Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015: Highlights from Scotland's results

6. School, Student and Parent Questionnaire Responses

Students' views

Students' views on studying science and careers

• 111. Scottish students were significantly more likely than the OECD to "strongly agree" to the statements that "Making an effort in science is worth it because it will help me in the work that I want to do later on" (33.1 per cent vs. 25.4 per cent), "Studying science is worthwhile for me because what I learn will improve my career prospects" (31.5 per cent vs. 22.5 per cent), and "Many things I learn in science will help me get a job" (29.1 per cent vs. 19.8 per cent). When asked if they were "Expecting to work in science-related occupations at age 30", 22.8 per cent agreed.

Classroom behaviour in science lessons

• 112. When asked if certain behaviours happened in their science lessons, Scottish students appeared to identify less classroom disruption than was the case across the OECD. In Scotland, students were more likely to say "Never or hardly ever" then their counterparts across the OECD for "Students don't listen to what the teacher says (22.9 per cent vs. 18.4 per cent). They were also less likely to say this was the case in "Some lessons" (47.3 per cent vs. 49.5 per cent) or "Most lessons" (18.9 per cent vs. 21.2 per cent).
• 113. Scottish students were also more likely to say "Never or hardly ever" to "There is noise and disorder" (21.5 per cent to 18.7 per cent).
• 114. This was also the case for "The teacher has to wait a long time for students to quiet down" (32.9 per cent vs 26.9 per cent) and they were less likely to say this was true in "Most lessons" compared to the OECD average (14.8 per cent vs. 19.1 per cent).
• 115. A similar pattern can be found for "Students cannot work well" where Scottish students were more likely to say "Never or hardly ever" (40.5 per cent vs. 33.9 per cent), and less likely say this was the case in "Most lessons" (10.6 per cent vs. 14.7 per cent).
• 116. Finally, students were more likely to say "Never, or hardly ever" to the statement "Students don't start working for a long time after the lesson begins" (39.1 per cent vs. 32.3 per cent) and less likely to say this was true in "Most lessons" (12.5 per cent vs. 17.0 per cent).

Relations with teachers

• 117. Scottish students were more likely to report high levels of support from their teachers, than across the OECD. The teacher was more likely to be reported as "shows an interest in every student's learning" in "Every lesson" (44.8 per cent vs. 34.3 per cent), and less likely to be the case in "Some lessons" (16.2 per cent vs. 22.6 per cent ) or "Never or hardly ever" (5.1 per cent vs. 8.7 per cent).
• 118. A similar pattern was seen for "The teacher gives extra help when we need it". This was reported as true in "Every lesson" by 54.3 per cent of students (vs. 39.7 per cent for the OECD), and significantly lower in each other category ("Most lessons", "Some lessons" and "Never or hardly ever") than the OECD.
• 119. Teachers were more likely to reported to be persistent than across the OECD. Scottish students said "the teacher continues teaching until the students understand" in "Every lesson" (45.7 per cent vs. 37.5 per cent), and again lower than the OECD in all other categories.
• 120. However, students were more similar to the OECD on the question of whether "The teacher gives students an opportunity to express opinions", being similar in "Every lesson" or "Most lessons" and "Never or hardly ever" and below the OECD for "Some lessons" (20.6 per cent vs. 22.5 per cent).

Teacher feedback

• 121. Scottish students were generally more likely to report that teachers would give them feedback than students across the OECD. They were significantly less likely to say that teachers "Never or almost never" told them "…how I am performing in this course" (12.1 per cent vs. 27.1 per cent), and more likely to say this would happen in "Some lessons" or "Many lessons".
• 122. This pattern was similar for "The teacher gives me feedback on my strengths in this class" with Scottish students less likely to say "Never or almost never" than OECD students (18.5 per cent vs. 38.2 per cent) and more likely to say this would happen in "Some lessons", "Many lessons" and "Every or almost every lesson".
• 123. This was also the case for "The teacher tells me in which areas I can still improve" with Scottish students less likely to say "Never or almost never" (12.9 per cent vs. 31.9 per cent) and more likely to say this would happen for "Some lessons", "Many lessons" and "Every or almost every lesson".
• 124. For "The teacher tells me how I can improve my performance", Scottish students were also less likely to say "Never or almost never" (15.1 per cent compared to 28.0 per cent) and more likely to say "Some lessons" and "Many lessons" than the OECD.
• 125. Finally, Scottish students were more likely than OECD students to report that "The teacher advises me on how to reach my learning goals" with less saying "Never or hardly ever" (18.4 per cent vs. 31.7 per cent) and being more likely to choose "Some lessons", "Many lessons" and "Every or almost every lesson".

