5 Peru Italy Thailand 2.6 Belgium Costa Rica New Zealand 16.3 Colombia OECD average-36 13.1 Girls perform worse than Kazakhstan 2.0 boys in mathematics Iceland 11.1 -25 Canada 19.5 Lithuania 9.9 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Baku (Azerbaijan) 1.9 Italy 10.1 Gender gap in reading performance (in score points) Germany 16.5 Note: Gender gap refers to the difference between girls and boys (girls minus boys). Russia 9.0 Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Tables II.B1.7.1 and II.B1.7.3; Figure II.7.3. Latvia 9.8 Singapore 40.2 Poland 18.1 and economies, the narrowing of the gender gap in 43% of girls reported that they read at least 30 minutes Norway 13.8 reading performance was due to an improvement a day, and 8% of them reported reading more than Bulgaria 4.7 Romania 3.5 in boys' performance. However, in 11 countries, 2 hours a day. Switzerland 18.5 namely Bulgaria, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jordan 1.1 Perhaps surprisingly, the large gender gap in reading Moldova 2.8 Kazakhstan, Latvia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Belarus 7.9 Slovak Republic and Switzerland, the narrowing of the performance observed amongst 15-year-olds in PISA Slovak Republic 11.6 virtually disappears amongst the 16-29 year-olds United States 12.3 gender gap in reading performance was due not to an B-S-J-Z (China) 48.4 who were assessed by the OECD Survey of Adult Finland 16.8 improvement in boys’ performance but to a decline in Austria 14.2 girls’ performance. Skills. Why? To some extent this may have to do with Chinese Taipei 24.5 differences in the cohorts; but another explanation Netherlands 20.7 Czech Republic 14.7 Students’ attitudes towards reading have changed is that young men are much more likely than young Macao (China) 31.0 over time too. In 2018, 24% of 15-year-old boys and women to read at work. This suggests that there are Korea 23.6 Hong Kong (China) 29.6 44% of girls the same age agreed that “Reading is one many ways to narrow or even eliminate gender gaps Ukraine 6.3 of my favourite hobbies”, while 60% of boys and 39% in education and skills, as long as education enlists Indonesia 0.5 Japan 21.7 of girls agreed that “I read only to get information that I parents, teachers, school leaders and employers in need”. But compared with 2009 results, in 2018 larger giving men and women the same opportunities and 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Percentage of top performers who expect a career in the ﬁeld proportions of both boys (an increase of 7 percentage encouragement to learn. points) and girls (an increase of 9 percentage points) Notes: Statistically significant differences between girls and boys are show in a darker tone. The good news is that narrowing these gender gaps For students’ career expectations, results are only available for the French Community of Belgium. agreed that “I read only if I have to”. When asked how In this figure, “top performers” refers to students who attain at least Level 2 in all three core subjects and Level 5 or 6 in mathematics and/or science. much time they usually spend reading for enjoyment, does not require expensive reform. Rather, it requires Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the percentage of top performing girls who expect a career in the ﬁeld. concerted efforts by parents, teachers and employers OECD average-36 refers to the arithmetic mean across OECD countries (and Colombia), excluding Spain. more than 75% of boys reported either none at all Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Tables II.B1.8.22 and II.B1.8.23; Figure II.8.8. or less than 30 minutes a day; less than 3% reported to become more aware of their own conscious or that they read more than two hours a day. By contrast, unconscious biases so that they give girls and boys equal chances for success at school and beyond.

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Figure 15•Gender gap in reading and mathematics performance Figure 16a•Gender gap in career expectations amongst top performers in mathematics and/or science

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Figure 16b•Gender gap in career expectations amongst top performers in mathematics and/or science For example, PISA shows clearly that boys and girls have different reading preferences. Girls are far B. Health-related occupations more likely than boys to read novels and magazines Girls Boys for enjoyment while boys prefer comic books and Percentage of top performers Jordan 1.1 newspapers. If parents and teachers were to give boys Turkey 5.5 a greater choice in what they read, they might help Portugal 13.2 Chile 1.9 boys develop an enjoyment of reading, which could, in Thailand 2.6 turn, lead to at least a narrowing of the gender gap in Lebanon 2.2 Brazil 1.4 reading performance. Canada 19.5 Malaysia 2.6 PISA 2015 also found that boys spend more time Slovak Republic 11.6 United States 12.3 playing video games and less time doing homework Qatar 3.9 than girls. While excessive video gaming is shown Finland 16.8 New Zealand 16.3 to be a drag on student performance, a moderate Albania 2.3 amount of video gaming is related to boys’ better Romania 3.5 Australia 14.1 performance in digital reading than in print reading Uruguay 1.4 (although boys still lag behind girls in both types of Indonesia 0.5 Iceland 11.1 reading). Anyone with teenage children knows how Croatia 6.8 Lithuania 9.9 difficult it is to tell them how to spend their free time; Slovenia 15.5 but all parents should be aware that convincing their Malta 9.7 Poland 18.2 children that completing homework comes before Ireland 10.5 playing video games will significantly improve their Singapore 40.2 OECD average-36 13.1 children’s life chances. Denmark 13.3 Brunei Darussalam 4 One of the most revealing findings from PISA 2009 Netherlands 20.7 Czech Republic 14.7 was that teachers consistently give girls better marks Greece 4.4 in mathematics than boys, even when boys and girls Baku (Azerbaijan) 2.0 France 13.3 perform similarly on the PISA mathematics test. That Switzerland 18.5 might be because girls are “good students” – attentive Norway 13.8 Israel 11.1 in class and respectful of authority – while boys may Macao (China) 31.0 have less self-control. But while higher marks may Belarus 7.9 Luxembourg 12.5 mean success at school, they are not necessarily an Belgium 17.4 advantage for girls in the long run, particularly when Japan 21.7 Latvia 9.8 they do not lead to higher aspirations. Labour markets Austria 14.2 Chinese Taipei 24.5 ultimately reward people for what they know and what Hong Kong (China) 29.6 they can do with what they know, not for their grades Germany 16.5 Hungary 9.6 at school. Bulgaria 4.7 Italy 10.1 When it comes to preparing for entry into the labour Sweden 14.7 Serbia 5.8 market, PISA shows that girls are more likely than Estonia 19.4 boys to get information about future studies or careers Moldova 2.8 United Kingdom 16.2 through Internet research, while boys are more likely Argentina 0.7 than girls to get hands-on experience, by working as Montenegro 1.9 Kazakhstan 2.0 interns, job shadowing, visiting a job fair or speaking to Russia 9.0 career advisers outside of school (more on that later). Korea 23.6 Ukraine 6.3 This implies that employers and guidance counsellors North Macedonia 1.6 can do far more to engage girls in learning about B-S-J-Z (China) 48.5 potential careers. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Percentage of top performers who expect a career in the ﬁeld

