One of the ultimate goals of policy makers is to enable citizens to take advantage of a globalised world economy. This is leading them to focus on the improvement of education policies, ensuring the quality of service provision, a more equitable distribution of learning opportunities and stronger incentives for greater efficiency in schooling.

PISA results show that mastering strategies that assist learning, such as methods to remember and understand or summarise texts and reading widely, are essential if students are to become proficient readers. Practicing reading by reading for enjoyment is most closely associated with better outcomes when it is accompanied by high levels of critical thinking and strategic learning. Across OECD countries, students who have low levels of awareness about which strategies are most effective for understanding, remembering and summarising information are less proficient readers than those who have high levels of awareness about these strategies, regardless of their reading habits.

PISA results show that mastering strategies that assist learning, such as methods to remember and understand or summarise texts and reading widely, are essential if students are to become proficient readers. Practicing reading by reading for enjoyment is most closely associated with better outcomes when it is accompanied by high levels of critical thinking and strategic learning. Across OECD countries, students who have low levels of awareness about which strategies are most effective for understanding, remembering and summarising information are less proficient readers than those who have high levels of awareness about these strategies, regardless of their reading habits.Are students well prepared to meet the challenges of the future? Can they analyse, reason and communicate their ideas effectively? Have they found the kinds of interests they can pursue throughout their lives as productive members of the economy and society? The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) seeks to answer these questions through its triennial surveys of key competencies of 15-year-old students in OECD member countries and partner countries/economies. Together, the group of countries participating in PISA represents nearly 90% of the world economy.

This chapter examines how engaging in reading activities and approaching learning positively relates to reading proficiency. More specifically, it looks at how much students enjoy reading, how much time they spend reading for enjoyment, and what they read for enjoyment. The chapter also examines the extent to which 15-year-olds have “learned how to learn” as indicated by their knowledge and use of specific learning strategies, such as understanding, remembering and summarising. Students’ reading and learning habits are then related to their reading performance.

Students’ reading and learning habits not only affect their performance in school, but can influence how they live their lives after their school careers. Based on students’ own reports, this chapter examines country differences in how much students read for enjoyment, what they read, and how much they enjoy reading. It also discusses students’ knowledge and use of effective learning strategies.

Girls outperform boys in reading in all countries assessed by PISA. This chapter discusses the extent to which reading and learning habits relate to these performance differences between boys and girls, and between socio-economic groups. It then examines whether those habits that are associated with better reading performance could be more widely encouraged among boys and among students from disadvantaged backgrounds to help minimise differences in reading proficiency. The chapter also highlights underachievement among disadvantaged boys.

To become effective learners, students need to be able to figure out what they need to learn and how to achieve their learning goals. They also need to master a wide repertoire of cognitive and meta-cognitive information-processing strategies to be able to develop efficient ways of learning. At the same time, fostering effective ways of learning, including goal setting, strategy selection and controlling and evaluating the learning process, should not come at the expense of students’ enjoyment of reading and learning, since proficiency is the result of sustained practice and dedication, both of which go hand-in-hand with high levels of motivation to read and learn.

PISA is a collaborative effort, bringing together scientific expertise from the participating countries, steered jointly by their governments on the basis of shared, policy-driven interests.