Attendance

• 126. Scottish students were more likely than OECD students to say that they had "Never" skipped classes in the two weeks prior to the PISA test (80.3 per cent vs. 73.9 per cent) and less likely to report that they had done this "Once or twice", "Three or four times" or "Five or more times".
• 127. However, they were less likely to report that they had "Never" arrived late for school in the two weeks prior to the assessment (53.1 per cent vs. 55.5 per cent) and similar to the OECD in the other categories.

Headteachers' views

• 128. Although the estimates of headteachers' responses have more uncertainty because of the smaller sample, we are still able to report significant differences against the OECD. Estimates are shown as the proportion of pupils in a school where headteachers' respond in a particular way.

Organisation of classes

• 129. A significantly greater proportion of Scottish students than OECD students were in schools where their headteachers reported that students were "grouped by ability into different classes" for "some subjects" (91.9 per cent vs. 38.0 per cent), and less likely to be in schools where students were not grouped by ability for "any subject" (2.5 per cent vs. 54.2 per cent).
• 130. Grouping by ability within classes was also more likely to take place for "some subjects" (85.7 per cent vs. 50.5 per cent), and students were less likely than the OECD to be in schools where this was not true for "any subject" (11.4 per cent vs. 45.0 per cent).

Views on student behaviour

• 131. Scottish students were more likely than the OECD to be in schools were the headteacher said that "Student truancy" hindered learning "Very little" (66.3 per cent vs. 51.9 per cent) and they were less likely to be in schools where the headteacher reported this to be true "To some extent" or "A lot". This pattern was also true for "Students skipping classes".
• 132. Scottish and OECD students were similarly likely to be in schools where heads responded "Students lacking respect for teachers" hindered learning (for example, 69.3 per cent were in schools were the headteachers said "Very little" compared to 61.1 per cent for the OECD). However, Scottish students were more likely to be in schools where the head said "Students intimidating or bullying other students" hindered learning "Very little" (86.8 per cent vs. 64.4 per cent), but also less likely to be in schools where the head said "Not at all" (9.3 per cent vs. 24.7 per cent).

School leadership

• 133. Scottish students were more likely than the OECD's to be in schools where the headteacher reported "at least once a month" to the statements "I praise teachers whose students are actively participating" (80.9 per cent vs. 64.5 per cent), "I pay attention to disruptive behaviour in classrooms (88.3 per cent vs. 80.9 per cent) and "When a teacher brings up a classroom problem, we solve the problem together" (84.7 per cent vs. 75.4 per cent).

Parent-school relationships

• 134. One hundred per cent of Scottish pupils, where headteachers responded, were in schools where the headteacher reported "Our school provides a welcoming and accepting atmosphere for parents to get involved". At the same time, 86.0 per cent of parents said "My child's school provides an inviting atmosphere for parents to get involved".
• 135. One hundred per cent of Scottish pupils, where headteachers responded, were also in schools where the headteacher stated: "Our school designs effective forms of school-to-home and home-to-school communications about school programmes and children's progress". In response to the statement "My child's school provides effective communication between the school and families", 86.2 per cent of Scottish parents agreed.
• 136. Scottish students were significantly more likely than the OECD's to be in schools where the head teacher reported "Our school includes parents in school decisions" (94.0 per cent vs. 76.8 per cent). For parents, 73.9 per cent agreed with the statement "My child's school involves parents in the school's decision-making process".
• 137. Scottish students were also more likely to be in a school where the head stated "Our school provides information and ideas for families about how to help students at home with homework and other curriculum-related activities, decisions, and planning" (98.7 per cent vs. 87.4 per cent). For parents, 72.8 per cent agreed with the statement "My child's school informs families about how to help students with homework/other school related activities".
• 138. Parents of PISA participants in Scotland were less likely than the OECD average to report that in the previous academic year they: "Discussed my child's behaviour with a teacher" "on my own initiative" (14.3 per cent vs. 50.2 per cent) or the "initiative of one of his/her teachers" (11.2 per cent vs. 40.3 per cent); "Discussed my child's progress with a teacher" "on my own initiative" (25.5 per cent vs. 51.4 per cent) or the "initiative of one of his/her teachers" (26.4 per cent vs. 43.6 per cent).
• 139. Scottish parents were also less likely to report that they had "Participated in local school government, e.g. parent council or school management committee" (6.8 per cent vs. 15.7 per cent), "Volunteered in physical or extra-curricular activities" (6.2 per cent vs. 11.6 per cent) or "Volunteered to support school activities" (6.0 per cent vs. 7.9 per cent) or "Exchanged ideas on parenting, family support, or the child's development with my child's teachers" (19.4 per cent vs. 35.1 per cent).
• 140. However they were more likely to report that they "Attended a scheduled meeting or conferences for parents" (86.5 per cent vs. 75.9 per cent) and "Talked about how to support learning at home and homework with my child's teachers" (68.3 per cent vs. 51.8 per cent).