Notes: Statistically significant differences between girls and boys are show in a darker tone. For students’ career expectations, results are only available for the French Community of Belgium. Read more about these issues in Chapter 8 In this figure, “top performers” refers to students who attain at least Level 2 in all three core subjects and Level 5 or 6 in mathematics and/or science. Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the percentage of top performing girls who expect a career in the ﬁeld. of PISA 2018 Results (Volume II): Where All OECD average-36 refers to the arithmetic mean across OECD countries (and Colombia), excluding Spain. Students Can Succeed. Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Tables II.B1.8.22 and II.B1.8.23; Figure II.8.8. https://doi.org/10.1787/b5fd1b8f-en

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Figure 17•Growth mindset, by student characteristics Percentage of students who disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement: “Your intelligence is something about you that you can’t change very much”

Positive difference Negative difference Difference is not significant Missing values

A Girls - boys B Advantaged - disadvantaged students C Immigrant - non-immigrant students

Difference between: Difference between: A B C A B C Estonia France Denmark Korea Germany Viet Nam Ireland Czech Republic Iceland Serbia Latvia Baku (Azerbaijan) Lithuania Peru Austria Slovenia United Kingdom Bosnia and Herzegovina United States Netherlands Australia Qatar Fostering a growth mindset Canada Georgia New Zealand Argentina Japan Macao (China) When students struggle and teachers respond by that statement. Those students are unlikely to make Finland Greece lowering standards, teachers may imply that low the investments in themselves that are necessary to Ukraine Jordan achievement is the consequence of an inherent lack succeed in school and in life. Portugal Brunei Darussalam of ability. Unlike effort, talent is seen as something that Brazil United Arab Emirates Perhaps not surprisingly then, students who disagreed Switzerland Montenegro students have no control over, so students may be more likely to give up rather than try harder. According or strongly disagreed with the statement "Your Sweden Mexico intelligence is something about you that you can’t to some research, teachers also give more praise, OECD average Moldova change very much" scored 32 points higher in reading Israel Romania more help and coaching, and lengthier answers to than students who agreed or strongly agreed, after Luxembourg Saudi Arabia questions to those students whom they perceive as accounting for the socio-economic profile of students Spain Thailand having greater ability. When teachers don’t believe Hungary Hong Kong (China) that pupils can develop and extend themselves through and schools. Students who believe that their abilities Colombia Morocco hard work, they may feel guilty pressing students whom and intelligence can be developed over time (those Chile Malaysia they perceive to be less capable of achieving at higher with a “growth mindset”) also expressed less fear of Russia Albania levels. This is also concerning because research shows failure than students who believe their abilities and Chinese Taipei Poland that when a teacher gives a student an easier task and intelligence are “fixed” (Figure 18). In PISA 2018, Singapore Lebanon then praises that student excessively for completing it, the students with a growth mindset reported greater Turkey Dominican Republic the student may interpret the teacher’s behaviour as motivation to master tasks and self-efficacy, set more Bulgaria Philippines reflecting a belief that the student is less able. ambitious learning goals for themselves, attached Italy Panama greater importance to school, and were more likely to Slovak Republic Indonesia All of this is important because of all the judgements expect to complete a university degree. Croatia Kosovo people make about themselves, the most influential Belgium (Flemish) North Macedonia is how capable they think they are of completing a There are various ways a growth mindset can be B-S-J-Z (China) 0 20 40 60 80 100 % task successfully. More generally, research shows that instilled in students. It can begin by teaching students Kazakhstan more about the brain’s capacity to learn through Belarus the belief that we are responsible for the results of our A B C behaviour influences motivation, such that people are reading, class discussions and other activities. Costa Rica Countries/economies with a positive difference 39 68 18 Research has shown that students who are exposed Malta more likely to invest effort if they believe it will lead to Countries/economies with no difference 32 8 41 to these school-based interventions tend to show Uruguay Countries/economies with a negative difference 6 1 11 the results they are trying to achieve. stronger beliefs about the brain’s capacity to change, 0 20 40 60 80 100 % In this context, it is worrying that in one-third of and are less likely to attribute failure to a lack of Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the percentage of students who disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. countries and economies that participated in PISA talent, than students who are assigned to control Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Tables III.B1.14.1 and III.B1.14.3; Figure III.14.1. 2018, more than one in two students said that groups. Other successful interventions include intelligence is something about them that they can’t encouraging students to explain the growth mindset change very much (Figure 17). In the Dominican to other students, instilling a growth mindset amongst Republic, Indonesia, Kosovo, the Republic of North parents and teachers, offering a single online session Macedonia, Panama and the Philippines, at least about the growth mindset, and playing with a social 60% of students agreed or strongly agreed with robot that displays growth-mindset beliefs.

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Positive difference Negative difference Difference is not significant Missing values

A Girls - boys B Advantaged - disadvantaged students C Immigrant - non-immigrant students

