Among its many findings, our PISA 2018 assessment shows that 15-year-old students in the four provinces/municipalities of China that participated in the study – Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang – outperformed by a large margin their peers from all of the other 78 participating education systems, in mathematics and science. Moreover, the 10 % most disadvantaged students in these four jurisdictions also showed better reading skills than those of the average student in OECD countries, as well as skills similar to the 10 % most advantaged students in some of these countries. True, these four provinces/municipalities in eastern China are far from representing China as a whole, but the size of each of them compares to that of a typical OECD country, and their combined populations amount to over 180 million. What makes their achievement even more remarkable is that the level of income of these four Chinese regions is well below the OECD average. The quality of their schools today will feed into the strength of their economies tomorrow.

Up to the end of the 1990s, OECD comparisons of education outcomes were mainly based on measures of years of schooling, which are not reliable indicators of what people are actually able to do. With the Programme for International Student Assessment, PISA, we tried to change this. The transformational idea behind PISA lay in testing the skills of students directly, through a metric that was internationally agreed upon; linking that with data from students, teachers, schools and systems to understand performance differences; and then harnessing the power of collaboration to act on the data, both by creating shared points of reference and by leveraging peer pressure.

A positive school climate is one of those things that is difficult to define and measure, but everyone – including parents – recognises it when they see it. The state of the school’s facilities, the tone of the conversations in corridors, the enthusiasm of the school staff and the way students interact during breaks are some of the signs that visitors can read to quickly and broadly assess a school’s climate. PISA indicators of school climate – the disciplinary climate, students’ sense of belonging at school and teacher support – can be analysed in relation to other PISA data on important student outcomes, such as academic achievement, student misbehaviour and students’ well-being, and to key factors that shape students’ learning, such as teachers’ practices and parental involvement.

The data referred to in this volume are presented in and, in greater detail, including additional tables, on the PISA website (www.oecd.org/pisa).

PISA is a triennial survey of 15-year-old students around the world that assesses the extent to which they have acquired key knowledge and skills essential for full participation in social and economic life. PISA assessments do not just ascertain whether students near the end of their compulsory education can reproduce what they have learned; they also examine how well students can extrapolate from what they have learned and apply their knowledge in unfamiliar settings, both in and outside of school.

This chapter defines the concepts of school climate and student well-being as used by PISA, presents a framework for their analysis and lists the indicators analysed in the report.

Bullying is a major problem worldwide with serious consequences for students’ lives. This chapter examines differences between countries and economies in students’ exposure to bullying at school, and how bullying is associated with student and school characteristics. It also examines how students’ exposure to bullying is related to reading performance, to students’ attitudes towards bullying, to students’ well-being and to school climate.

This chapter examines differences between countries and economies in the disciplinary climate during language-of-instruction lessons, and how the disciplinary climate is associated with student and school characteristics, and reading performance. It also looks at the disciplinary climate in schools with different proportions of girls and boys, and examines who may benefit the most from a positive disciplinary climate.

This chapter examines differences between countries and economies in student truancy and lateness, and how they vary by student and school characteristics. It also looks at the relationship between truancy and lateness, especially when they occur repeatedly, and reading performance. The chapter identifies some of the predictors of student truancy.

This chapter examines differences between countries and economies in teacher enthusiasm, and how it varies according to student and school characteristics. It also looks at how teacher enthusiasm is related to student performance, disciplinary climate and student motivation.

This chapter examines differences between countries and economies in teachers’ support and feedback, and how support from teachers is associated with school characteristics and students’ reading performance. It also explores how teaching practices in language-of-instruction lessons are inter-related, and how these teaching practices are related to students’ enjoyment of reading.

This chapter examines differences between countries and economies in school principals’ reports about the teacher behaviours that hinder student learning, and how they vary by school characteristics. The chapter also looks at how these teacher behaviours are related to students’ reading performance and parental involvement in school-related activities.

This chapter examines differences between countries and economies in student co-operation and competition, and how they vary by student and school characteristics. It also looks at how student co-operation and competition are related to student outcomes, and how these relationships vary by students’ attitudes towards competition and gender.

This chapter examines differences between countries and economies in students’ sense of belonging at school, and how the sense of belonging is associated with student and school characteristics, and reading performance. It also examines whether students feel a greater sense of belonging in co-operative or competitive schools, and how sense of belonging is related to expectations of further education and grade repetition.

This chapter examines differences between countries and economies in parents’ involvement in school activities, and how these forms of engagement are associated with school characteristics and students’ reading performance. It also discusses why some parents may not participate in school-related activities, what criteria parents use to choose a school for their child, and how the parents of low-achievers and top-performers view their child’s school.

This chapter examines differences in students’ overall life satisfaction and sense of meaning in life across countries and economies, schools and students. The chapter also discusses how students’ satisfaction with their lives are linked to reading performance, school climate and students’ sense of meaning in life.

This chapter examines differences between countries and economies in students’ feelings, and how those feelings are associated with student characteristics and reading performance. It also looks at how time spent connected to the Internet and different aspects of the school climate are related to students’ feelings.

This chapter examines differences between countries and economies in students’ general self-efficacy and fear of failure, and how they are associated with student and school characteristics. It also looks at how self-efficacy and fear of failure are related to reading performance, and explores whether students who expressed greater fear of failure are less satisfied with their lives.

This chapter examines differences across countries and economies in students’ belief in a growth mindset, and how this belief varies with student and school characteristics. The chapter also looks at the relationship between holding a growth mindset, and students’ attitudes, academic achievement and expectations of further education.

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