4 Schoolwork‑related anxiety For many students, assignments and tests present less a motivation to learn useful skills than a source of deep anxiety. This chapter examines the prevalence of schoolwork-related anxiety among students and how that anxiety can affect not only performance but students’ overall well-being. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how teachers and parents can help reduce students’ anxiety at school. PISA 2015 RESULTS (VOLUME III): STUDENTS’ WELL-BEING © OECD 2017 83 4 Schoolwork-related ANXIETY Although some students regard academic challenges and assessments as a way to improve themselves, many others develop serious anxiety when they cannot solve tasks at school, when they have problems with homework or when they know they are to be tested. This is especially true for students who have low confidence in their skills and for those who believe that their worth depends on doing better than others (Zeidner, 2007). What the data tell us • Feelings of anxiety related to schoolwork are common among 15-year-old students. On average across OECD countries, more than one in two students often worry about the difficulty of exams and feel very anxious, even if they are well prepared for a test. • Anxiety is more frequent among girls than among boys. Around 64% of girls but 47% of boys reported that they agree or strongly agree that they feel very anxious even if they are well prepared for a test. In all countries and economies with the exception of Japan, girls were also more likely than boys to report that they get very tense when they study and that they get nervous when they don’t know how to solve a task at school. • Schoolwork-related anxiety is negatively related to performance at school and to life satisfaction. • Students who reported that their science teachers adapt the lesson to the class’s needs or provide individual help are less likely to feel anxious about their schoolwork. • Girls whose parents encourage them to be confident were less likely to report feeling tense when they study. The anxiety related to school tasks and tests, along with the pressure to get higher marks and the concern about receiving poor grades, is one of the sources of stress most often cited by school-age children and adolescents. Students who suffer from anxiety are more likely to perform poorly, be frequently absent from school, and drop out of school altogether (Cortina, 2008; Ramirez and Beilock, 2011). Excessive levels of anxiety can also negatively affect student’s social and emotional development and sense of self-worth, prompt students to use chemical substances to reduce stress, and lead to exhaustion (Salend, 2012; Zeidner, 1998). PREVALENCE OF SCHOOLWORK-RELATED ANXIETY AMONG 15-YEAR-OLD STUDENTS Anxiety has different dimensions, and PISA 2015 chose to focus on the students’ cognitive and emotional reactions to schoolwork. PISA 2015 asked students to report whether they strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree with the following statements: “I often worry that it will be difficult for me to take a test”; “I worry I will get poor grades at school”; “I feel very anxious even if I am well prepared for a test”; “I get very tense when I study for a test”; and “I get nervous when I do not know how to solve a task at school”. The PISA questions thus cover both study- and test-related anxiety. Students’ responses were used to construct the index of schoolwork-related anxiety, standardised to have a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1 across OECD countries. Positive values on the index indicate that students reported higher levels of schoolwork-related anxiety than the average student across OECD countries; negative values indicate that students reported lower levels of anxiety than the average student. On average across OECD countries, about 59% of students reported that they often worry that taking a test will be difficult, and 66% reported that they worry about poor grades. Some 55% of students reported feeling very anxious for a test even if they are well prepared; 37% reported they get very tense when studying; and 52% reported that they get nervous when they don’t know how to solve a task at school (Table III.4.1). There is