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Figure 18•Growth mindset and student attitudes stratified into different types of secondary schools, with less fear of failure than students with a fixed mindset. OECD average curricula demanding various levels of cognitive skills, to a system in which all students go to secondary schools PISA results also show that students who see Change in indices with similarly demanding curricula. themselves as more competitive scored higher in 004 reading than those who do not, especially when 003 Amongst OECD countries, Finland was the first to they reported trying harder when in competition 002 take this route in the 1970s; Poland was the most with others, and this holds for both boys and girls. 001 recent, with its school reform in the 2000s. These However, parents, teachers, school principals and 000 countries “levelled-up”, requiring all students to meet policy makers should be aware that when they -001 the standards that they previously expected only their create a competitive learning environment, not all -002 elite students to meet. Students who start to fall behind students may respond in the same way. For example, -003 are identified quickly, their problem is promptly and PISA results show that in a competitive environment, -004 accurately diagnosed, and the appropriate course of boys and students who perceived themselves as -005 Motivation Self-efficacy Fear of failure Learning goals Value of school Change in these indices when students action is quickly taken. Inevitably, this means that some competitive reported better well-being outcomes than to master tasks disagreed or strongly disagreed that students are targeted for more resources than others; girls and students who did not perceive themselves your intelligence is something aout you that you cant change ery much but it is the students with the greatest needs who benefit as competitive. In the debate about how much from the most resources. competition and co-operation are needed, some Notes: All coefficients are statistically significant. researchers argue that when co-operative and All linear regression models account for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profile. The socio-economic profile is measured by the PISA index of economic, social and cultural status. It takes strong leadership, and thoughtful and sustained competitive behaviours are intertwined, as in inter- Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Table III.B1.14.7; Figure III.14.5. communication to bring parents along in this effort, team competitions, the performance and enjoyment particularly those benefiting from the more selective of participants are even higher than in a purely co- tracks. In the end, education systems are unlikely to However, a lot comes down to the instructional and feedback. In this regard, PISA 2018 results reveal operative or competitive environment. sustain high performance and equitable opportunities system. In East Asia, mastery learning is often used that students who perceived their teachers to be more to learn without the premise that it is possible for to strengthen a growth mindset. It builds on the supportive scored higher in reading, particularly after all students to achieve at high levels – and that it is understanding that learning is sequential, and that accounting for their socio-economic status. Policy necessary for them to do so. Read more about these issues in Chapters 12, mastery of earlier tasks is the foundation on which makers, in turn, need to provide educators with the 13 and 14 in PISA 2018 Results (Volume III): proficiency in subsequent tasks is built. According necessary resources and time to achieve their goals. Students’ confidence in their abilities and their fear What School Life Means for Students’ Lives. to this approach, student learning outcomes reflect When the role played by educators is not recognised of failure also affect both their performance and their https://doi.org/10.1787/acd78851-en the amount of time and instruction a student needs as essential for encouraging a growth mindset to well-being. While a moderate sense of fear can spur to learn, and whether the opportunity to learn and take root and flourish, the responsibility for failing lies students to expend greater effort on academic tasks, quality of instruction are sufficient to meet students’ entirely with the student, even when they do not have an excess of fear could compel students to avoid needs. For teachers, that means that they do not the resources necessary to reach their full potential. challenging tasks and situations that are essential for vary the learning goals, which hold for the entire their personal growth. PISA found that, on average, the Finland’s special teachers work closely with classroom class, but that they do whatever is needed to ensure greater the fear of failure expressed by students, the teachers to identify students in need of extra help, and that each student has the opportunity to learn the higher a country’s reading score. This was observed then work individually or in small groups with struggling material in ways that are appropriate to him or her. in a large number of English-speaking and East Asian students to help them keep up with their classmates. Some students will require additional instruction time, education systems. others will not; some students will require different It is not left solely to the regular classroom teacher to learning environments than others. Behind this identify a problem and alert the special teacher; every However, fear of failure can be a double-edged thinking is the belief that all students can learn and comprehensive school has a “pupils’ multiprofessional sword, and parents, teachers and school principals succeed, and that the task of teachers is to design the care group” that meets at least twice a month for two should be aware that instilling a fear of failure in learning environments, whether inside or outside the hours. The group consists of the principal, the special children may also adversely affect their well-being. For classroom, that help students realise their potential. teacher, the school nurse, the school psychologist, instance, PISA results show that, in virtually all school Because all students succeed in completing each a social worker, and the teachers whose students systems, students reported less satisfaction with life successive task, the result is often less variation and a are being discussed. The parents of any child being when they expressed a greater fear of failure. Policy weaker impact of socio-economic status on learning discussed are contacted prior to the meeting and are makers may be interested in learning more about the outcomes. sometimes asked to attend. Flemish Community of Belgium, Estonia, Finland and Germany – education systems where students scored In many countries, it has taken time to move from However, regardless of whether or not students believe above the OECD average in reading, but expressed a belief that only a few students can succeed to that they can develop their intelligence, students may less fear of failure than the typical student across embracing the idea that all students can achieve find it challenging to do so if they are not given the OECD countries. Interestingly, PISA also found that, at high levels. It takes a concerted, multifaceted necessary tools and support. Parents, teachers and in every school system except the Flemish Community programme of policy making and capacity building principals need to create an environment where of Belgium and Germany, students who exhibited a to attain that goal. But one of the patterns observed children are encouraged to participate, and where growth-mindset – i.e. they believe that abilities and amongst the highest-performing countries is the educators believe in students’ potential to develop their intelligence can be developed over time – reported skills and provide students with the necessary support gradual move from a system in which students were

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Aligning education and career aspirations

Across the world, young people who leave education giving young people information about labour-market today are entering the labour market with often opportunities. The PISA 2018 report includes an initial considerably more years of schooling than their analysis on this, and more detailed analyses are parents or grandparents had when they started underway. working. And yet, young people continue to struggle in the labour market, employers continue to complain Of course, not all 15-year-olds have a clear vision that they cannot find the new talent they need, and of their future career, and some 25% of students, governments continue to worry about the mismatch on average across OECD countries, provided only between what the labour market demands and vague answers to the question about their career what the education system supplies. The bottom line expectations. However, longitudinal studies in four is that, for young people, academic success alone countries that followed students who had sat the PISA is not sufficient to ensure easy transitions into good test in the early 2000s as they became young adults employment. found that those who, at the age of 15, had expected to work in a high-skilled job were more likely to be The PISA 2018 assessment collected data not only doing so as young adults than those who had not held on the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds, but high expectations when they were 15. also on their expectations for further education and a career (Table 1). These data allow for an examination The results from PISA 2018 show that disadvantaged of how young people’s career aspirations compare students tend to hold lower ambitions than would be with future-focused labour market information about expected given their academic achievement (Figure 19). specific occupations – their potential for growth and More than nine in ten high-achieving advantaged their likelihood of succumbing to automation. It is also students, but only seven in ten high-achieving possible to examine how closely young people’s disadvantaged students reported that they expect to career aspirations correlate with their strengths and complete tertiary education. As a result, more than skills, and to identify gaps where additional awareness 30% of high-achieving disadvantaged students did and support could help young people discover, pursue not expect to complete tertiary education; and even and secure careers in which they might be successful. when disadvantaged students aspired to high-skilled occupations, a considerable proportion of them held These data also make it possible to examine whether expectations of future education that were not aligned gender-related differences in career expectations with their career goals. have already taken root by the age of 15. Location data can also be leveraged to analyse differences Encouraging all students, especially disadvantaged in ambition across countries and between urban students, to have ambitious and realistic education and and rural environments. They can also be used to career expectations is necessary not only to improve identify regional factors to be borne in mind when equity but as an investment in the future. Only in a few

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Aligning education and career aspirations

