Children spend a considerable amount of time in the classroom: following lessons, socialising with classmates, and interacting with teachers and other staff members. What happens in school – as well as at home – is therefore key to understanding whether students enjoy good physical and mental health, how happy and satisfied they are with different aspects of their life, how connected to others they feel, and the aspirations they have for their future.
3. How satisfied are students
with their life?
The majority of 15-year-olds are happy, but in
most countries there is a significant minority of
students reporting low levels of life satisfaction
4. Life satisfaction among 15-year-old students
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Netherlands7.8
Mexico8.3
DominicanRepublic8.5
Finland7.9
CostaRica8.2
Croatia7.9
Switzerland7.7
Lithuania7.9
Iceland7.8
France7.6
Colombia7.9
lgium(excl.Flemish)7.5
Uruguay7.7
Austria7.5
Russia7.8
Estonia7.5
Spain7.4
Montenegro7.8
Thailand7.7
Latvia7.4
Germany7.4
Brazil7.6
Portugal7.4
Ireland7.3
Luxembourg7.4
SlovakRepublic7.5
OECDaverage7.3
Peru7.5
UnitedStates7.4
Chile7.4
Hungary7.2
Bulgaria7.4
Qatar7.4
Slovenia7.2
Poland7.2
UnitedArabEmirates7.3
CzechRepublic7.1
UnitedKingdom7.0
Italy6.9
Greece6.9
Japan6.8
Tunisia6.9
B-S-J-G(China)6.8
Macao(China)6.6
ChineseTaipei6.6
HongKong(China)6.5
Korea6.4
Turkey6.1
%
Very satisfied Satisfied Moderately satisfied Not satisfied
Figure III.3.1
Factors that predict poor life satisfaction:
• Anxiety with school work
• High internet use
Factors that predict high life satisfaction:
• Students who talk or meet with friends after school
• More physical activity
• Good teacher support
• Good parental support
5. Dominican Rep.
Mexico
Costa Rica
Croatia FinlandColombia
Lithuania
NetherlandsIceland Russia
Montenegro Switzerland
Thailand
Uruguay France
Brazil Austria EstoniaPeru Slovak Rep.Bulgaria
Qatar Luxembourg
Chile
Germany
Ireland
United Arab Emirates Poland Slovenia
Hungary Czech Rep.
United Kingdom
Greece
Tunisia
Italy B-S-J-G (China) Japan
Chinese TaipeiMacao (China)
Hong Kong (China)
Korea
Turkey
5.5
6.0
6.5
7.0
7.5
8.0
8.5
9.0
300 350 400 450 500 550 600
Averagelifesatisfaction(on10-pointscale)
Mean science score
Life satisfaction and student performance can go together
OECD average
OECDaverage
LifeSatisfaction
Student performance
Figure III.3.3
`
`
6. Gender differences in life satisfaction
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
Tunisia
Japan
B-S-J-G(China)
Peru
Mexico
Macao(China)
Malaysia
Thailand
Qatar
DominicanRepublic
Russia
Turkey
Brazil
Chile
UnitedArabEmirates
Latvia
ChineseTaipei
CostaRica
Spain
Ireland
Colombia
Estonia
HongKong(China)
Bulgaria
Uruguay
Korea
Montenegro
Portugal
Italy
UnitedKingdom
France
OECDaverage
Belgium(excl.Flemish)
CzechRepublic
Greece
Poland
UnitedStates
SlovakRepublic
Croatia
Lithuania
Hungary
Switzerland
Germany
Slovenia
Netherlands
Austria
Luxembourg
Finland
Iceland
Percentage-point difference
(boys-girls)
Not satisfied (boys - girls) Very satisfied (boys - girls)
Figure III.3.2
More boys than girls satisfied with their life
More girls than boys satisfied with their life
8. Social exclusion, by time spent on the Internet (OECD) Figure III.13.8
Differences between
extreme and moderate
Internet users: 5,4
percentage points
4,4
10,9
12,1
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
I feel lonely at school Other students leave
