Korean Students Rank 1st to 3rd in OECD for 'Creative Thinking Skills'... Confidence Below Average

Creative Thinking Score 38 out of 60
Below Average Differences Between Schools and Students

Korean students ranked among the top OECD member countries in the assessment of creative thinking skills. However, their confidence in demonstrating creative thinking was somewhat low.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announced the 'International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 Creative Thinking Results' on the 18th.

The International Student Assessment is conducted every three years to internationally evaluate and compare the basic and innovative skills of 15-year-old students.

South Korea scored an average of 38 out of 60 points in the creative thinking domain, ranking within the top 1 to 3 among 28 OECD member countries. Among all 64 countries, it ranked between 2nd and 4th.

On the 6th, students are preparing for the exam at Bangsan High School in Songpa-gu, Seoul, where the September mock test for the 2024 College Scholastic Ability Test was held. Photo by Joint Press Corps

About 90% of Korean students were at or above the basic level (Level 3), and approximately 46% were at the high achievement level (Level 5 or above).

However, while South Korea had a high creative thinking score, its creative thinking self-efficacy index was -0.13, lower than the OECD average of 0.00. A higher creative thinking self-efficacy index indicates that students have greater confidence in performing tasks that require creative thinking.

[Source=Ministry of Education]

Regarding this, the Ministry of Education explained, "According to the 2022 International Student Assessment results, countries with high creative thinking scores tend to have lower self-efficacy indices. Therefore, we plan to strengthen instructional innovation and creative experiential activities in schools so that students can gain more confidence in performing creative tasks."

The indices for 'Participation in Creative School Activities (0.35)' and 'Creative School Environment (0.16)' were higher than the OECD average.

[Source=Ministry of Education]

The achievement of Korean students in creative thinking showed lower differences both among students within schools (68%) and between schools (17%) compared to the OECD averages (74% and 26%, respectively). Additionally, the influence of economic, social, and cultural background on creative thinking scores (6.4%) was lower than the OECD average (11.6%).

This means that factors such as parents' occupation, education level, and asset status have relatively less impact on the creative thinking achievement of Korean students.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.