PISA 2018: Australia in Focus Number 1: Academic resilience among Australian students

Socioeconomically disadvantaged students (i.e. those whose scores on a constructed measure of social and cultural capital are below a specified cut-off, usually the 25th percentile) have been found to be more likely to drop out of school, repeat a grade, achieve lower levels at senior secondary school, and score lower on tests such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Despite this association between socioeconomic disadvantage and poorer outcomes related to education, a percentage of students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds enjoy success at school. This apparent success despite the odds is of interest to researchers and educators alike – what, if any, characteristics do these academically resilient students share, why might this be and what can we learn from this group of students, however small, that might assist in improving outcomes for all students, regardless of their socioeconomic background