Study on engagement and achievement of 15-year-olds in PISA 2015 across Eu Member States

Non-cognitive skills are found to be a key aspect in both educational attainment and labour market success. In this paper, we have two main aim. The first one is to measure two possible indicators of intrinsic motivation (effort and perseverance) using the so-called log-files derived from PISA 2015 data. More precisely, relying on item response theory, effort is measured using the difference in the response time between hard and easy items in the same position of the test. On the other side, perseverance is the difference in the student’s performance in different parts of the test. In this way, it could be possible to measure the influence of fatigue in the proceeding of the test. The second aim regards the identification, at the descriptive level, of the main determinants of non-cognitive skills at micro (gender, social origins, ethnic background), meso (extra-curricular activities, teacher quality, school climate, parental involvement) and macro (education system) level. To estimates the influences of these factors, we rely on Ordinary Least Squares and Multinomial Logistic Regression models with country fixed effects that show how the key characteristics are the ones at the micro level.