Student Bullying
Student Experiences and Attitudes
Student Bullying – Grade 4
Frequently experiencing bullying behaviors from other students in school is associated with lower average achievement in both mathematics and science for fourth-grade students. Students who experience occasional bullying also have lower average achievement in both subjects compared to students who are not bullied, but to a lesser degree than those more frequently bullied. The TIMSS 2023 fourth-grade Student Bullying scale (Exhibit 6.1.6) classified students based on their reports of how frequently they experienced different types of bullying within the past school year. Based on these responses, students were classified as being bullied “never or almost never,” “about monthly,” or “about weekly.”
Internationally, about half of all fourth-grade students (53%) were classified as being bullied “never or almost never.” About one-third of students (31% on average) were classified as being bullied “about monthly,” and 15% of students were classified as being bullied “about weekly.” There is variation in these percentages across countries, particularly within the “about weekly” category. Fifteen countries have 20 percent or more of students classified as being bullied “about weekly,” whereas 14 countries have less than 10 percent of students in this category.
Average achievement for students in each of the scale categories is presented in Exhibits 6.1.7 and 6.1.8 for mathematics and science, respectively. Fourth-grade students classified as being bullied “never or almost never” had the highest average achievement in both subjects (520 in mathematics and 513 in science). These students had slightly higher average achievement compared to those who were classified as being bullied “about monthly” (504 in mathematics and 495 in science). Those students classified as being bullied “about weekly” had much lower average achievement in both subjects (461 in mathematics and 450 in science).
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Student Bullying
Science Grade 4
Mathematics Grade 4
Never or Almost Never
About Monthly
About Weekly
This TIMSS context questionnaire scale was established in 2023 based on the combined response distribution of countries that participated in TIMSS 2023. To provide a point of reference for country comparisons, the scale centerpoint of 10 was located at the mean of the combined distribution. The units of the scale were chosen so that 2 scale score points corresponded to the standard deviation of the distribution.
( ) Standard errors appear in parentheses. Because of rounding some results may appear inconsistent.
An “r” indicates data are available for at least 70% but less than 85% of the students.
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