Non-cognitive skills and Singaporean students: International comparisons

Abstract

Lee (2009) showed that among the 41 countries included in PISA 2003, Confucian Asians tend to have the highest scores on Mathematics achievement tests; they are closely followed by the (mostly Western) European countries. However, the same Confucian top-scoring countries tend to be at the bottom on measures of Self-efficacy and Self-concept (collectively referred to as Self-doubt) and high on Anxiety. This pattern of findings has been observed in multiple cycles of TIMSS and PISA; we aimed to probe deeper into these results by extending measurement to variables not normally assessed in education.