me out of things on purpose
I arrived late for school
in the 2 weeks prior to the PISA
test
I expect to leave school
after secondary education
% Low Internet users Moderate Internet users
High Internet users Extreme Internet users
> 6 hours
9. Change between 2012 and 2015 in time spent on line outside school
on a typical school day
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
Chile39
Sweden56
Uruguay33
CostaRica31
Spain44
Italy40
Australia52
Estonia50
NewZealand51
Hungary43
Russia42
Netherlands48
Denmark55
SlovakRepublic40
CzechRepublic43
Austria42
Latvia46
Singapore45
Belgium44
Poland46
Iceland51
OECDaverage-2743
Ireland48
Croatia40
Portugal42
Finland48
Israel34
Macao(China)45
Switzerland40
Greece41
HongKong(China)39
Mexico30
Slovenia37
Japan31
Korea20
Minutes per day
2015 2012
Figure III.13.3
Percentage of High Internet Users (spending 2 to 6 hours on line per day), during weekdays
10. Use of ICT for leisure online activities, by gender
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Sweden
CzechRepublic
Denmark
Poland
Estonia
Latvia
Netherlands
Iceland
UnitedKingdom
Germany
Finland
Lithuania
Portugal
Austria
Luxembourg
SlovakRepublic
Switzerland
Russia
Croatia
Slovenia
OECDaverage
Belgium
Hungary
NewZealand
Bulgaria
France
Ireland
HongKong(China)
Macao(China)
Australia
Uruguay
CostaRica
Greece
Spain
Japan
ChineseTaipei
Italy
Chile
Singapore
Israel
Korea
Brazil
Mexico
Colombia
Thailand
Peru
B-S-J-G(China)
DominicanRepublic
Percentage-pointdifference
Playing online games (one-player or collaborative online games)
Chat on line (e.g. <MSN>)
Participate in social networks (e.g. <Facebook>, <Myspace>)
Figure III.13.4
Boys do the activity more than girls
Girls do the activity more than boys
13. 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
I often worry that it will be difficult for me taking a test
I worry that I will get poor <grades> at school
Even if I am well prepared for a test I feel very anxious
I get very tense when I study
I get nervous when I don't know how to solve a task at school
Percentage of students
OECD average
Prevalence of schoolwork-related anxiety Figure III.4.1(1)
15. Teacher support is higher in "happy" schools
-0.60
-0.40
-0.20
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
Austria
Netherlands
Slovenia0.2
Croatia
SlovakRepublic
Germany
CzechRepublic0.2
Hungary
Switzerland
Poland0.3
HongKong(China)
France
Italy0.3
Korea0.3
Estonia0.3
OECDaverage0.2
Lithuania
Japan0.4
Spain0.3
Bulgaria
ChineseTaipei0.3
Latvia0.2
Tunisia
Uruguay
Greece0.3
Qatar0.1
Turkey
Chile
Montenegro0.6
Colombia
UnitedKingdom
Russia0.5
B-S-J-G(China)0.5
Thailand0.2
Brazil
UnitedStates
UnitedArabEmirates0.3
CostaRica0.3
Mexico0.4
Peru0.3
Portugal0.6
Mean index
Relatively happy schools Relatively unhappy schools
Figure III.3.7
Relatively happy schools are schools where students' life
satisfaction is significantly above the average
16. More teacher support and less anxiety Figure III.4.5
5% less likely 4% less likely
16% more likely
29% more likely
9% less likely
17% less likely
44% more likely
60% more likely
The teacher adapts the
lesson to my class’s needs
and knowledge
The teacher provides
individual help when a
student has difficulties
understanding a topic or task
Teachers graded me harder
than they graded other
students
Teachers gave me the
impression that they think I
am less smart than I really
am
Oddsratios(logarithmicscale)