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Figure 19•High performers who do not expect to complete tertiary education, by socio-economic status Table 1•Top 10 career expectations of 15-year-old students, by gender Percentage of students amongst those who have attained at least minimum proficiency (Level 2) in the three core PISA subjects and are high performers (Level 4) in at least one subject Boys Girls Disadvantaged students dvantaged students 1st Police officers Specialist medical practitioners Thailand 11 2nd Athletes and sports players Generalist medical practitioners United States 41 Mexico 8 3rd Engineering professionals Lawyers Korea 53 Turkey 24 4th Generalist medical practitioners Teaching professionals Singapore 69 Greece 23 5th Business services and administration managers Nursing professionals Serbia 22 Ireland 43 6th Motor vehicle mechanics and repairers Medical doctors Canada 51 Bosnia and Herzegovina 7 7th Armed forces occupations, other ranks Psychologists United Arab Emirates 22 Qatar 15 8th Policy and planning managers Police officers Chile 17 Romania 16 9th Lawyers Veterinarians Portugal 40 10th Teaching professionals Policy and planning managers Lithuania 33 Montenegro 12 Brazil 11 B-S-J-Z (China) 79 Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database; Table II.6.1. Argentina 8 Belarus 29 Chinese Taipei 52 Albania 11 North Macedonia 9 Czech Republic 41 countries, such as Canada, Chile, Korea, Singapore, less expensive and have higher graduation rates than Slovak Republic 33 Hong Kong (China) 61 Ukraine and the United States, were students’ the alternatives that students would otherwise choose. Sweden 45 Jordan 10 expectations of further education both ambitious and Counselling also improves students’ persistence Belgium 44 Australia 43 aligned with their academic performance, regardless through at least the second year of college, suggesting Malaysia 13 of the students’ socio-economic status. a potential to increase the rate of degree completion Norway 43 Japan 52 amongst disadvantaged students. Similar results were Bulgaria 18 In addition, disadvantaged students are often more Kazakhstan 8 observed with another intervention, which showed France 41 at risk of lacking relevant information about future Hungary 34 that mailing high-achieving seniors an information Macao (China) 65 education and career choices. In many countries, packet and application fee waivers made low-income OECD average-36 39 schools that enrol more disadvantaged students were Estonia 52 students more likely to enrol in colleges that have United Kingdom 45 less likely to provide opportunities for students to Brunei Darussalam 16 stronger academic records and higher graduation Slovenia 44 discuss their career plans with a specialised advisor, Poland 48 rates than those to which students with similar profiles Malta 31 on average. In fact, PISA 2018 finds that only a Latvia 35 would normally have applied. Netherlands 47 small proportion of disadvantaged students reported Israel 35 knowing how to get information about student An experiment in disadvantaged high schools in Russia 34 Baku (Azerbaijan) 8 financing (e.g. student loans or grants) for higher Toronto, Canada, found that watching a video about Moldova 15 Uruguay 14 education. the benefits of post-secondary education and being Ukraine 26 Italy 35 invited to try out a financial-aid calculator significantly New Zealand 45 A misalignment between academic performance, on assuaged the concerns of disadvantaged high school Denmark 43 the one hand, and education and career expectations, Croatia 29 students about the costs of higher education, and Finland 50 on the other, can be partly due to the anticipated Luxembourg 35 raised their expectations to earn a degree. Results from Iceland 37 difficulties in progressing through a long and costly Switzerland 44 another controlled trial conducted in German high Austria 40 education. For example, an experiment conducted in schools suggest that similar low-cost interventions may Germany 44 the Dominican Republic suggests that eighth-grade eventually lead to greater tertiary enrolment amongst 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 % boys from poor backgrounds largely underestimated students whose parents did not attain that level of the returns to higher education, and that providing them Notes: The percentage of high performers is shown next to the country/economy name. education. Students in selected schools who had Statistically significant differences are marked in a darker tone. with accurate information had a positive impact on attended a simple, in-class presentation on the benefits Only countries and economies with sufficient proportions of high performers amongst advantaged/disadvantaged students are shown in this figure. their schooling. Countries and economies are ranked in ascending order of the percentage of advantaged students. and costs of higher education, and on possible funding OECD average-36 refers to the arithmetic mean across OECD countries (and Colombia), excluding Spain. options, more often applied to university and were Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Table II.B1.6.7; Figure II.6.5. A study in the United States showed the potential of intensive college counselling provided to more often enrolled than students who had not been college-aspiring, low-income students. These exposed to these interventions. interventions are typically run by community-based Similarly, in several countries, schools that enrol non-profit organisations, and provide personalised mostly disadvantaged students were less likely than guidance to students throughout the college search, schools that mostly enrol advantaged students to application and financial aid processes. They shift the provide opportunities for students to discuss their focus towards enrolment in four-year colleges that are career plans with a specialised advisor (Figure 20).

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Figure 20•Advantaged/disadvantaged schools where one or more dedicated counsellor(s) provide career guidance The Mexican anti-poverty programme, PROGRESA, Percentage of students in schools that provide career guidance shows that simply being exposed to highly educated professionals, such as doctors and nurses, raises Disadvantaged schools dvantaged schools the aspirations of poor families for their children’s Sweden Norway education, and has a positive impact on students’ Portugal achievement at school. Ireland Finland Morocco Clearly, school-to-work transitions have become more Slovak Republic Iceland complex and prolonged. This reflects both changes Denmark Spain in labour market demand, and a growing disparity United Arab Emirates Singapore with what education systems supply. This generation New Zealand Latvia of young citizens requires curiosity, entrepreneurship Poland and resilience to work effectively in the new labour Malta Australia market. They will need confidence to create their Malaysia Qatar own employment and to manage their careers in Peru Slovenia new ways. Education systems need to prepare young Mexico United States people to be effective in applying what they know Belarus to ever-changing situations, expose them to relevant United Kingdom Luxembourg role models, and provide guidance that helps them Canada Estonia discover their passions, areas where they can excel, Switzerland Lebanon and where and how they can find or create a job. Romania Colombia Philippines Kazakhstan Dominican Republic Korea Read more about these issues in Chapter 6 Greece OECD average in PISA 2018 Results (Volume II): Where All Germany Students Can Succeed. Russia France https://doi.org/10.1787/b5fd1b8f-en B-S-J-Z (China) Saudi Arabia Brunei Darussalam Uruguay Netherlands Brazil Chile Lithuania Baku (Azerbaijan) Montenegro Panama Costa Rica Turkey Albania Bulgaria Argentina Czech Republic Jordan Serbia Croatia Macao (China) Israel Chinese Taipei Moldova Indonesia Viet Nam Hong Kong (China) Georgia Belgium Hungary Austria Kosovo Thailand Italy North Macedonia Bosnia and Herzegovina Japan

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 %

Notes: Statistically significant differences are marked in a darker tone. For this analysis, the sample is restricted to schools with the modal ISCED level for 15-year-old students. Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the percentage of students in advantaged schools. Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Table II.B1.6.9; Figure II.6.6.

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0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 %

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Figure 21•Students’ well-being, by academic resilience Percentage-point difference between students who are academically resilient and those who are not

Students who: Feel satisﬁed with life Do not feel like outsiders at school Do not doubt their future plans when faced with failure Students with positive well-being

