Success v's Success: Rich v's Rich
Comparison with other countries on the narrow set of subjects that PISA (and the UK education system) focuses on (Mathematics, Science and Literacy) (OECD.org 2020), is not the correct way to gain a full picture of how successful countries are. This area of analysis and comparison only looks at pupils’ attainment, and in a small range of subjects which highlights ‘success’ from a neoliberal perspective. Alternatively, it could be more appropriate to measure student ‘success’ holistically based on criteria such as happiness, well-being, and mental health, perhaps under the umbrella of social development. For example, analysis using World Bank figures show that the five countries with the largest economies (Howmuch.net, 2018) do not score highly on the World Happiness Report (Helliwell et al, 2020), nor do they score highly in the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Well-being of Children Report Card 13 (2016). In both tables (focusing on Social Development based criteria) the leadin