Exploring Paths of Students’ Academic Burden Reduction in the East Asian Educational Circle: An Analysis of Learning Time Investment and Efficiency Based on PISA 2022

Abstract

By comparing the changes from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s results of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 and 2022, it is found that 15-year-old students in East Asian countries and economies maintain a commanding lead in reading, mathematics, and science. These students from regions such as Singapore, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong (China), Macao (China), and Chinese Taipei not only sustain their academic excellence but also experience improvements in learning efficiency and their sense of belonging at school. Drawing on the PISA 2022 data, this study analyzes students’ learning time investment, out-of school-hours (OSH) services, and their relationship with student academic performance. The results show that the above countries and economies have achieved encouraging results in academic burden reduction by decreasing learning time in regular school lessons, controlling homework time, and providing OSH services. These distinctive policy interventions can serve as valuable reference points for the Chinese Mainland’s ongoing implementation of the “double reduction” policy while facilitating an informed judgment of potential risks.

Keywords

Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 / East Asian educational circle / academic burden reduction / learning time

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