The outbreak of the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) has already forced schools and universities to close in China. It has also resulted in increased difficulties for international students to travel to attend their educational institutions as well as stoppage of on the ground operations of supplementary education (tutoring) services. Korea, Japan, Iran, Iraq, Italy are closing schools in the infected area and more countries are considering or preparing the closure of schools. And the situation seems to worsen globally, likely to affect more people and more schools.
This unfortunate event gives us …

PISA has many peculiar and surprising discoveries…
PISA wants to offer advice on anything and everything considered important to students in the world so it has decided to jump on the bandwagon of student well being. Life satisfaction is a very important aspect of well being because it “is closely associated with happiness, and can enable the kinds of healthy habits and attitudes that lead to a successful, fulfilling life.” Thus PISA wants to “help educators, schools and parents promote positive development amongst youth, and identify and support students who experience …

PISA has many peculiar and surprising discoveries…
Fear of failure improves academic performance.
That’s a conclusion one can draw from PISA’s analysis of its data. This is true at the system level. “At the system level, the greater the fear of failure expressed by students, the higher the reading scores in that education system” (OECD, 2019, p. 193). This is especially true for high performing East Asian education systems and some English speaking systems. PISA found that:
a large number of English-speaking and East Asian education systems were amongst those whose students were …

PISA has many peculiar and surprising discoveries…
Should we encourage students to co-operate?
Yes, because according to PISA, the omnipotent judge of education policy and practice:
In about 78% of school systems, and on average across OECD countries, students scored higher in reading when they reported greater co-operation amongst their peers, after accounting for the socio-economic profile of students and schools (as measured by the PISA index of economic, social and cultural status) (Table III.B1.8.10). (OECD, 2019, p. 122).
But wait. PISA also found:
In about 88% of the countries and economies that participated in …