Panama Colombia Philippines Bulgaria Albania Kosovo Jordan Peru Georgia Argentina Dominican Republic Morocco Uruguay Montenegro Lithuania Larger proportion Moldova amongst resilient Mexico students Iceland Saudi Arabia Serbia Kazakhstan Costa Rica School life, student life and student well-being Russia Brazil Baku (Azerbaijan) Bosnia and Herzegovina Indonesia Italy From its first assessment, PISA has been asking students their relationships with their parents, and with school Ukraine Qatar about their motivations and dispositions towards life. Ultimately, the well-being of students may also United Arab Emirates learning, such as their enjoyment of reading and affect their academic performance. In this regard, PISA Malaysia Slovenia their anxiety towards mathematics. In more recent data show that students who were frequently bullied Thailand Larger proportion Japan assessments, PISA also asked students about their were more likely to have skipped school and scored amongst non- Brunei Darussalam resilient students Korea more general social and emotional state, including lower in reading. Larger proportion Hong Kong (China) amongst resilient Luxembourg their satisfaction with life, their feelings and their students Hungary fear of failure, in order to establish a more holistic A positive school climate is one of those things that Latvia is difficult to define and measure, but everyone Sweden appreciation of education outcomes and student Chile recognises it when they see it. Students appreciate Chinese Taipei well-being. In addition, an optional questionnaire on France a school environment where bullying is unusual, OECD average well-being was distributed as part of PISA 2018. All Belarus where students do not feel out of place, and where Malta of these questions connect school life with the broader Macao (China) ecosystem in which students live – the family, their establishing genuine and respectful relationships with Turkey teachers is the norm. PISA 2018 shows that school Slovak Republic peers, the community – and provide information on the Austria climate is closely associated with students’ sense of United States development of 15-year-old students. Romania well-being. Czech Republic Switzerland Across OECD countries, about two in three students Croatia The disciplinary climate in language-of-instruction reported that they are satisfied with their lives, a Greece lessons is also one of the strongest predictors of Germany percentage that shrank by five percentage points B-S-J-Z (China) reading performance. In all countries and economies, Estonia between 2015 and 2018. More than 85% of students United Kingdom students who reported fewer disciplinary problems in Ireland reported sometimes or always feeling happy, cheerful Portugal their language-of-instruction lessons performed better Poland or joyful; but about 6% of students reported always in reading, after accounting for the socio-economic Netherlands Finland feeling sad. In almost every education system, girls profile of students and schools. More specifically,

-25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 expressed greater fear of failure than boys, even when on average across OECD countries, students who % dif. % dif. they outperformed boys in reading by a large margin, reported that students cannot work well in every or and this gender gap was considerably wider amongst most language-of-instruction lessons scored 25 points Notes: Statistically significant differences between students who are resilient and those who are not are shown in a darker tone. top-performing students. Positive student well-being lower in reading than students who reported that this Resilient students are disadvantaged students who score in the top quarter of performance in reading amongst students in their own country. never happened or happened only in some lessons, Non-resilient students are disadvantaged students who do not score in the top quarter of performance in reading. was also associated with a higher proportion of Students with positive well-being refers to students who reported that they are satisfied with their lives, do not feel like outsiders at school and do not doubt their future plans when facing failure. after accounting for socio-economic status. Even For the index do not doubt their future plans when faced with failure, data are only available for the Flemish Community of Belgium. resilient students (Figure 21). Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the percentage-point difference between students who are academically resilient and those who are not. occasional disciplinary problems were negatively associated with reading performance. Students who Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Table II.B1.3.5; Figure II.3.8. PISA 2018 shows that school life is closely related to reported that disciplinary problems occur in some the well-being of 15-year-old students. For instance, language-of-instruction lessons scored between the three aspects of students’ lives that are more 5 and 9 points lower in reading than students who strongly associated with expressions of sadness are reported that the problems never, or hardly ever, occur. how satisfied students are with the way they look, with

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Figure 21•Students’ well-being, by academic resilience Percentage-point difference between students who are academically resilient and those who are not

Students who: Feel satisﬁed with life Do not feel like outsiders at school Do not doubt their future plans when faced with failure Students with positive well-being

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Figure 22•Prevalence of teacher enthusiasm and reading performance students who perceived their peers to be more co- or volunteered to participate in extracurricular activities OECD average; reference category "strongly disagree" operative were more likely to express positive feelings. in their child’s school. Why were so few parents involved in these school-based activities? On average Disagree gree Stongly agree Teachers and principals often count on parents to help across the nine OECD countries and economies Score-point difference them create a positive learning environment in their that distributed the parent questionnaire, the issues in reading schools. According to school principals, about 41% 50 that parents most commonly cited as hindering their of students’ parents discussed their child’s progress 45 participation in these activities were time-related, with a teacher on their own initiative and 57% did so 40 and included the need to work (34%) and the 35 on the initiative of teachers. PISA finds that parents’ inconvenience of meeting times (33%). Only 5% of 30 involvement in their child’s education is positively parents reported that they felt unwelcome at school. 25 associated with student performance. The average Given these results, school leaders and educators can 20 score in reading was higher in those countries and perhaps do more to accommodate working parents 15 economies where more parents discussed their so that everyone – schools, teachers, students and the 10 child’s progress on the initiative of teachers, and that parents themselves – can benefit from greater parental 5 positive association remained even after accounting 0 involvement in school activities. It was clear to me that The enthusiasm It was clear that the teacher likes The teacher showed for per capita GDP and for other forms of parental the teacher liked teaching us of the teacher inspired me to deal with the topic of the lesson enjoyment in teaching involvement in school-related activities. In fact, for All in all, one way to promote students’ well-being is every 10 percentage-point increase in the share to encourage all parents to be more aware of their Notes: All values are statistically significant. Results based on linear regression analysis, after accounting for students’ socio-economic profile, gender and immigrant background. The socio-economic profile is measured by the PISA of parents who discussed their child’s progress on children’s interests and concerns, and show interest in index of economic, social and cultural status. the teachers’ initiative, the average reading score in their school life, including in the challenges children Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Table III.B1.5.7; Figure III.5.3. the country or economy improved by 10 points on face at school. Schools can create an environment of average across the 74 countries and economies with co-operation with parents and communities. Teachers available data, after acconting for national income can be given better tools to enlist parents’ support, The good news is that the disciplinary climate in (and positively) associated with students’ enjoyment of and other factors. The prevalence of parents discussing and schools can address some critical deficiencies school generally improved between 2009 and 2018, reading (Figure 23). their child’s progress on the initiative of teachers may amongst disadvantaged children, such as the lack of a according to students’ reports, especially in Albania, be an indication of a school system’s responsiveness. quiet space for studying. If parents and teachers were Korea and the United Arab Emirates. For example, Of course, most teachers care about having positive to establish relationships based on trust, schools could on average across OECD countries, the percentage relationships with their students; but some teachers At the same time, PISA 2018 also finds that fewer than rely on parents as valuable partners in the education of of students who reported that their classmates in their might be insufficiently prepared to deal with difficult one in five parents was involved in school government their students. language-of-instruction lessons always, or almost students and classroom environments. Effective always, listen to what the teacher says, or can work classroom management consists of far more than establishing and imposing rules, rewards and incentives well, increased by about four percentage points Figure 23•Enjoyment of reading and teaching practices in language-of-instruction lessons during that period. That’s good news because all to control behaviour; it requires the ability to create Based on students’ reports, OECD average types of students appeared to benefit from a positive a learning environment that facilitates and supports disciplinary climate. The relationship between students’ active engagement in learning, encourages efore accounting for reading performance and other teaching practices co-operation, and promotes behaviour that benefits fter accounting for reading performance disciplinary climate and reading performance was fter accounting for reading performance and other teaching practices relatively stable across students’ gender, socio- other people. A stronger focus on classroom and relationship management in professional-development Change in the index economic status and immigrant background. of enjoyment of reading programmes may give teachers some of the tools they 016 PISA 2018 also asked students whether their need to connect better with their students. Teachers 014 language-of-instruction teacher supports them in also need the time to share information about students’ 012 their schoolwork and is enthusiastic about teaching. strengths and weaknesses with their colleagues, so 010 Around three in four students reported that, in most that, together, they can find the best approaches to or every lesson, the teacher gives extra help when make students feel part of the school community. 008 students need it and that the teacher helps students 006 with their learning. In most countries and economies, Clearly, what goes on at school can have an impact 004 students scored higher in reading when they perceived not only on students’ attitudes towards learning, but on 002 their teachers as more enthusiastic, especially when their feelings, in general (Figure 24). Parents recognise 000 they said their teachers were interested in the subject this, too, as they cited school safety, school climate and -002 school reputation as the most important criteria when Teacher Teachers’ Teacher-directed Teacher Adaptive Teacher (Figure 22). On average across OECD countries and enthusiasm stimulation of instruction feedback instruction support Indices of teaching ractices choosing a school for their child, followed closely by reading in languageofinstruction lessons in 43 education systems, students who perceived engagement greater support from teachers scored higher in reading, students’ academic achievement and the offering of specific subjects or courses. PISA 2018 finds that in after accounting for the socio-economic profile of Notes: All values are statistically significant, except for teacher feedback after accounting for reading performance and other teaching practices. students and schools. Equally important, teacher all 65 countries and economies with available data, Results based on linear regression analysis, after accounting for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profile. The socio-economic profile is measured by the PISA index of econo- students were more likely to express positive feelings, mic, social and cultural status. enthusiasm and teachers’ stimulation of reading Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Table III.B1.6.10; Figure III.6.5. engagement were the teaching practices most strongly in general, when they reported a stronger sense of belonging at school; and in virtually all school systems,

