Executive Summary
Worldwide trends and global crises, such as technological change, growing inequality and pandemics, are posing new challenges to education systems and schools around the world. School-management policies and practices play a key role in determining how education systems respond to these challenges.
This volume of PISA 2018 Results describes the policies and practices used in the education systems of the 79 countries/economies that participated in PISA 2018. It examines how policies and practices related to grouping and selecting students, resources invested in education, the governance of education systems, and evaluations and assessments are associated with performance, equity in students’ learning outcomes and student well-being. Trends in school organisation are analysed to understand how schools and school systems have changed during the past decade, and whether and how these changes are related to changes in performance and equity in students’ learning outcomes.
On grouping and sorting students
On average across OECD countries, 6% of students had not attended or had attended pre-primary education for less than one year. These students scored lower in reading at the age of 15 than students who had attended for between one and three years, before and after accounting for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profile.
A socio-economically disadvantaged 15-year-old student was about three times more likely than an advantaged student, on average across OECD countries, to have repeated a grade at least once, even if both students scored the same in the PISA reading test. At the system level, across all participating countries and economies, those countries/economies with smaller shares of students who had repeated a grade showed higher mean reading performance and greater equity in reading performance, even after accounting for per capita GDP.
Students in general (academic) programmes scored almost 30 points higher in reading than those in vocational programmes, on average across OECD countries, and after accounting for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profile. At the system level, across OECD countries, school systems with larger shares of students in general programmes generally showed greater equity in reading performance, even after accounting for per capita GDP.
On average across OECD countries, students in schools that group students by ability in their classes for all subjects scored eight points lower in reading than students in schools that do not group students in this way, after accounting for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profile.
On resources invested in education
Some 27% of students were enrolled in schools whose principal reported that learning is hindered by a lack of teaching staff, and 33% were enrolled in schools whose principal reported that learning is hindered by a lack of assisting staff, on average across OECD countries. After accounting for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profile, in 17 countries/economies, students in schools with more staff shortages scored lower.
Students attending schools whose principal reported fewer shortages of material resources scored higher in reading, on average across OECD countries and in 12 countries and economies, after accounting for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profile. At the system level, more 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.
Around 54% of students attended a school where an effective online learning platform is available to them, on average across OECD countries. More students in advantaged schools (59% of students in advantaged schools) than in disadvantaged schools (49% of students in disadvantaged schools) had access to an effective online learning platform.
In countries and economies with higher mean performance in reading, there tended to be smaller differences in material resources between advantaged and disadvantaged schools; in some cases, disadvantaged schools tended to have more material resources than advantaged schools.
On average across OECD countries, performance in reading was positively associated with each additional hour of language-of-instruction lessons per week, up to 3 hours. However, this positive association between learning time in regular language-of-instruction lessons and reading performance weakened amongst students who spent more than three hours per week in these lessons.
Education systems with larger shares of students in schools that offer a room(s) 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.
On evaluations and assessments
Countries and economies tended to show better equity in education when they: use student assessments to inform parents about their child’s progress; use student assessments to identify aspects of instruction or the curriculum that could be improved; use written specifications for student performance on the school’s initiative; seek feedback from students; and have regular consultations on school improvement at least every six months, based on district or national policies.
PISA 2018 results show considerable disparities between advantaged and disadvantaged schools related to shortages of education staff and material resources, including digital resources. Ensuring that all schools have adequate and high-quality material resources, and the appropriate support, is key if students from all backgrounds are to be given equal opportunities to learn and succeed at school.
PISA also finds that in high-performing countries/economies and in those with greater equity in education, a combination of school autonomy and more centralised accountability measures work in concert to support more effective teaching and better learning. For example, countries/economies with greater equity in education often have some mandatory accountability arrangements that are set at the district or national level, such as seeking written feedback from students or having regular consultations on school improvement at least every six months. At the same time, schools are responsible for ensuring their students’ learning by, for example, developing and disseminating written standards of student performance.
Similarly, in high-performing countries/economies, implementation of a standardised policy for reading-related subjects taught at school (including a school curriculum with shared instructional materials, and staff development and training) tends to be mandatory and regulated at the district or national level, while schools encourage and make available teacher mentoring on their own initiative.
