Teenagers in the UK are more likely to be bullied at school than the average worldwide, according to a new global study.
An international education report reveals UK students feel more unsafe at school than the worldwide average, and are more likely to see fights and experience threats and vandalism at school.
But there was no difference in levels of the most serious types of violence, including gangs and knife crime at schools in the UK compared to the average worldwide.
The results were published as part of the highly anticipated Pisa (programme for international student assessment) rankings, which compare the performance of 15-year-olds in 81 countries. They reveal:
*One in five UK students said other pupils make fun of them a few times a month or more, compared to a 12 per cent averageglobally.
*In England just 66 per cent of pupils said they “never or almost never” experienced other pupils leaving them out of things on purpose, compared to 77 per cent on average worldwide.
*Similarly, the majority of pupils in England who never experienced physical bullying such as being hit or pushed around by other pupils was 78 per cent – but the worldwide average was 88 per cent.
* English pupils were also more likely to say they had been involved in a physical fights at school, or experienced other pupils taking away or destroying things that belonged to them.
The report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said: “On average pupils in England were more exposed to bullying at school than on average across OECD countries.”
Students in the UK also reported feeling a lower sense of belonging at school than average globally, and those in England had significantly lower levels of overall life satisfaction than average.
Around half of pupils in England (48 per cent) rated their overall life satisfaction as seven or more out of ten, compared to 61 per cent across other countries.
This means English pupils reported statistically significantly lower overall levels of life satisfaction than the average. This is also a drop since 2018, the last time the study was carried out.
In more positive news, OECD representative Alfonso Echazarra said results show UK students are less distracted by phones and tablets in classrooms than most other countries. Students from the lowest socio-economic groups also perform well in the UK.
The UK is also the only country in Europe where second generation immigrants outperform non-immigrant students – while first generation immigrants do not do much worse.
Overall, UK teenagers have climbed up the global maths and reading league table despite an “unprecedented drop in performance” in schools across the world due to the pandemic.
The Pisa rankings reveal that UK students performed worse in maths and reading tests than in 2018, but have risen up the global league table despite the drop in performance.
In science, although performance dropped, the UK remained in the same spot in the rankings.
Andreas Schleicher, education and skills director of the OECD said: “In the last four years, since 2018, the drop in UK results is slightly less than across OECD countries. So the ranking has improved but the results did not.
"The decline in outcomes has been slower than on average across OECD countries. In that sense, the UK has been relatively more successful."
But he added: "High-performing countries, like Singapore, Japan, actually continue to improve results during the pandemic and that's certainly not what you can say for the UK."
Today’s report shows that in the UK maths results fell by 13 points, but worldwide results in the subject fell by almost 15 points.
In the UK reading results dropped by 10 points – the same as the global average, and science results dropped by five points.
A drop of 15 points is the equivalent to three-quarters of a year's worth of learning, according to the report.
But despite the lower results, the UK climbed the rankings in maths and is now joint 12th- five places higher than in 2018, when the previous Pisa assessments were carried out.
In reading, the UK has risen to 13th, up from joint 14th in 2018.
In science, the UK was today ranked joint 14th, alongside Slovenia - the same ranking achieved in 2018.
The UK remains outside the global top 10, and behind countries like Singapore, which topped all three categories, Japan and Estonia.
The study is usually carried out every three years but the latest round was postponed by one year due to Covid.
Today’s results also reveal that 39 per cent of UK teenagers said they had problems at least once a week with understanding school assignments during remote learning, and 30 per cent with finding someone who could help them with schoolwork.
This was higher than the average globally.
When asked how well the UK coped with Covid-19, Mr Schleicher said: “I think overall, I would say so-so.
"But at the same time scores have not declined dramatically so there must have been something that actually worked quite well."
The results suggest teenagers in England experienced less learning loss on average than across the OECD countries, Mr Schleicher added.
Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, warned the results should not be used “for cheap political point-scoring.”
Around 690,000 students took the Pisa assessment in 2022 across 81 countries.
Students also answered a background questionnaire which sought information about their attitudes, beliefs, their homes, and their school and learning experiences.
