OECD PISA 2015: Students Well-being UK snapshot and PISA recommendations
What is the OECD PISA report? The OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) was founded 50 years ago to enable international cooperation. OECD undertakes the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) report every 3 years. The PISA 2015 report surveyed around 540,000 students in 72 countries. While PISA normally focuses on academic attainment, PISA s findings this year also explored the education-related wellbeing of secondary students. This briefing will look at a quick snapshot of the most relevant UK PISA data; PISA s own policy recommendations; and some talking points based on their ideas.
UK 11 th from bottom in ranking of OECD students life satisfaction On average UK students report a life satisfaction of 7/10 compared to OECD average of 7.3/10* This puts us below the United States (7.4), France (7.6), Germany (7.4) and Ireland (7.3)
Presentation Plan 1 2 3 4 Exams & studying 5-9 Internet use 10-14 Physical health 15-19 School relationships 20-24 More exam anxiety than average More time online than average Less exercise than average Feeling more like an outsider than average
UK students are more anxious than average about exams and studying
Exam and study-related anxiety Students in the UK have higher than average levels of anxiety about exams. However rather than being caused by frequency of tests, it was shown that it s students perception of tests as more/less threatening which impacts on anxiety. Even if I feel well prepared for a test I get very anxious : 7 in 10 UK students agree or strongly agree with this statement*, above OECD average I get very tense when I study : Over half of young people in the UK agree or strongly agree with this statement** - the OECD average is just over a third
Exam anxiety: PISA s recommendations Teachers should be given professional development training so they can better identify young people at risk of anxiety, and support them to learn from mistakes, by: Taking the most common mistakes a class makes and letting the students analyse them together; Helping students set realistic but challenging goals for themselves; Acknowledging students feelings about the tasks, and avoiding excessive pressure and control; Providing constructive feedback following assessments to nurture confidence and motivation
How are The Prince s Trust already tackling this? All of our programmes allow young people to achieve a qualification for programmes like Team, this is specifically aimed at young people with negative experiences of formal education On Team, throughout the 12 weeks young people develop their coping skills, managing their feelings, and building resilience On Fairbridge, the skills needed to manage stress and anxiety are built in, and reviewed as activities. This is included in a number of sessions supported by models, e.g. Rohnke Comfort, Stretch and Panic zones; and Challenge by Choice.
Talking points for Prince s Trust: How far are young people included in decision making and setting targets? How do we support young people to not be anxious about our qualifications, and to deal with failure? Do we provide enough opportunities for feedback after qualifications? How far do our programmes support young people to lower their anxiety about exams at every stage of their lives?
Young people in UK spend above the average time online each day, which can affect their wellbeing
Internet use and wellbeing On average, UK students spend 224 minutes on the internet on a weekend day 40 minutes more than the OECD average* Almost 1 in 4 UK students reported using the Internet outside of school for 6+ hours per day on a typical weekday, compared to the less than 1 in 5** OECD average Students who spend more than 6 hours online during weekdays are less satisfied with life, and have a weaker sense of belonging/engagement at school
Internet use: PISA recommendations The Internet can be as much a source of harassment as a tool for learning: students do spend too much time on the Internet, and cyberbullying is on the rise To help ensure the internet is used positively, schools can invest in education and supervision plans, designed to help students gain the knowledge, skills and motivation they need to use the Internet safely and responsibly.
How are PT already tackling this? Digital skills are already embedded across our programmes, from simply using an online form to sign up, to learning to search for and create content, to more advanced topics like learning coding through Get Into We have a compulsory Digital Skills toolkit for staff, involving sessions such as: Word processing and producing CVs; Using Excel to budget; Learning to recognise, discuss and report cyberbullying Tailoring communication to different contexts, ie work emails vs snapchat We also link a number of learning outcomes to internet use and online activities e.g. managing feelings, and using the internet as a tool, as part of broader work on Character Education and Active Citizenship.
Talking points for Prince s Trust: How can we further encourage healthy use of the internet? Are our programmes and our delivery staff up to date with the technology and social media which young people use? How do our staff relate to young people and the pressures they re under? Is there anything more we can do on our programmes to encourage young people to get offline and be active?
UK healthy eating and exercise habits are lower than average which can impact on wellbeing
Healthy lifestyle: eating and exercise Just over 1 in 4 (28.9%) UK students reported skipping breakfast before school, compared to the OECD average of around 1 in 5* In the UK 14% more girls said they skipped breakfast than boys this was the highest gender difference of all OECD countries The number of UK students who said they exercised or practiced sport before/after school was over 6% lower than the OECD average of 69.8%, at 63.4%. 18.8% more boys than girls in the UK said they exercised before or after school**
Healthy lifestyle: PISA recommendations In most countries, students who exercised 3+ days a week reported greater satisfaction with life than those who did not exercise outside of school Encouraging exercising at school can reduce the number of students who are physically inactive out of school, so schools should teach the benefits of being healthy and active through physical and health education Family can also play a role - in households where families eat dinner together, research suggests that teenagers tend to enjoy better physical and emotional well-being*
How are we already tackling this? Healthy eating and meal planning are already part of our Fairbridge, Achieve, and Team programmes, where we offer opportunities to design and prepare meals, as well as encouraging young people to do physical activities during their community projects During Fairbridge, Follow On sessions use healthy eating and exercise embedded in the session; all Fairbridge participants also eat healthily and get exercise whilst on residential. We run sport-based Get Started programmes, like Get Started in Football We also build relationships with other organisations engaged in this issue, e.g. receiving training and support from Children s Food Trust, and free food from Fair Share.
Talking points for Prince s Trust: Do our current resources on healthy eating tackle the clear gender disparity in skipping meals? Could we do more to support young girls with this issue? Do our programmes explicitly encourage exercise, as well as encouraging young people to be healthy and active?
UK students are less likely to feel like they belong at school
School relationships and bullying Five percent fewer (67.8%) UK students say they feel like they do belong at school, compared to OECD average* The feeling of belonging at school has been declining across OECD countries. In the UK, the percentage of students who reported feeling like an outsider increased by over 20% between 2003 and 2015** Almost 1 in 4 students (24%) in the UK reported that they are victims of one act of bullying at least a few times a month, compared to 1 in 5 OECD average***
School relationships: PISA recommendations One major threat to students feelings of belonging at school are their perceptions of negative relationships with their teachers. To build better teacher-student relations, teachers should be: Trained in basic methods of observation, listening and intercultural communication so that they can better tailor their responses to individual students Encouraged to collaborate and exchange information about students difficulties and strengths with their colleagues, so that they can join forces in finding the best approach to help their students feel like they belong
How are we already tackling this? Our programmes start with relationship building; throughout them we also use different models to train our staff in managing effective oneto-ones and group work, challenging behaviour, and de-escalation training On programmes such as Fairbridge and Get Started, our delivery mediums and learning environments are specifically designed and chosen to support relationship building In schools, Achieve advisers are trained and supported by our Programme Executives to deliver the programme in a supportive and informal way. Having school staff deliver the programme provides young people with an important point of contact and pastoral care within the school Strong positive relationships with staff and team are a central pillar of our Team programme, reinforced via the teamwork activities and communication skills embedded throughout the programme
Talking points for Prince s Trust: How can we further equip young people to deal with bullying? How can we further equip young people to recognise their own bullying behaviours? How are we training our Achieve Advisers to deal with this, and could we do more? What impact does feeling like an outsider have when you finish school?