Er is een nieuwe PISA in focus, nu natuurlijk op basis van de recente PISA2012 data. Het onderwerp is spijbelen (truancy). Wat zijn de belangrijkste vaststellingen over wie de spijbelaars zijn:

• Across OECD countries, 18% of students skipped classes at least once in the two weeks prior to the PISA test, and 15% of students skipped a day of school or more over the same period.
• Few students in high-performing school systems skip classes or days of school.
• For students in OECD countries, skipping classes is associated with a 32-point lower score in mathematics, while skipping days of school is associated with a 52-point lower score.
• Truancy is observed among all students, whether advantaged or disadvantaged.

Even een belangrijke bedenking: het gaat in punt 3 over correlaties, niet per se over causaliteit.

Maar men vermoedt dat hoge verwachtingen van school en ouders kunnen helpen:

Results from PISA 2012 show that playing truant is negatively associated with student performance. Results also show that students are less likely to play truant when they are engaged with school. Parents and teachers can nurture students’ engagement with and at school by holding high expectations for their children/students and by being more engaged, themselves, in their children’s/students’ lives.