Even if I am well prepared for a test I feel very anxious
I get very tense when I study
More likely
Less likely
As likely
17. What can teachers and schools do?
Raising student motivation to achieve
18. 50 60 70 80 90 100
I want top grades in most or all of my courses
I want to be able to select from among the best opportunities
available when I graduate
I want to be the best, whatever I do
I see myself as an ambitious person
I want to be one of the best students in my class
Percentage of students
OECD average
Students' motivation to achieve Figure III.5.1(1)
19. Resilient students show higher achievement motivation
-0.1
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Lithuania
Malaysia
Iceland
ChineseTaipei
Turkey
Japan
Denmark
SlovakRepublic
Ireland
Korea
Peru
Norway
Qatar
Tunisia
Montenegro
Croatia
Thailand
HongKong(China)
Greece
Sweden
Australia
UnitedArabEmirates
Canada
Latvia
Estonia
Finland
CostaRica
Chile
Slovenia
Brazil
OECDaverage
Israel
Portugal
Mexico
Poland
Colombia
Switzerland
B-S-J-G(China)
UnitedKingdom
Spain
CzechRepublic
Russia
UnitedStates
Macao(China)
Uruguay
Netherlands
Hungary
Germany
Austria
France
Bulgaria
NewZealand
Singapore
Italy
Luxembourg
Belgium
Differenceintheindexofachievementmotivation
Differences between resilient and non-resilient students
Figure III.5.3
Resilient students are students who are in
the bottom quarter of ESCS in their
country, and perform in the top quarter of
students across all countries and economies,
after accounting for socio-economic status.
Greatertestanxiety
Higher competitive motivation
20. Resilient students show higher achievement motivation
-0.1
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Lithuania
Malaysia
Iceland
ChineseTaipei
Turkey
Japan
Denmark
SlovakRepublic
Ireland
Korea
Peru
Norway
Qatar
Tunisia
Montenegro
Croatia
Thailand
HongKong(China)
Greece
Sweden
Australia
UnitedArabEmirates
Canada
Latvia
Estonia
Finland
CostaRica
Chile
Slovenia
Brazil
OECDaverage
Israel
Portugal
Mexico
Poland
Colombia
Switzerland
B-S-J-G(China)
UnitedKingdom
Spain
CzechRepublic
Russia
UnitedStates
Macao(China)
Uruguay
Netherlands
Hungary
Germany
Austria
France
Bulgaria
NewZealand
Singapore
Italy
Luxembourg
Belgium
Differenceintheindexofachievementmotivation
Differences between resilient and non-resilient students
Figure III.5.3
Resilient students are students who are in
the bottom quarter of ESCS in their
country, and perform in the top quarter of
students across all countries and economies,
after accounting for socio-economic status.
Extrinsic
motivation
Intrinsic
motivation
21. What can teachers and schools do?
Students' sense of belonging at school
and their relations with teachers
22. Student sense of belonging at school
-0.50
-0.40
-0.30
-0.20
-0.10
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
Spain
Austria
Albania
CABA(Argentina)
Switzerland
FYROM
Kazakhstan
Germany
Kosovo
Norway
Georgia
Iceland
Jordan
Netherlands
Korea
Denmark
Luxembourg
Indonesia
Portugal
Greece
Finland
Hungary
Italy
TrinidadandTobago
Croatia
Sweden
Moldova
ChineseTaipei
Lebanon
OECDaverage
Belgium
Romania
Ireland
Malta
Japan
Chile
France
VietNam
Estonia
UnitedStates
Uruguay
UnitedKingdom
Slovenia
UnitedArabEmirates
Montenegro
Qatar
Canada
Australia
Mexico
Brazil
CostaRica
NewZealand
Tunisia
Latvia
Singapore
Algeria
Peru
CzechRepublic
Poland
Lithuania
SlovakRepublic
Colombia
B-S-J-G(China)
Bulgaria
HongKong(China)
Thailand
Russia
