PISA 2022 Results (Volume V)

Executive Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that education systems must prepare students for a future marked by profound environmental, social and economic changes. It forced education systems to adapt quickly to constraints imposed by the virus. Schools did their best but PISA 2022 revealed significant learning gaps. We must rethink teaching and learning to better equip students for an uncertain future.

Building young people’s resilience in a changing world requires an aptitude for lifelong learning. PISA provides important insights into how well 15-year-olds are prepared for learning beyond compulsory schooling. The data shed light on how students adopt and use key learning strategies; how motivated they are to learn; and how confident they are that they can acquire, synthesise and employ new knowledge through study and effort.

How students do with key learning strategies

• Asking questions is key to learning. But less than half of students (47%) ask questions often when they do not understand something being taught in mathematics class, on average across the OECD. Only in Iceland, do more than 60% of students ask questions more than half of the time when they are not sure of something being taught. In Macao (China), Poland, Chinese Taipei and Thailand, fewer than one in three students do.

• Critical thinking or perspective-taking is another important learning strategy. This involves considering other people’s perspectives before forming one’s own opinions and viewing issues from different angles. Less than 60% of students employ critical-thinking strategies, on average. And, top performers show more flexible critical thinking.

• Helping students develop the habit of proactively connecting something new they have just learned to something they already know is crucial. Yet, less than half of students reported that they do this in mathematics lessons more than half of the time.

• Students who regularly use these learning strategies tend to outperform those who do not, even after accounting for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profile.

• Girls and socio-economically advantaged students in most education systems consistently reported using learning strategies more often than boys and socio-economically disadvantaged students.

Motivation and predispositions encourage the uptake of learning strategies

• Intrinsic motivation like enjoying learning new things in school consistently predicts the uptake of learning strategies, even after accounting for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profile. But, only around a half or less of students in OECD countries reported being intrinsically motivated. In Guatemala, Peru and Viet Nam, over 85% of students enjoy learning new things at school but less than a third do in Czechia and Poland.

• Growth mindsets are strongly linked to positive learning strategies, attitudes, and outcomes. While 58% of students said they have a general growth mindset, only 35% of students reported a mathematics-specific growth mindset.

• Co-operation is the social and emotional skill most strongly related to critical-thinking attitudes. This relationship is particularly strong in top-performing Hong Kong (China)*, Korea, Singapore and Chinese Taipei.

• The anxiety students say they experience doing mathematics has grown since 2012, the last time mathematics was PISA’s focus subject. This can impact their well-being and readiness for lifelong learning. But systems can work against this trend: anxiety levels fell in Singapore and Thailand, and, most significantly, in Korea between 2012 and 2022.

• Gender stereotypes about learning mathematics continue. Boys are more likely to report a growth mindset in mathematics than girls by an average of 7 percentage points. Girls also reported higher levels of mathematics anxiety than boys, even among top-performing students.

The role of autonomy in sustained lifelong learning

• Fifteen-year-olds feel most confident finding resources online on their own. More than 85% of students in Italy and Croatia are confident they can find the online information they need while in Japan, less than half are (OECD average 73%).

• However, being able to easily judge the quality of online information is a major challenge (OECD average 51%). This is especially so among low performers: 60% cannot easily gauge the quality of online information. Among skilled performers, 57% can do this easily, on average.

• The connection between finding online information and looking for reliable verification of the accuracy of such information is not straightforward: less than 50% of students, on average, discuss the accuracy of online information with their teachers or in class.

• Students who check the quality, credibility and accuracy of online information are more likely to be meticulous, critical thinkers, and proactive learners who make connections between what they learn and what they know. They are also more likely to be intrinsically and instrumentally motivated to learn.

Learning for the 21st century and the future

• Students who are proactive learners that make connections between new material and what they have learned before; who always make sure they have understood what is being taught; and who say they are cognitively activated in the classroom are most likely to be confident in their 21st-century mathematics skills.

• Only about a third of students are exposed to 21^st-century mathematics tasks like frequently extracting mathematical information from diagrams or graphs and one in five to applying mathematical solutions to real-life situations.

• Cognitive activation practices such as encouraging students to think about different ways of solving problems and explaining their reasoning are strongly associated with confidence in 21st-century mathematics.

• Proactive students who link what they are learning to what they already know are particularly confident representing, extracting and interpreting mathematical information, even in real-life situations.

Students’ family and learning environments matter

• Students who interact with their parents on an ordinary, everyday basis and have conversations with them about learning and school employ more learning strategies and are more motivated to learn, even after accounting for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profile.

• Students who are well-supported by their teachers are often more proactive in learning mathematics. They also use critical-thinking skills more, take control of their learning and have more motivation to learn.

• Students suffering from food insecurity are less likely to use self-regulated learning strategies and, generally, are more passive learners.

• Students holding part-time jobs tend to feel more positive and motivated about learning.

