Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 - global competence: results - highlights
The results of the PISA 2018 assessment of Global Competence, showing Scotland’s results and those of other participating states.
Chapter 5: Examining Local, Global and Intercultural Issues
Key findings
- Students in Scotland had a higher awareness of global issues (0.09) than the OECD average
- Girls and boys in Scotland reported a similar level of awareness of global issues
- The global issues that students in Scotland were most familiar with were causes of poverty (87% of students), equality between men and women (85%), and climate change/global warming (78%)
- Boys reported greater self-efficacy regarding global issues than girls.
Students' awareness of global issues
29. Students were asked about their awareness of a range of global issues in the student questionnaire. Answers were then used to construct an index of awareness of global issues. Positive values in this index indicate a greater ability to understand and take different perspectives than the average student across OECD countries.
| Scotland | OECD[1] | |
|---|---|---|
| Equality between men and women | 85.0 | 83.0 |
| Causes of poverty | 87.0 | 78.3 |
| Hunger and malnutrition | 75.5 | 77.9 |
| International conflicts | 65.5 | 66.1 |
| Migration | 79.1 | 79.2 |
| Global health | 59.4 | 65.1 |
| Climate change and global warming | 78.4 | 78.5 |
| Index of global awareness | 0.09 | 0.01 |
Figures in bold represent the figure which is statistically significantly higher (where a statistically significant difference exists)
30. Compared to the average of all participating OECD countries, pupils in Scotland were more likely to state that they knew about the causes of poverty (87.0% compared to 78.3%) and equality between men and women (85.0% compared to 83.0%), but were less likely to agree that they were familiar with global health issues (59.4% compared to 65.1%) and hunger and malnutrition (75.9% compared to 77.9%). Across the OECD countries, the topic that pupils were most familiar with was equality between men and women.
31. In the majority of countries, girls reported a higher level of awareness of global issues than boys. However, girls and boys in Scotland reported a similar level of awareness of global issues.
32. Differences in awareness of global issues were also observed between immigrant and non-immigrant students, even after accounting for students' and schools' socio-economic profile. Positive differences in favour of immigrants were observed in 17 of the 34 countries and economies where more than 5% of all students had an immigrant background, including students in Scotland.
Self-efficacy regarding global issues
33. Students in PISA 2018 were asked to report the extent to which they could explain or discuss global issues. Responses from these questions were used to create an index of self-efficacy for each country. Positive values in this index indicate a greater ability to explain or discuss global issues than the average student across OECD countries.
| Scotland | OECD[2] | |
|---|---|---|
| Establish a connection between prices of textiles and working conditions in the countries of production | 45.8 | 58.0 |
| Explain how economic crises in single countries affect the global economy | 51.7 | 60.5 |
| Explain how carbon-dioxide emissions affect global climate change | 61.4 | 62.9 |
| Discuss the consequences of economic development on the environment | 51.5 | 64.8 |
| Explain why some countries suffer more from global climate change than others | 67.6 | 72.3 |
| Discuss the different reasons why people become refugees | 79.5 | 77.2 |
| Index of self-efficacy | -0.19 | 0.00 |
Figures in bold represent the figure which is statistically significantly higher (where a statistically significant difference exists)
34. Compared to the OECD average, students in Scotland were less likely to report that they could explain or discuss global issues on their own (-0.19), such as explaining how economic crises in single countries affect the global economy. However, pupils in Scotland were more confident than the OECD average in discussing the different reasons why people become refugees. Students in Scotland were less confident in explaining economic concepts and more confident in explaining environmental and climate change issues.
35. In 22 of 65 countries and economies, girls showed greater self-efficacy regarding global issues than boys; the reverse was true in 17 countries including Scotland.
36. Immigrant students in 15 of 34 countries and economies, including Scotland, with more than 5% immigrant students enrolled in their schools exhibited greater self-efficacy regarding global issues than non-immigrant students, even after accounting for students' and schools' socio-economic profile.
37. When considering students' socio-economic status, the findings show that students in the top quarter of the PISA index of economic, social and cultural status (i.e. least disadvantaged) showed greater self-efficacy regarding global issues than students in the bottom quarter of that index.
38. In Scotland, there was a strong link between awareness of global issues and perceived self-efficacy in global competence related tasks. After accounting for student background, international analysis shows that pupils in Scotland had the largest increase in self-efficacy for each increase in awareness.
Contact
Email: keith.dryburgh@gov.scot
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