Education Around The World: How Does Academic Achievement Correlate With Life Satisfaction?

Each of us carries our own thoughts and memories of what a school day involves, how long it lasts and how it feels. But have you ever thought about how different school days can be in certain areas of the world? Different countries treat education in varying ways and this can lead to some striking differences in the school day and environment. From time in class to class size, breaks and lunch there are so many factors that vary across the globe.

As part of their ‘Back to School’ campaign, Shoe Zone have taken a detailed look into education around the world, comparing the average school day in 9 different countries. As the compared the data on performance, duration, term times, class size and age range spent in schooling, an interesting correlation because apparent. Countries with higher OECD scores in Maths, Reading and Science generally reported being less satisfied in life than those with lower scores. For some children, it seems that the pressure to succeed in school could be responsible for this general dissatisfaction.

Across the globe, school days can vary between 5 – 9.5 hours, a vast difference in hours spent learning. Equally, days a year spent in class may differ from 160 – 230 – so some children are spending 70 more days per year in school than others! Children in some countries are expected to attend school for 14 years, and in others the expectation is half that. Class sizes can vary from 16 to over 30. Just looking at the numbers shows that school impacts on pupil’s lives in completely different ways depending on where it is they live in the world. Not all schooling is the same, perhaps we can all learn something from how they do things elsewhere in the world?

Please include attribution to Shoe Zone with this graphic.