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Figure 24•Predictors of positive feelings Yet school principals and teachers may be it is a good thing to help students who can’t defend Based on students’ reports overlooking some challenges if they only pay themselves. Policy makers and local educators can attention to what is happening inside the classroom. capitalise on these sentiments to put in place measures Positive association Negative association Association is not significant Missing values Although a majority of students reported that they and programmes to combat and prevent bullying. A Disciplinary climate1 feel they belong at school – across OECD countries, B Sense of belonging at school Co-operation amongst students, independent of good C Student co-operation about 7 in 10 students agreed or strongly agreed that Predictors of the index of positive feelings relations with teachers, is also associated with higher D Student competition they feel like they belong at school – students’ sense of E Exposure to bullying performance – and with students’ well-being: in every School climate indices Other indicators belonging at school weakened considerably between F Index of parents’ emotional support participating school system, students were more likely 2 Partners A B C D E F G H I 2003 and 2015 and waned even further between G Students’ socio-economic status to feel they belong at school when their peers were H Student is a girl Albania 2015 and 2018. Even students in Japan and Korea, I Student has an immigrant background Argentina who enjoyed one of the best disciplinary climates of all more co-operative. Baku (Azerbaijan) PISA-participating countries – e.g. they rarely skipped Predictors of the index of positive feelings3 Given the harmful consequences that bullying can Belarus school or arrived late for school, and a clear majority have on students’ well-being, policy makers, principals School climate indices Other indicators Bosnia and Herzegovina of them reported that they had never been bullied – and teachers need to devise effective policies and OECD A B C D E F G H I Brazil were some of the most dissatisfied with their lives, at OECD average Brunei Darussalam practices to limit bullying. Previous OECD studies least according to their own reports. In addition, they Austria B-S-J-Z (China) suggest, in particular, that: Chile Bulgaria expressed greater fear of failure, and were about Colombia Costa Rica twice as likely as students in other OECD countries to » Early signs of bullying should not be overlooked. report that they always feel scared or sad. Czech Republic Croatia » All types of bullying need to be taken seriously, Denmark Dominican Republic Furthermore, the share of students who reported including the less “visible” ones, such as relational Estonia Georgia being frequently bullied increased by around four forms of bullying. Considering all types of bullying Finland Hong Kong (China) percentage points since 2015, on average across may draw greater attention to the bullying most France Indonesia typically suffered by girls. While boys are more Germany Jordan OECD countries. More than one in five students likely than girls to be frequently – and physically – Greece Kazakhstan reported being bullied at school at least a few times a bullied, the gender gap almost disappears when Hungary Kosovo month (Figure 25). Most of the reported bullying was Iceland Macao (China) verbal or relational – others made fun of the student, students were asked about relational types of Ireland Malaysia the student was the object of nasty rumours, or the bullying, such as spreading nasty rumours and being Japan Malta student was left out of things on purpose – rather than left out of things on purpose. Latvia Moldova physical. For example, more than 10% of students in 67 » Monitoring students’ attitudes towards bullying Lithuania Montenegro out of 75 countries and economies reported that their can provide valuable insights into how to address

Luxembourg Panama peers made fun of them at least a few times a month; bullying. For instance, students’ attitudes can be Mexico Peru but on average across OECD countries, around 7% of used as a predictive tool, to understand the role Netherlands Philippines students reported that they got hit or pushed around by Poland Qatar played by bystanders, or to identify students other students that often. Portugal Romania who would stand up against bullies. Changing bystanders’ reactions to bullying may be an Slovak Republic Russia Bullying can have adverse – and potentially long- effective way to reduce the incidence of bullying. Slovenia Saudi Arabia lasting – effects on students’ performance at school Spain Serbia and general well-being. Students who reported being » Building a culture of good behaviour, establishing Sweden Chinese Taipei frequently bullied scored 21 points lower in reading clear anti-bullying rules, and creating a positive Switzerland Thailand school climate, where students feel engaged and Turkey Ukraine than students who did not report so, after accounting United Kingdom United Arab Emirates for socio-economic status. Frequently bullied students socially connected, is essential for preventing United States Uruguay reported feeling sad, scared and less satisfied with bullying. their lives. These students were also more likely to have A B C D E F G H I » Students and teachers should be taught how to skipped school in the two weeks prior to the PISA 32 65 64 30 0 65 9 16 6 Countries/economies with a positive association recognise and respond to bullying. 33 0 1 35 17 0 39 23 39 Countries/economies with no association test – an indication that they missed out on valuable 0 0 0 0 48 0 17 26 11 Countries/economies with a negative association learning opportunities. » Communication with the parents of the bullied students and the bully him/herself is important. 1. Higher values indicate a more positive disciplinary climate. Yet when asked about their feelings towards bullying, 2. The socio-economic status of students is measured by the PISA index of economic, social and cultural status. Compared to the average student across OECD students overwhelmingly reported negative attitudes 3. The index of positive feelings is based on three items: “happy”, “joyful” and “cheerful”. countries, students in Spain reported being bullied towards bullying – and positive attitudes towards Note: All predictors were included in the same linear regression model. less frequently, were more satisfied with their lives, Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Table III.B1.12.19; Figure III.12.5. defending the victims of bullying (Figure 26). For expressed more positive and fewer negative feelings, example, on average across OECD countries, 90% and their sense of belonging at school was amongst of students agreed or strongly agreed that they like it the strongest across all PISA-participating school when someone stands up for other students who are systems. Yet, according to students’ reports, the being bullied; and 88% agreed or strongly agreed that disciplinary climate in language-of-instruction lessons