DominicanRepublic
Macao(China)
Turkey
Mean index of sense of belonging
Figure III.7.2Meanindexofsenseofbelonging
23. Decline in students' sense of belonging at school (OECD)
70
75
80
85
90
95
100
Ifeellikeanoutsider
(orleftoutofthings)
atschool(disagree)
Imakefriends
easilyatschool
(agree)
Ifeellike
Ibelongatschool
(agree)
Ifeelawkwardand
outofplaceinmy
school
(disagree)
Otherstudentsseem
tolikeme(agree)
Ifeellonely
atschool(disagree)
Percentageofstudentswhoreported“agree”or“strongly
agree”orwhoreported"disagree"or"stronglydisagree” 2003 2012 2015
Figure III.7.1
Meanindexofsenseofbelonging
24. Index of sense of belonging, by immigrant status
-0.20
-0.10
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
SlovakRepublic
FYROM
DominicanRepublic
Iceland
TrinidadandTobago
Mexico
Spain
Tunisia
Brazil
Lebanon
Luxembourg
Italy
Kosovo
Thailand
CABA(Argentina)
Uruguay
Chile
Ireland
Estonia
Algeria
Japan
Peru
Malta
Colombia
UnitedStates
Latvia
Portugal
Greece
Georgia
Sweden
Switzerland
OECDaverage
Moldova
Montenegro
Austria
Norway
Slovenia
Jordan
Turkey
Bulgaria
Russia
Denmark
France
Germany
Lithuania
CostaRica
CzechRepublic
Croatia
UnitedKingdom
HongKong(China)
B-S-J-G(China)
Belgium
Finland
Canada
Hungary
Macao(China)
Singapore
NewZealand
Kazakhstan
UnitedArabEmirates
Netherlands
Australia
Qatar
Difference on the index of sense of belonging between non-immigrant and immigrant students
Figure III.7.2Morenon-immigrantsMoreimmigrants
26. Sense of belonging relates to disciplinary climate
-0.10
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60 Kazakhstan
Romania
FYROM
Jordan
Lebanon
Malaysia
Switzerland
UnitedArabEmirates
Croatia
Sweden
Georgia
DominicanRepublic
Moldova
Brazil
B-S-J-G(China)
Turkey
Albania
Lithuania
Japan
Spain
Austria
Bulgaria
Tunisia
Peru
Luxembourg
Italy
Thailand
Germany
Russia
Kosovo
Finland
France
Ireland
Australia
CABA(Argentina)
Netherlands
Estonia
Mexico
VietNam
Chile
UnitedKingdom
Qatar
TrinidadandTobago
Colombia
OECDaverage
Poland
Greece
Uruguay
Montenegro
SlovakRepublic
CzechRepublic
Norway
Slovenia
Indonesia
ChineseTaipei
Denmark
Korea
Belgium
Algeria
Iceland
Portugal
Hungary
HongKong(China)
Macao(China)
Canada
NewZealand
Singapore
Latvia
CostaRica
UnitedStates
Malta
Mean index difference After accounting for students' and schools' socio-economic profile
Before accounting for students' and schools' socio-economic profile
Figure III.7.6
Students report higher sense of belonging in schools
with a more positive disciplinary climate
29. Spend time just talking to my child
Eat <the main meal> with my child around a table
Discuss how well my child is doing at school
Attended a scheduled meeting or conferences for parents
Talked about how to support learning at home and
homework with my child’s teachers
Discussed my child’s progress with a teacher on my own
initiative
Exchanged ideas on parenting, family support, or the child’s
development with my child’s teacher
Discussed my child's behaviour with a teacher on my own
initiative Students' likelihood of being very satisfied with
their life when their parents reported having
participated in these school-related activities in
the previous academic year
Students' likelihood of being very satisfied with
their life when parents reported engaging in
these activities "at least once a week"
Parents’ activities and students’ life satisfaction, Average-18 Figure III.9.4
20%
more
likely
60% more
likely...