Table V.1. Snapshot of learning strategies

 

* Caution is required when interpreting estimates because one or more PISA sampling standards were not met (see Reader’s Guide, Annexes A2 and A4).

Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the percentage of students who "asked questions when they did not understand the mathematics material" more than half of the time.

Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Tables V.B1.2.2, V.B1.2.4, V.B1.2.6, V.B1.2.10, V.B1.2.14, V.B1.2.21, V.B1.3.24 and V.B1.3.26.

The StatLink URL of this table is available below Snapshot Table V.7.

Table V.2. Snapshot of motivations and growth mindset

 

* Caution is required when interpreting estimates because one or more PISA sampling standards were not met (see Reader’s Guide, Annexes A2 and A4).

Note: Values that are statistically significant are marked in bold (see Annex A3).

Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the percentage of students who reported "they love learning new things in school".

Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Tables V.B1.3.3, V.B1.3.8, V.B1.3.13, V.B1.3.17, V.B1.3.40 and V.B1.3.42.

The StatLink URL of this table is available below Snapshot Table V.7.

Table V.3. Snapshot of students' predispositions to learning

 

* Caution is required when interpreting estimates because one or more PISA sampling standards were not met (see Reader’s Guide, Annexes A2 and A4).

1. Students who reported more (less) self-efficacy in mathematics are those in the top (bottom) quarter of the index of self-efficacy in mathematics in their own country/economy.

2. Students who reported more (less) anxiety in mathematics are those in the top (bottom) quarter of the index of mathematics anxiety in their own country/economy.

Note: Values that are statistically significant are marked in bold (see Annex A3).

Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the percentage of students reporting asking questions when they do not understand the mathematics material among students with more mathematics self-efficacy.

Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Tables V.B1.4.7, V.B1.4.8, V.B1.4.18 and V.B1.4.19.

The StatLink URL of this table is available below Snapshot Table V.7.

Table V.4. Snapshot of students' autonomy and 21st-century mathematics skills

 

* Caution is required when interpreting estimates because one or more PISA sampling standards were not met (see Reader’s Guide, Annexes A2 and A4).

1. Students who reported more (less) confidence in 21st-century mathematics skills are those in the top (bottom) quarter of the index of confidence in 21st-century mathematics skills in their own country/economy.

Note: Values that are statistically significant are marked in bold (see Annex A3).

Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the percentage of students who reported "Extracting mathematical information from diagrams, graphs, or simulations" frequently.

Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Tables V.B1.8.1, V.B1.8.10, V.B1.8.28, V.B1.8.29, V.B1.9.2 and V.B1.10.15.

The StatLink URL of this table is available below Snapshot Table V.7.

Table V.5. Snapshot of students' attitudes about the future

 

* Caution is required when interpreting estimates because one or more PISA sampling standards were not met (see Reader’s Guide, Annexes A2 and A4).

1. Students who reported more (less) information research are those in the top (bottom) quarter of the index of information-seeking regarding future career in their own country/economy.

2. For this column, Belgium's data represent only the French-speaking and German-speaking communities.

Note: Values that are statistically significant are marked in bold (see Annex A3).

Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the percentage of students who reported "they try to consider everybody's perspective before they take a position" among students in the top quarter of index of information-seeking at national level.

Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Tables V.B1.6.4, V.B1.6.5, V.B1.6.11 and V.B1.6.12.

The StatLink URL of this table is available below Snapshot Table V.7.

Table V.6. Snapshot of experiences of food insecurity and working for pay and the use of learning strategies

 

* Caution is required when interpreting estimates because one or more PISA sampling standards were not met (see Reader’s Guide, Annexes A2 and A4).

Note: Values that are statistically significant are marked in bold (see Annex A3).

Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the percentage of students who reported "they like to make sure there are no mistakes" among students who experienced food insecurity at least once in the past 30 days prior to the PISA test.

Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Tables V.B1.7.5, V.B1.7.7, V.B1.7.19 and V.B1.7.21.

The StatLink URL of this table is available below Snapshot Table V.7.

Table V.7. Snapshot of students' proactive learning with parental and teacher support

 

* Caution is required when interpreting estimates because one or more PISA sampling standards were not met (see Reader’s Guide, Annexes A2 and A4).

1. Students who reported more (less) frequent parental interactions are those responding this activity occurred about once or twice a week or every day or almost every day (never or almost never to about once or twice a month).

2. Students who reported more (less) frequent teacher support are those responding this activity occurred in most lessons to every lesson (never or almost never to some lessons).

Note: Percentage-point differences that are statistically significant are marked in bold (see Annex A3).

Countries and economies are ranked in descending order of the percentage of students reporting trying to connect new material to what they have learned in previous mathematics lessons when their parents spend more time with them.

Source: OECD, PISA 2022 Database, Annex B1, Table V.B1.5.19, Table V.B1.5.73, Table V.B1.5.81.

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