The Education Bureau today said that Hong Kong students’ results on creative thinking in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 was on par with the international average.

In PISA 2022’s cognitive test with a total of 64 participating countries or economies, Hong Kong students achieved a mean score of 32, comparable to the international average of 33.

PISA 2022 defines creative thinking as the competence to engage productively in the generation, evaluation and improvement of ideas that can result in original and effective solutions, advances in knowledge and impactful expressions of imagination.

The study assessed students’ performance in creative thinking through four types of cognitive test contents, namely written expression, visual expression, social problem solving and scientific problem solving.

The bureau pointed out that Hong Kong students displayed better performance in evaluating and improving ideas, and relatively stronger capabilities in social problem solving. On the other hand, their performance in generating diverse and creative ideas as well as visual expression has room for improvement.

It commented that the study’s results once again demonstrated Hong Kong’s remarkable performance in terms of education equity, ranking first among countries or economies with high academic achievements.

This indicates that family background and socio-economic status have minimal bearing on Hong Kong students’ performance in creative thinking, and highlights that the city’s education system provides all students with high-quality and equal education opportunities, the bureau pointed out.

It added that it will draw reference from the study’s findings to further nurture students’ creative thinking and other generic skills, laying a solid foundation for their whole person development and lifelong learning.

PISA, conducted every three years, is organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) with the aim of assessing the mathematical, scientific and mother-tongue reading literacy of 15-year-old students.

Since PISA 2012, the OECD has included a specific innovative domain in each PISA cycle to assess students' 21st century interdisciplinary competences, such as the assessment of collaborative problem solving and global competence in PISA 2015 and 2018 respectively.