Global citizenship is reflected both in what students can do and in the responsibilities they consider important. The available evidence shows that only 4% of students across participating education systems reached the highest PISA 2018 global-competence level, while large majorities of ICCS 2022 students valued helping people in less-developed countries, equal opportunity and environmentally friendly lifestyles.
Contents
- Global competence among 15-year-olds
- What schools expose students to
- Understanding the measurement differences
- Helping people in less-developed countries
- Equal opportunity and environmental action
- Cultures and languages
Global competence among 15-year-olds
PISA 2018 assessed global competence among 15-year-old students. The OECD defines a proficiency scale rather than a simple measure of whether a student has encountered international topics. Across participating education systems, 4% of students reached Level 5, the highest global-competence level, and another 9% reached Level 4. Together, these figures show that the top two levels represented a minority of students in the participating systems.
The results varied substantially by education system. Singapore had 22% of students at Level 5, the highest figure among the locations reported here. Canada had 15%, while Scotland in the United Kingdom had 12%.
| Education system | Students at PISA 2018 Level 5 |
|---|---|
| Participating education systems | 4% |
| Singapore | 22% |
| Canada | 15% |
| Scotland, United Kingdom | 12% |
These figures come from PISA 2018 Results (Volume VI): Are Students Ready to Thrive in an Interconnected World?. They describe 15-year-olds and global competence, which overlaps with but is not identical to global citizenship education. The results should therefore be read as evidence about a particular assessed capability, not as a complete ranking of global citizenship.
What schools expose students to
The PISA evidence also shows that exposure to global and intercultural learning was more common than the highest measured proficiency. In 2018, an OECD average of 76% of students reported learning about different cultures at school. Students reported engaging in about five global-competence-related learning activities on average across OECD countries.
About four in five students in OECD countries also reported that their school curriculum covered global issues in PISA 2018. In other words, global issues were present in the reported curriculum for a large majority, even though only 4% of students across participating education systems reached the highest proficiency level and 9% reached Level 4.
The UNESCO evidence adds an important qualification. Almost half of learners, on average, failed to demonstrate minimum global competence in the PISA 2018 evidence summarized by UNESCO. This means that curriculum exposure and demonstrated competence are different indicators. A student may encounter global issues or different cultures at school without necessarily demonstrating the knowledge and skills represented by the assessment’s minimum or highest levels.
The OECD figures are reported in Global competence | OECD, while the broader education-monitoring context is described in Monitoring SDG 4: Global citizenship education | Global Education Monitoring Report. The measurement year for these findings is 2018.
Understanding the measurement differences
Global citizenship statistics combine several related but distinct kinds of evidence. PISA 2018 measured global competence among 15-year-olds. Its Level 4 and Level 5 results indicate performance on an assessed proficiency scale. The OECD-average figures on learning about cultures and global-competence activities are student reports about school exposure and participation.
UNESCO’s SDG 4.7 figures use an ICCS-based measure from 2016 and cover 23 upper-middle- and high-income countries. In that measure, the share of students with adequate global-citizenship understanding was around 40% in the Dominican Republic, Latvia and the Netherlands. The corresponding share was almost 70% in Croatia, the Republic of Korea and Sweden.
Those 2016 values are not interchangeable with the PISA percentages. They use a different assessment and a different reference population and should not be presented as a time trend from the 2018 PISA results. The relevant UNESCO source is Monitoring SDG 4: Global citizenship education | Global Education Monitoring Report.
The more recent ICCS 2022 results use yet another approach. They report the percentage of students who said a behavior was very or quite important for good citizenship. The country comparisons retain the report’s rounded whole percentages. These are attitudes or priorities reported by students, not direct tests of global-competence performance.
Helping people in less-developed countries
ICCS 2022 shows strong support for an international helping role. Across the participating students, 83% on average rated helping people in less-developed countries as important for good citizenship.
