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Students well-being
The PILNA student questionnaire collected information about children’s physical health, mental health, relationships, and material circumstances. The intention was to collect a holistic picture of the well-being of the students who participated in PILNA.
Students were given a list of circumstances, as set out in Table STT1.8, and were asked to indicate how often they experienced them. They could respond with ‘Never’, ‘Sometimes’, ‘Most of the time’, or ‘Always’. For reporting the results, ‘Most of the time’ and ‘Always’ were combined, as they were considered to be materially similar in terms of student experience.
Well-being experiences
Table STT1.8 shows the proportions of grade three and grade five students who reported experiencing the associated condition at least most of the time.
In Papua New Guinea, 44% of grade three students and 53% of grade five students reported that they had a good day ‘Most of the time’ or ‘Always’; 49% of grade three students and 59% of grade five students reported they looked forward to the next day ‘Most of the time’ or ‘Always’.
For frequent negative experiences, more than one out of four students reported not having enough friends either ‘Most of the time’ or ‘Always’. These proportions were found across grade three and grade five students.
These findings can be compared to the findings from a similar set of items that teachers responded to (Student difficulties reported by the teacher). Not all the same items were given to teachers but there are interesting comparisons that can be made for the items about hunger and tiredness.
Well-being and student performance
A regional scale for student well-being was established, based on the first nine items from Table STT1.8. These items are related to negative well-being experiences, rather than positive well-being experiences. Higher scores on this scale indicate higher, more positive, levels of well-being.
These well-being scale scores were compared with student performance in numeracy and reading. Student performance was grouped into two categories: students who performed at or above the expected level of performance and students who performed below it. There were no comparisons with the writing domain, as the writing proficiency scale is yet to be developed. Figure STF1.6 shows the average well-being scale scores by grade level and student performance.
Numeracy
Grade 3
- 194 2.1
- 196 1.6
Grade 5
- 188 1.5
- 198 1.1
Reading
Grade 3
- 194 1.6
- 198 1.6
Grade 5
- 189 1.2
- 199 1.2
- Scale score for students below expected proficiency level
- Scale score for students at or above expected proficiency level
- Statistically significant correlation (p <0.05)
- Standard errors appear in parentheses
In both numeracy and reading, grade five students who performed at or above the expected level of performance had higher well-being scores on average than grade five students who did not. This means that grade five students who met the expected levels of performance in numeracy and literacy had greater levels of well-being, based on this PILNA student well-being scale.
With grade three students, those who performed at or above the expected level of proficiency in reading had similar well-being scores on average to grade three students who did not. Grade three students who performed at or above the expected level of proficiency in numeracy had comparable well-being scores to grade three students who did not.
What does this mean?
Less than half of grade three students in Papua New Guinea, at least most of the time, are cheerful, have good days, and look forward to the next day. Many students are regularly experiencing positive well-being but a substantial proportion are not.
There was no clear trajectory regarding the differences in well-being scores against student performance. Grade five students who met the expected performance level had slightly higher average well-being scores, but mixed results were seen with grade three students who met the expected level of performance. In one comparison, grade three students who met the expected performance level had higher well-being scores than grade three students who did not meet expected performance. In the other comparison, no difference was found.
Regardless of whether well-being is associated with student performance in any way, the identified well-being challenges need to be addressed by stakeholders.
