Reading (primary focus)

• Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang (China) and Singapore scored significantly higher in reading than all other countries/economies that participated in PISA 2018.
• Estonia, Canada, Finland, and Ireland were the highest-performing OECD countries in reading.
• Some 77% of students, on average across OECD countries, attained at least Level 2 proficiency in reading. Around 8.7% of students, on average across OECD countries, were top performers in reading, meaning that they attained Level 5 or 6 in the PISA reading test.
• On average across OECD countries, one in ten disadvantaged students was able to score in the top quarter of reading performance in their countries (“academic resilience”), indicating that disadvantage is not destiny.

Mathematics and science

• On average across OECD countries, 76% of students attained Level 2 or higher in mathematics. However, in 24 countries and economies, more than 50% of students scored below this level of proficiency.
• Around one in six students in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang (China) and about one in seven students in Singapore scored at Level 6 in mathematics, the highest level of proficiency that PISA describes.
• On average across OECD countries, 78% of students attained Level 2 or higher in science.

Trends in performance

• On average across OECD countries, mean performance in reading, mathematics and science remained stable between 2015 and 2018.
• There were large differences between individual countries and economies in how their performance changed between 2015 and 2018. For example, mean performance in mathematics improved in 13 countries/economies, declined in 3 countries/economies, and remained stable in the remaining 47 participating countries/economies.
• Seven countries/economies saw improvements, on average, in the reading, mathematics and science performance of their students throughout their participation in PISA. Seven countries saw declining mean performance across all three subjects.
• Between 2003 and 2018, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey, and Uruguay enrolled many more 15-year-olds in secondary education without sacrificing the quality of the education provided.

Equity related to gender

• In all countries and economies that participated in PISA 2018, girls significantly outperformed boys in reading – by 30 score points, on average across OECD countries.
• Boys outperformed girls – by five score points – in mathematics, on average across OECD countries, but girls outperformed boys in science by two score points.
• In all countries and economies, girls reported much greater enjoyment of reading than boys.
• On average across OECD countries in 2018, both boys and girls reported significantly less enjoyment of reading than their counterparts did in 2009.

Equity related to immigrant background

• On average across OECD countries, 13% of students in 2018 had an immigrant background, up from 10% in 2009.
• Some 17% of immigrant students scored in the top quarter of reading performance in the country where they sat the PISA test, on average across OECD countries.
• In 21 out of the 43 countries and economies where a relatively large proportion of students had an immigrant background, immigrant students were more likely than their native-born peers to report a goal-oriented attitude.

Financial literacy

• Average financial literacy performance in Estonia was higher than that in every other participating country/economy, followed by the Canadian provinces and Finland.
• Some 85% of students, on average across OECD countries/economies, attained at least Level 2 proficiency in financial literacy. Some 10% of students attained the highest level of proficiency in financial literacy, Level 5, on average across OECD countries and economies.
• Boys scored a small but significant 2 points higher than girls in the PISA 2018 financial literacy assessment, on average across OECD countries/economies. After accounting for performance in mathematics and reading, boys outperformed girls by 10 points.

Global competence

• The top-performing countries/economies were Canada, Hong Kong (China), Scotland (United Kingdom), Singapore, and Chinese Taipei, with mean performance scores more than 50 points above the overall average.
• The range and variation of relative scores after accounting for performance in mathematics, science and reading were noticeably smaller than that of raw performance scores. Canada, Colombia, Greece, Israel, Panama, Scotland (United Kingdom), Singapore, and Spain showed the highest relative performance in global competence, while Albania, Brunei Darussalam, Kazakhstan, Korea, and the Russian Federation showed the lowest relative performance.
• Students in Albania, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, and the United Arab Emirates reported the highest levels of awareness of global issues, which were substantially higher than the OECD average.
• Students in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Korea, Kosovo, Lebanon, North Macedonia, Romania, and Turkey reported the greatest capacity for perspective taking.
• Students in Albania, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Korea, New Zealand, Scotland (United Kingdom), Spain, and Chinese Taipei reported the most positive attitudes toward immigrants, with values in the index that were significantly higher than the OECD average.

Teachers’ attitudes and practices

• On average across OECD countries and in 43 education systems, students who perceived greater support from teachers scored higher in reading, after accounting for the socio-economic profile of students and schools.
• Teacher enthusiasm and teachers’ stimulation of reading engagement were the teaching practices most strongly (and positively) associated with students’ enjoyment of reading.

Students’ well-being

• On average across OECD countries, 67% of students reported being satisfied with their lives. Between 2015 and 2018, the share of satisfied students shrank by 5 percentage points.
• In almost every education system, girls expressed greater fear of failure than boys, and this gender gap was considerably wider amongst top-performing students.
• In a majority of school systems, students who expressed a greater fear of failure scored higher in reading, but reported less satisfaction with life than students expressing less concern about failing, after accounting for the socio-economic profile of students and schools.

Resources invested in education

• At the system level, greater shortages of educational materials were correlated with lower mean performance in reading, even after accounting for per capita GDP, across OECD countries, and across all participating countries and economies in PISA 2018.
• On average across OECD countries, around 54% of students attended a school where an effective online learning platform is available to them.
• Education systems with a greater share of students in schools that offer one or more rooms for homework tended to show better mean performance in reading, mathematics and science, even after accounting for per capita GDP.

On how education systems are governed

• After accounting for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profile, students in public schools scored higher in reading than students in private schools, on average across OECD countries (by 14 score points) and in 19 education systems (ranging from 13 score points higher in Indonesia to 117 points higher in Serbia).
• At the system level across all countries and economies, school systems with larger shares of students in private independent schools tended to show lower mean performance in reading, mathematics and science, after accounting for per capita GDP. This relationship was not observed across OECD countries.