As
likely
40%30%10% 50%
… To report high levels of life satisfaction
22 (12) PISA
points advantage
19 (10) PISA
points advantage
30. Parents’ interest in their child's activities at school and well-being (OECD)
Figure III.9.7
2.5 times more likely
1.9 times more likely
Twice less likely
3.4 times less likely
Wanting top grades at school Being very satisfied with life Feeling lonely at school Being not satisfied with life
More likely
Less likely
As likely
Students who say their parents are interested in their school activities are…
32. Physical education at school
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Hungary
Poland
Russia
Canada
Japan
UnitedStates
Bulgaria
NewZealand
Australia
Montenegro
DominicanRepublic
B-S-J-G(China)
Iceland
Qatar
Slovenia
Turkey
OECDaverage
UnitedKingdom
Tunisia
Korea
UnitedArabEmirates
Greece
Sweden
Israel
Finland
Uruguay
SlovakRepublic
Peru
Switzerland
Mexico
Brazil
Latvia
Colombia
Norway
Chile
Luxembourg
Lithuania
Denmark
CzechRepublic
Singapore
Portugal
France
Austria
Thailand
Macao(China)
Belgium
Netherlands
Germany
ChineseTaipei
Estonia
Ireland
Spain
Croatia
HongKong(China)
CostaRica
%
3 days or more 2 days 1 day 0 days
Figure III.11.1
33. Physical activity and life satisfaction
-0.2
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
Iceland
Ireland
Finland
Korea
Uruguay
B-S-J-G(China)
UnitedStates
UnitedKingdom
Macao(China)
Estonia
Latvia
Belgium(excl.Flemish)
Thailand
Turkey
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Greece
OECDaverage
Austria
Peru
ChineseTaipei
Bulgaria
CostaRica
Chile
Brazil
Tunisia
Croatia
Slovenia
Montenegro
Germany
SlovakRepublic
Mexico
Hungary
HongKong(China)
Qatar
Japan
Spain
DominicanRepublic
Portugal
Lithuania
Switzerland
France
Netherlands
Poland
CzechRepublic
UnitedArabEmirates
Russia
Colombia
Moderate physical activities Vigorous physical activities
Figure III.11.9
In most countries/economies, life
satisfaction is higher for students who
engage in physical activities
Differenceinlifesatisfactionindex
34. 470
475
480
485
490
495
500
505
510
515
520
Scorepoints
Average number of days of physical activity outside of school
Moderate physical activities Vigorous physical activities
Physical activity outside of school and science performance (OECD)Scienceperformance
Days of physical activity outside of school
Figure III.11.8
7 days
36. 0 5 10 15 20
Any type of bullying
Other students left me out of things on purpose
Other students made fun of me
I was threatened by other students
Other students took away or destroyed things that belong to me
I got hit or pushed around by other students
Other students spread nasty rumours about me
Percentage of students
OECD average
Students' exposure to bullying Figure III.8.2(2)
Percentage of students who reported being bullied at
least "a few times a month":
37. Students' exposure to bullying
-1.50
-1.00
-0.50
0.00
0.50
Latvia
NewZealand
Singapore
Macao(China)
Australia
UnitedKingdom
Canada
Qatar
Tunisia
UnitedArabEmirates
Poland
Estonia
Switzerland
Finland
Denmark
HongKong(China)
Belgium
Germany
UnitedStates
Colombia
CzechRepublic
Chile
Bulgaria
Mexico
Thailand
SlovakRepublic
CostaRica
Ireland
B-S-J-G(China)
Austria
Slovenia
OECDaverage
Norway
Russia
Uruguay
Hungary
France
Spain
Lithuania
Sweden
Croatia
Luxembourg
Japan
Brazil
Peru
DominicanRepublic
Netherlands
Iceland
Portugal
Greece
ChineseTaipei
Montenegro
Turkey
Korea
Mean index of exposure to bullying
Figure III.8.2(1)Morefrequentexposuretobullying
38. Students' exposure to each type of bullying, by gender,
OECD average
0
5
10
15
20
25
Anytypeofbullyingact
Otherstudentsleftmeout
ofthingsonpurpose
Otherstudentsmadefun
ofme
Iwasthreatenedbyother
students
Otherstudentstookaway
ordestroyedthingsthat
belongtome
Igothitorpushedaround
byotherstudents
Otherstudentsspread
