Students whose parents have high expectations for them – who expect them to earn a university degree and work in a professional or managerial capacity later on – tend to have more perseverance, greater intrinsic motivation to learn mathematics, and more confidence in their own ability to solve mathematics problems than students of similar socio-economic status and academic performance, but whose parents hold less ambitious expectations for them.


• PISA results show that even when girls perform as well as boys in mathematics , they tend to report less perseverance, less openness to problem solving, less intrinsic and instrumental motivation to learn mathematics, less self-belief in their ability to learn mathematics and more anxiety about mathematics than boys, on average; they are also more likely than boys to attribute failure in mathematics to themselves rather than to external factors.

• While four out of five students in OECD countries agree or strongly agree that they feel happy at school or that they feel like they belong at school, not all students are equally likely to report a strong sense of belonging: on average across OECD countries, for example, 78% of disadvantaged but 85% of advantaged students agree or strongly agree with the statement “I feel like I belong at school”.

• Although the vast majority of students reported a strong sense of belonging , more than one in three students in OECD countries reported that they had arrived late for school in the two weeks prior to the PISA test; and more than one in four students reported that they had skipped a class or a day of school during the same period.

• Lack of punctuality and truancy are negatively associated with student performance: on average across OECD countries, arriving late for school is associated with a 27-point lower score in mathematics, while skipping classes or days of school is associated with a 37-point lower score in mathematics – the equivalent of almost one full year of formal schooling.

• Students who are open to solving mathematics problems – who feel that they can handle a lot of information, are quick to understand things, seek explanations for things, can easily link facts together, and like to solve complex problems – score 30 points higher in mathematics, on average, than those who are less open to problem solving. Among high achievers, the difference between the two groups of students is even greater – an average of 38 score points.

• Across most countries and economies, socio-economically disadvantaged students not only score lower in mathematics, they also reported lower levels of engagement, drive, motivation and self-beliefs. Resilient students, disadvantaged students who achieve at high levels, break this link; in fact, they share many of the characteristics of advantaged high-achievers.

 • Better teacher-student relations are strongly associated with greater student engagement with and at school.

• One way that a student’s negative self-belief can manifest itself is in anxiety towards mathematics . Some 30% of students reported that they feel helpless when doing mathematics problems: 25% of boys, 35% of girls, 35% of disadvantaged students, and 24% of advantaged students reported feeling that way.