50 © OECD 2019 © OECD 2019 51 PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations

Figure 25•Being bullied, by student characteristics Figure 26•Students’ attitudes towards bullying, by gender Based on students’ reports Based on students’ reports

Positive difference Negative difference Difference is not significant Missing values OECD average

A Girls – boys B Advantaged - disadvantaged students C ISCED 3 – ISCED 2 D Immigrant – non-immigrant students E High – low-achieving students in reading oys irls ll students

% Percentage of students who agreed or strongly agreed with the A 13.6 following statements Difference in the Difference in the A It irritates me when nobody defends bullied students percentage of students percentage of students B 8.9 B It is a good thing to help students who can’t defend themselves who reported who reported It is a wrong thing to join in bullying being bullied at least being bullied at least C a few times a month a few times a month C 6.8 D I feel bad seeing other students bullied between: between: E I like it when someone stands up for other students who are being bullied A B C D E A B C D E D 11.3 Philippines Montenegro Brunei Darussalam Costa Rica E 7.3 Dominican Republic Turkey 0 20 40 60 80 100 % Morocco Moldova Percentage of students who agreed or Indonesia Chile strongly agreed with the following statements:

Jordan Italy Percentage of students who agreed or Partners A B C D E Russia Georgia strongly agreed with the following statements: Albania 86 89 86 90 91 Baku (Azerbaijan) Austria OECD A B C D E Argentina 81 87 79 85 88 Malaysia Mexico Australia 86 93 92 92 94 Baku (Azerbaijan) 71 77 76 79 79 Latvia OECD average Austria 76 84 87 80 86 Belarus 68 81 76 72 82 Bulgaria Germany Belgium 80 93 94 87 94 Bosnia and Herzegovina 80 86 86 87 89 Romania Ireland Canada 85 92 92 91 93 Brazil 71 85 83 86 87 Brunei Darussalam 81 89 87 90 88 Qatar Lithuania Chile 84 88 86 87 89 Colombia 75 84 68 82 86 B-S-J-Z (China) 88 83 96 89 91 Panama Hungary Czech Republic 84 89 88 86 89 Bulgaria 68 73 77 75 76 Argentina Peru Denmark 88 92 94 92 94 Costa Rica 84 90 86 88 90 Colombia Switzerland Estonia 81 89 89 86 89 Croatia 83 89 89 88 90 Kazakhstan Ukraine Finland 82 91 93 89 92 Dominican Republic 72 77 74 79 80

Kosovo Denmark France 84 90 93 89 93 Georgia 81 85 80 86 80 Malta Slovenia Germany 77 86 90 80 90 Hong Kong (China) 75 81 91 83 89 New Zealand Luxembourg Greece 84 85 85 88 89 Indonesia 74 80 57 80 73 United Arab Emirates France Hungary 76 83 75 80 85 Jordan 60 74 70 80 79 Saudi Arabia Sweden Iceland 79 88 88 86 86 Kazakhstan 65 74 72 70 74 Czech Republic Norway Ireland 90 94 94 95 96 Kosovo 77 83 76 84 83 Australia Belgium Israel 82 86 84 87 89 Macao (China) 75 84 93 86 91 Hong Kong (China) Belarus Italy 84 87 85 83 89 Malaysia 82 87 84 87 87 Malta 87 90 90 91 92 Brazil Croatia Japan 71 80 93 90 84 Korea 86 94 93 94 94 Moldova 74 91 74 83 85 Slovak Republic Finland Latvia 74 82 83 77 84 Montenegro 79 84 83 84 87 Thailand B-S-J-Z (China) Lithuania 72 79 81 77 82 Morocco 67 73 67 74 74 Macao (China) Spain Luxembourg 78 87 89 82 88 Panama 73 83 74 81 84 United Kingdom Japan Mexico 78 86 82 84 87 Peru 77 88 81 86 87

Greece Iceland Netherlands 70 91 95 91 96 Philippines 77 84 79 82 78 Viet Nam Portugal New Zealand 88 93 92 92 94 Qatar 78 83 79 84 85 Poland Chinese Taipei Norway 89 93 94 91 92 Romania 77 85 75 82 87 Singapore Netherlands Poland 76 83 80 79 84 Russia 74 81 84 77 84 United States Korea Portugal 81 94 86 93 93 Saudi Arabia 69 75 71 79 79 Uruguay Slovak Republic 73 79 80 80 84 Serbia 78 84 83 83 86 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 % Serbia Slovenia 80 86 84 87 86 Singapore 90 94 96 94 96 Spain 87 92 90 91 93 Chinese Taipei 75 84 92 83 84 Albania A B C D E Sweden 84 90 92 83 92 Thailand 68 77 72 80 81 Estonia Countries/economies with a positive difference 0 3 0 17 2 Switzerland 73 82 86 79 87 Ukraine 76 83 78 79 86 Bosnia and Herzegovina Countries/economies with no difference 10 31 18 41 4 Turkey 80 84 80 85 82 United Arab Emirates 77 83 77 85 86 Canada Countries/economies with a negative difference 65 41 39 8 68 United Kingdom 88 94 95 93 96 Uruguay 83 86 84 87 89 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 % United States 88 93 93 93 95 Viet Nam 71 85 82 86 89

Note: Low-achieving (high-achieving) students are students who score amongst the bottom 25% (the top 25%) of students within their country or economy on the PISA test. Note: Differences between girls and boys on average across OECD countries are shown next to the item on attitudes towards bullying. All differences are statistically significant. Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the percentage of students being bullied at least a few times a month. Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Tables III.B1.2.15 and III.B1.2.16; Figure III.2.5. Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database, Tables III.B1.2.1 and III.B1.2.4; Figure III.2.3.

Figure 25•Being bullied, by student characteristics Figure 26•Students’ attitudes towards bullying, by gender Based on students’ reports Based on students’ reports

Positive difference Negative difference Difference is not significant Missing values OECD average

A Girls – boys B Advantaged - disadvantaged students C ISCED 3 – ISCED 2 D Immigrant – non-immigrant students E High – low-achieving students in reading oys irls ll students

was far from ideal, and the share of students who had skipped school or lessons in the two weeks prior to the PISA test was clearly above the OECD average. A similar picture emerged in Costa Rica and Portugal. In Sweden, students’ reports on bullying, the disciplinary climate and student truancy were more positive than the reports of the average student across OECD countries. Moreover, students in Sweden were as satisfied with life and expressed a similar sense of belonging at school and fear of failure as the average student across OECD countries. However, students in Sweden were more frequently late for school and were somewhat less likely to express positive feelings than students in other OECD countries.

