Students who excel in mathematics tend to have lower anxiety about mathematics, a consistent finding across PISA studies. In PISA 2022, this trend persisted globally. Positive attitudes toward mathematics and learning can mitigate math anxiety's negative impact on performance. Cultivating a growth mindset, believing in the development of abilities over time, is one such attitude that can help alleviate mathematics anxiety.
Student engagement and motivation
Engagement and motivation are vital for learning as they support the acquisition and retention of knowledge and skills. Students need confidence and motivation for success; without these elements, students can struggle to obtain high-level skills.
Key messages
PISA 2022 findings reveal that while most students rarely faced learning challenges during COVID-19 school closures, many struggled with self-motivation. Access to digital devices and study space wasn't a major issue, but motivation posed significant hurdles. On average across OECD countries, almost half of students indicated they had problems motivating themselves to do schoolwork at least once a week.
PISA data consistently show that engagement in reading is strongly correlated with reading performance and is a mediator of gender or socio-economic status. Engagement in reading acts as a possibly powerful lever in enhancing reading proficiency and decreasing gaps between groups of students.
Context
Students less confident about motivating themselves to learn
PISA 2022 shows that, on average across OECD countries, about three out of four students reported that they feel confident or very confident about using a video communication programme, while only six out of ten students felt so about motivating themselves to do schoolwork.
Students' confidence in self-directed learning (2022)
Gender difference in the motivation to master tasks
The motivation to master tasks is defined as the dispositional desire to work hard to achieve a goal. On average across OECD countries, the index of motivation to master tasks was higher amongst girls than amongst boys.
Gender gap in motivation to master tasks (2018)