The country percentages ranged from 70% in Bulgaria to 92% in Croatia among the locations listed here. Chinese Taipei recorded 84%, Colombia 90%, Cyprus 80%, Estonia 77%, France 89%, Italy 91% and Latvia 75%.
| Location | Students rating helping people in less-developed countries important |
|---|---|
| ICCS 2022 average | 83% |
| Bulgaria | 70% |
| Chinese Taipei | 84% |
| Colombia | 90% |
| Croatia | 92% |
| Cyprus | 80% |
| Estonia | 77% |
| France | 89% |
| Italy | 91% |
| Latvia | 75% |
The spread in these rounded percentages indicates that the value was widely supported but not uniformly supported across the listed locations. Croatia’s 92% and Italy’s 91% were the highest country figures in this group, followed by Colombia at 90% and France at 89%. Bulgaria’s 70% and Latvia’s 75% were the lowest listed country figures.
All of these values are from ICCS 2022 International Report. They describe what students considered important for good citizenship in 2022, rather than whether students had participated in international aid or development activity.
Equal opportunity and environmental action
Two other ICCS 2022 citizenship priorities also received majority support. On average, 81% of students rated supporting initiatives that promote equal opportunities worldwide as important for good citizenship. The country figures were 74% in Bulgaria, 89% in Chinese Taipei, 87% in Colombia, 88% in Croatia, 77% in Cyprus, 79% in Estonia, 84% in France, 87% in Italy and 74% in Latvia.
For this measure, Chinese Taipei had the highest listed percentage at 89%. Croatia and Italy each recorded 88%? No: Croatia was 88% and Italy was 87%, while Colombia was also 87%. Bulgaria and Latvia each recorded 74%, the lowest listed values. The figures show broad support for equal opportunity, with a 15-percentage-point difference between the lowest and highest locations in this group.
Environmental responsibility also received high ratings. Across ICCS 2022 students, 80% on average rated changing their personal lifestyle to become more environmentally friendly as important for good citizenship. The country percentages were 75% in Bulgaria, 90% in Chinese Taipei, 88% in Colombia, 88% in Croatia, 78% in Cyprus, 80% in Estonia, 85% in France, 89% in Italy and 72% in Latvia.
Chinese Taipei recorded 90% for this environmental measure, Italy 89%, and Colombia and Croatia 88% each. Latvia recorded 72%, the lowest listed figure, followed by Bulgaria at 75%. The ICCS result measures the importance students assigned to changing their own lifestyle; it does not measure a quantified change in emissions, consumption or environmental behavior.
The source for these 2022 percentages is the ICCS 2022 International Report. The country comparisons are rounded whole percentages as presented in that report.
Cultures and languages
Interest in different cultures and languages was supported by a smaller, but still clear, majority. The ICCS 2022 average was 72% of students rating this interest as important for good citizenship.
Among the listed locations, Croatia recorded 83%, followed by Colombia at 79%, Italy at 78%, Chinese Taipei at 76% and France at 75%. Estonia recorded 71%, Bulgaria 69%, Cyprus 67% and Latvia 66%.
The highest and lowest country figures in this group were Croatia’s 83% and Latvia’s 66%, a 17-percentage-point difference. The figures for Colombia, Italy, Chinese Taipei and France were all above the ICCS 2022 average, while Estonia, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Latvia were below it.
This measure complements the school-exposure evidence from PISA 2018. In that earlier assessment, 76% of students on average reported learning about different cultures at school, while the ICCS 2022 average of 72% refers to the importance students assigned to showing interest in different cultures and languages as part of good citizenship. The two figures concern related themes but different years, assessments and questions.
Taken together, the available statistics describe a multi-layered picture of leadership and global exchange. Schools reported substantial exposure to global issues and cultures in 2018; assessed high-level global competence remained uncommon; and students in 2022 generally attached importance to international solidarity, worldwide equal opportunity, environmentally friendly lifestyles, and interest in cultures and languages. These indicators should be interpreted according to their separate dates, geographies and measurement designs.