Read more on these issues in PISA 2018 Results (Volume III): What School Life Means for What comes next? Students’ Lives. https://doi.org/10.1787/acd78851-en The three volumes of PISA 2018 results that are operate, and to fine-tune their education policies. published in 2019 and summarised in this brochure Education policy makers and practitioners can benefit provide the first findings from this latest assessment. from these tools in the same way that business leaders Volume V, which will be published in June 2020, will learn to steer their companies towards success: by highlight some of the policies and practices that predict taking inspiration from others, and then adapting the success of students, schools and education systems; lessons learned to their own situation. but it will take some time until we fully understand the results from PISA 2018. Policy makers’ hunger for Sharing insights, across borders, to improve quality, immediate answers is always frustrated by the snail’s equity and efficiency in education is more urgently pace at which the development of data, evidence and needed than ever before. The demands on education research advances; and the data collected by PISA and education policy are high and rising. In the past alone leave many questions unanswered. The results it was sufficient for education to sort students because offer a snapshot of education systems at a certain our economies and societies could rely on a few highly moment in time; but they do not – they cannot – show educated individuals. In today’s world, everyone how the school systems got to that point, or the needs to have advanced knowledge and skills, not just institutions and organisations that might have helped or for economic reasons but also for social participation. hindered progress. In addition, the data do not really In traditional bureaucratic school systems, teachers say much about cause and effect. Correlations are are left alone in classrooms with a lot of prescriptions often deceptive: if the birds sing when the sun rises, about what to teach. The OECD Teaching and Learning and they do so day after day, year after year, and International Survey, TALIS, shows the value of teachers in many different places around the world, it doesn’t and schools looking outward to collaborate with the mean the sun rises because the birds sing. In a nutshell, next teacher and the next school. The past was about knowing what successful systems are doing does not delivered wisdom; the future is about user-generated yet tell us how to improve less-successful systems. That wisdom. The past was about divisions: education is where the OECD brings a range of other tools to systems could allow for teachers and content to be bear to strengthen insights for policy and practice. divided by subjects and student abilities. The past PISA is not only the world’s most comprehensive was about isolation: schools were designed to keep and reliable international comparison of students’ students inside, and the rest of the world outside. capabilities, it is also integrated with a range of The past was about hierarchies: teachers provided, methods and resources at the OECD, including country students received. The future of education needs to be and thematic policy reviews, that countries can use about integration: the integration of different subjects, to situate the results from PISA in the different contexts the integration of diverse students and the integration in which students learn, teachers teach and schools of various learning contexts; it needs to be about connections: connections with real-world contexts,

and with the rich array of resources in the community; That outward-looking perspective also seems to be and it needs to be about co-creation: recognising both a common trait of many high-performing education students and adults as resources for how learning is systems: they are open to the world and ready to learn designed and how students succeed. from and with the world’s education leaders; they do not feel threatened by alternative ways of thinking. In the past, different students were taught in similar ways; now, schools need to embrace diversity with In the end, the laws of physics apply. If we stop differentiated pedagogical practices. The goals of the pedalling, not only will we not move forward, our past were standardisation and compliance: students of bicycles will stop moving at all and will fall over – and the same age were educated in batches and followed we will fall with them. Against strong headwinds, we the same instruction. The future is about personalising need to push ourselves even harder. In the face of educational experiences: building instruction out of challenges and opportunities as great as any that have students’ passions and capabilities, helping students gone before, human beings need not be passive or with individualised learning and assessment in ways inert. We have agency, the ability to anticipate and that foster their engagement and talents. In the past, the power to frame our actions with purpose. The schools were technological islands, where technology best-performing PISA countries show that high-quality was deployed mostly to support existing practices. and equitable education is an attainable goal, that it The schools of tomorrow will use the potential of is within countries’ means to deliver a future for millions technologies to liberate learning from conventions and of learners who currently do not have one. The task is connect learners in new and powerful ways. not to make the impossible possible, but to make the possible attainable. The future is about more innovative partnerships. Effective learning environments are constantly creating synergies and finding new ways to enhance professional, social and cultural capital with others. They do that with families and communities, with higher education, with other schools and learning environments, and with businesses. Education needs to find better ways to recognise, reward and give exposure to the successes of innovators. All of this has profound implications for schools, teachers and teaching. The past was about prescription, the future requires a knowledge-rich profession, and the replacement of the industrial work organisation, with its administrative control, with much more professional and collaborative working norms. When teachers feel a sense of ownership over their classrooms, when students feel a sense of ownership over their learning, that is when learning for the post-truth information age can take place. The central reason why teachers’ ownership of the profession is a must-have rather than an optional extra is the pace of change. Even the most efficient attempts to push a central curriculum into classroom practice will drag out over a decade, because it takes so much time to communicate the goals and methods through the different layers of the system. In this age of accelerations, such a slow process inevitably leads to a widening gap between what students need to learn and what teachers teach. When fast gets really fast, being slow to adapt makes us really slow. While measurement is the means, the purpose of PISA is to help countries look outward and incorporate the results of that learning into policy and practice.

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60 © OECD 2019 © OECD 2019 61 PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations PISA 2018 Results

Volume I, What Students Know and Can Do, provides a detailed examination of student performance in reading, mathematics and science, and describes how performance has changed since previous PISA assessments. https://doi.org/10.1787/5f07c754-en

Volume II, Where All Students Can Succeed, examines gender differences in student performance, and the links between students’ socio-economic status and immigrant background, on the one hand, and student performance and well-being, on the other. https://doi.org/10.1787/b5fd1b8f-en

Volume III, What School Life Means for Students’ Lives, focuses on the physical and emotional health of students, the role of teachers and parents in shaping the school climate, and the social life at school. The volume also examines indicators of student well-being, and how these are related to the school climate. https://doi.org/10.1787/acd78851-en

Volume IV, Are Students Smart about Money?, examines 15-year-old students’ understanding about money matters in the 21 countries and economies that participated in this optional assessment; forthcoming in 2020.

Volume V, Effective Policies, Successful Schools, analyses the policies and practices used in schools and school systems, and their relationship with education outcomes more generally; forthcoming in 2020.

Volume VI, Are Students Ready to Thrive in Global Societies?, explores students’ ability to examine local, global and intercultural issues, understand and appreciate different perspectives and world views, interact respectfully with others, and take responsible action towards sustainability and collective well-being; forthcoming in 2020.

This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of OECD member countries.

This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.

The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law.

Notes on Cyprus: Note by Turkey: The information in this document with reference to “Cyprus” relates to the southern part of the Island. There is no single authority representing both Turkish and Greek Cypriot people on the Island. Turkey recognises the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Until a lasting and equitable solution is found within the context of the United Nations, Turkey shall preserve its position concerning the “Cyprus issue”.

Note by all the European Union Member States of the OECD and the European Union: The Republic of Cyprus is recognised by all members of the United Nations with the exception of Turkey. The information in this document relates to the area under the effective control of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus.

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62 © OECD 2019 © OECD 2019 63 PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations PISA 2018 Results

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