a weak, negative correlation between an education system’s performance in PISA and students’ reported anxiety. Among the three countries where students reported the highest degree of schoolwork-related anxiety, Brazil and Costa Rica perform significantly below average, while Singapore is the top-performing country in PISA 2015 (Table III.4.5 and Figure I.2.13). In all countries and economies that participated in PISA 2015, girls reported greater anxiety than boys (Table III.4.5). On average across OECD countries, boys were about 13 percentage points less likely than girls to report they get very tense when they study (Figure III.4.1). About 64% of girls but 47% of boys reported feeling very anxious even when they are well prepared for a test. This gender difference is particularly striking in the Nordic countries of Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden (Table III.4.2). One possible explanation may be that girls are less self-confident than boys and, as a result, experience more worry and discomfort before and during evaluations (Zeidner, 1998). For girls, the prospect 84 © OECD 2017 PISA 2015 RESULTS (VOLUME III): STUDENTS’ WELL-BEING 4 Schoolwork-related ANXIETY of an assessment, particularly in subjects like mathematics and science, may pose what psychologists call a “stereotype threat” (Stoet and Geary, 2012) – the possibility that poor performance will confirm negative assumptions about the group to which they belong (for example, the stereotype that girls cannot excel in mathematics and science) (Stoet and Geary, 2012). Another possibility is that boys choose not to report being anxious in PISA because of social norms that expect boys to be strong and confident. Figure III.4.1 • Prevalence of schoolwork-related anxiety, by gender Percentage of students who reported that they “agree” or “strongly agree” with the following statements Index of % schoolwork- related anxiety ABCDE A I often worry that it will be difficult for me taking a test Australia 0.2 62 65 68 47 60 Austria -0.1 64 63 51 19 43 B I worry that I will get poor <grades> at school OECD Belgium -0.2 56 65 42 28 54 C Even if I am well prepared for a test I feel very anxious Canada 0.2 59 64 64 46 63 D I get very tense when I study Chile 0.1 59 81 56 40 54 E I get nervous when I don’t know how to solve a task at school Czech Republic -0.2 55 58 40 32 49 Denmark 0.1 55 65 64 46 54 Estonia -0.2 51 55 53 28 41 Finland -0.4 38 44 49 18 37 France -0.1 62 65 47 29 55 OECD average Germany -0.3 52 53 42 22 35 Greece -0.1 46 48 59 38 65 Boys Girls All students Hungary -0.1 62 66 54 27 46 Iceland -0.1 48 59 51 37 44 Ireland 0.1 62 69 63 46 55 A Israel -0.3 58 50 44 33 43 Italy 0.5 66 85 70 56 77 B Japan 0.3 78 82 62 33 50 Korea 0.1 69 75 55 42 52 C Latvia -0.1 53 68 43 27 47 Luxembourg -0.2 58 64 48 28 44 D Mexico 0.3 72 79 60 50 65 Netherlands -0.5 34 45 39 14 26 E New Zealand 0.3 65 67 72 51 61 Norway 0.1 51 66 61 46 49 Poland -0.1 62 70 45 26 41 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 % Portugal 0.5 84 88 69 46 65 Slovak Republic -0.2 61 62 47 29 45 Slovenia 0.1 61 72 62 36 51 Spain 0.4 75 88 67 48 56 Sweden 0.0 56 56 61 41 59 Switzerland -0.4 48 56 34 21 35 Turkey 0.3 70 74 59 56 69 United Kingdom 0.3 62 67 72 52 55 United States 0.2 63 61 68 43 65 Brazil 0.6 79 93 81 56 74 B-S-J-G (China) 0.2 66 79 62 55 60 Bulgaria -0.1 52 61 55 46 62 Partners Colombia 0.5 74 87 79 58 72 Costa Rica 0.6 78 92 81 55 61 Croatia 0.0 72 74 47 36 43 Dominican Republic 0.4 65 82 80 53 64 Hong Kong (China) 0.3 71 82 67 53 58 Lithuania -0.1 61 65 56 43 48 Macao (China) 0.4 74 78 66 58 58 Montenegro 0.1 65 68 65 47 58 Peru 0.1 60 79 72 43 49 Qatar 0.2 71 69 65 49 55 Russia -0.1 52 71 51 39 60 Singapore 0.6 74 86 76 60 71 Chinese Taipei 0.4 74 82 67 62 68 Thailand 0.1 66 77 63 47 57 Tunisia 0.1 58 73 60 57 52 United Arab Emirates 0.2 68 72 62 44 63 Uruguay 0.5 72 90 73 53 67 Note: All gender differences are statistically significant (see Annex A3). Source: OECD, PISA 2015 Database, Tables III.4.1, III.4.2 and III.4.5. 1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888933470845 Socio-economic status is related to schoolwork-related anxiety in the majority of countries and economies that participated in PISA 2015.