nastyrumoursaboutme
%
Boys Girls
Figure III.8.3Morefrequentexposuretobullying
39. Percentage of frequently bullied students, by science performance
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
1stdecile
2nddecile
3rddecile
4thdecile
5thdecile
6thdecile
7thdecile
8thdecile
9thdecile
10thdecile
%
Deciles of science performance
Other students made fun of me
I got hit or pushed around by other students
Other students spread nasty rumours about me
Student performance
Figure III.8.5
Percentage of students who reported
being bullied at least a few times a month
Morefrequentexposuretobullying
40. Exposure to bullying and school's disciplinary climate
-18
-16
-14
-12
-10
-8
-6
-4
-2
0
Macao(China)
UnitedArabEmirates
SlovakRepublic
HongKong(China)
Australia
CzechRepublic
Malaysia
Qatar
Greece
NewZealand
Singapore
Lithuania
Latvia
Thailand
Hungary
Mexico
B-S-J-G(China)
UnitedKingdom
Russia
Finland
France
Germany
Brazil
Turkey
Bulgaria
Switzerland
Colombia
OECDaverage
Croatia
Chile
Ireland
Sweden
Poland
DominicanRepublic
Canada
UnitedStates
Belgium
Montenegro
Portugal
Peru
Spain
Tunisia
Slovenia
ChineseTaipei
Uruguay
Austria
Norway
Japan
Korea
Luxembourg
CostaRica
Netherlands
Iceland
Estonia
Denmark
After accounting for students' and schools' socio-economic profile
Figure III.8.8
Difference in the percentage of frequently bullied students between schools with positive and negative disciplinary climate
41. Students' exposure to bullying and perceptions of teachers' unfairness
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Slovenia15
DominicanRepublic18
Tunisia25
Greece17
NewZealand26
Chile18
SlovakRepublic19
CzechRepublic19
Brazil18
Thailand25
Hungary27
Singapore20
UnitedArabEmirates29
Bulgaria24
Qatar28
Denmark19
B-S-J-G(China)22
Switzerland22
Colombia18
Australia24
Poland20
UnitedStates18
OECDaverage20
CostaRica17
Croatia15
Sweden18
Japan13
Macao(China)23
Malaysia36
Norway20
Lithuania27
Austria25
UnitedKingdom29
Mexico11
France20
Russia21
Ireland21
ChineseTaipei11
Peru26
Estonia21
Turkey24
HongKong(China)22
Netherlands15
Portugal24
Belgium22
After accounting for student and school characteristics
Before accounting for student and school characteristics
Figure III.8.9
Difference in the percentage of frequently bullied students between schools with pervasive/not pervasive
student perceptions of teachers' unfair behaviour
Percentage of students who perceive that their teachers behave unfairly
Exposuretobullying
42. Relationship between being frequently bullied and
other student outcomes (OECD)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
…expecttoendtheir
educationatthe
secondarylevel
…feellikeanoutsider(or
leftoutofthings)atschool
…arenotsatisfiedwithlife
…skippedschoolatleast
3-4daysinprevioustwo
weeks
...feelanxiousforatest
evenifwellprepared
% Not frequently bullied Frequently bullied
Figure III.8.7
Students who…
A student is frequently bullied if he or
she is in the top 10% of the index of
exposure to bullying among all
countries/economies
Morefrequentexposuretobullying
43. Exposure to bullying and parental support (OECD)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Otherstudentsleftmeoutof
thingsonpurpose
Otherstudentsmadefunof
me
Iwasthreatenedbyother
students
Otherstudentstookawayor
destroyedthingsthatbelong
tome
Igothitorpushedaroundby
otherstudents
Otherstudentsspreadnasty
rumoursaboutme
% Parents help with difficulties in school Parents do not help with difficulties in school
Figure III.8.10
Morefrequentexposuretobullying
44. Find out more about our work at www.oecd.org/pisa
– All publications
– The complete micro-level database
Email: Andreas.Schleicher@OECD.org
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Wechat: AndreasSchleicher
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