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Teenage schoolgirls are reporting anxiety, fear and panic at twice the rate of boys, based on global data exposing a gender gap in children’s mental health. Boys are more likely to be bullied at school, yet girls are twice as likely to report stress and anxiety, the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) reports after analysing a survey of 13,437 students from 743 Australian high schools.

Linking student wellbeing to academic success, the data shows that boys appear more resilient to stress than girls, who are more likely to worry about exams, panic easily and feel out of place at school. Boys are more likely to be victims of bullying, and twice as likely to be hit or pushed by classmates, but teenage boys showed greater resilience – 44% reported they “handle stress well’’, compared to just 26% of girls.

Disruption

Students were asked about bullying, stress, digital devices and classroom disruption in a survey as part of OECD tests of 690,000 15-year-old students from 81 countries in 2022, through the Program for International Student Assessment. ACER’s analysis of the data shows that Australia has more chaotic classrooms and teacher shortages than most industrialised nations.

It found 42% of students reported noise and disorder in their maths classes – higher than the OECD average of 30%, and the 5.2% of Japanese students. Australian students reported higher rates of bullying than any country except Latvia. Nearly 20% of Australian students reported that other students made fun of them; 10% per cent felt other students left them out of things on purpose or spread nasty rumours.

Bullying was worse in government schools, compared to private and Catholic schools. And bullied students achieved lower scores on the PISA maths test, typically losing 27 points from the average score of 472. 8% of boys and 4% of girls said they had been hit or pushed by other students. Nine per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students said they had been physically assaulted at school.

Resilience

The ACER analysis shows that Australian students are more resilient to stress than students in the higher-performing countries of Singapore and Macao in China. Swiss, Dutch and Danish students are the world’s most resilient.

More than half of Australian boys said they “remain calm under stress’’, compared to a third of girls. Girls were twice as likely to feel anxious when away from digital devices, which were banned in all Australian schools only this year.

Three-quarters of the 15-year-old girls surveyed said they “feel nervous about exams’’, compared to half of boys. Seven in 10 girls said they “get nervous easily’’, compared to four in 10 boys, while a quarter of boys and 58% of girls said they “panic easily’’.

Education Minister Jason Clare said the federal budget had given $4.2m to fund anti-bullying programs in schools in the recent budget. “All students and staff should feel safe and be safe at school,’’ he said.

“Disruptive and anti-social behaviour hurts everyone – students and staff. It stops students learning, and it adds to the workload of teachers at a time when their job has never been more complex.’’

Underprepared

Mr Clare said the federal government was investing in short courses for teachers to help them manage classroom behaviour. “We’re also improving teacher training to make sure teaching students at university are taught the fundamentals of teaching and how to manage disruptive classrooms,’’ he said.

Centre for Independent Studies education policy director Glenn Fahey said schools were “in the grip of a behaviour and wellbeing crisis’’.

“Not only has achievement been generally disappointing over recent years, but by world standards, we also have relatively disruptive, unsafe and unpleasant schools,’’ he said. “Though boys are disproportionately impacted by deteriorating behaviour, it’s girls who are struggling most with wellbeing.’’

Mr Fahey said while violence and suspensions attracted the most attention at school, “low-level disruption and distractibility’’ was the most pervasive problem “but this disruption can be effectively managed through quality classroom management and clear expectations about behaviour.

“For years, Australia’s teachers – especially recent graduates – have reported limited preparation for managing classrooms.

“Countless students are suffering as a result of this, and it is putting Australian students at an international disadvantage.’’

Mental health charity Smiling Mind said problems among 16 to 24-year-olds had reached “crisis levels’’ since the pandemic, with a 45% increase in social anxiety between 2020 and 2022.

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Republished with thanks to the Australian Prayer Network. Image courtesy of Adobe.