Top of the class: Girls and overseas-born students are Australia’s most motivated

Girls and students born overseas are the most motivated in Australian classrooms.

Students Mieke van Wel, 14, Shivani Kadiyala, 14, and Ayat Qabha, 14, at Canterbury Girls High School in Sydney yesterday. Picture: Hollie Adams

Girls are more likely than boys to want to be the “best” in class, while migrant students are significantly more motivated to achieve than those born in Australia, an OECD study says.

The latest report from the OECD’s Program for Inter­national Student Assessment — or PISA — measuring the motivation levels of 15- and 16-year-olds across the globe has revealed Australian students have fared well on average, ranking eighth out of 35 OECD countries and equal 13th out of 56 countries overall.

Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Tunisia and the US topped the list.

Despite Australia scoring significantly higher than the OECD average, based on the 2015 survey involving about 14,500 students from 750 schools, there were differences between cultural and geographic groups.

Asked whether they agreed with statements including “I see myself as an ambitious person”, “I want to be the best” and “I want … the best opportunities available when I graduate”, non-indigenous, metropolitan-based kids and those from high socio-economic backgrounds recorded high scores. Students from NSW, followed by Victoria, were found to be the most highly motivated.

The most striking difference, however, was observed between students born here and overseas, with 83 per cent of those from overseas agreeing “I want to be one of the best students in my class” compared with 71 per cent of students born in Australia to Australian-born parents.

Australian Council for Educational Research deputy chief executive Sue Thomson said the data showed that disadvantage continued to affect Australian students, driving their motivation to achieve good results at school: “This is important because motivation to achieve plays a key role in educational success and in an individual’s drive to set and ­attain education and career.”

The PISA report defines achievement as an “internal psycho­logical drive” to “work hard to master a task” and “a desire to compete and compare with others”.

While scientific literature points to motivation being a significant contributor to increased learning and better educational outcomes, the report says nations that have a record of high academic performance do not necessarily have the most motivated students. Australia reported higher student motivation levels than Finland, Japan, Macao and Estonia, all countries that performed significantly better in the 2015 PISA for scientific, reading and mathematical literacy.

Canterbury Girls High School in southwest Sydney, well-­regarded for a commitment to ensuring students achieve their personal best, is culturally diverse, with 64 per cent of students deriving from non-English speaking backgrounds.

Canterbury student Mieke van Wel hopes to work as a child psychologist, motivated by an interest in children, while Shivani Kadiyala intends to study medicine when she finishes school.

“There is a lot of support here to help us achieve,” Shivani said. “We have a lot of extra-curricular activities at school that keep us engaged. It also makes us realise the talents we have.”

Although the PISA study did not differentiate between girls at co-educational and single-sex schools, Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia executive Loren Bridge said other studies had shown all-girl learning environments could have a significant ­impact on a girl’s educational and life success.