Portugal has been participating in an international study since 2000 that aims to assess the literary skills of 15 year old – the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment). The results so far available in this assessment allow a comparison to be made between Portuguese students and those from the other participating countries and also provide an understanding of the importance of key factors such as gender, socioeconomic circumstances, type of school (public/private), region, among others, in the analysis of their performance. The results of a study will be presented in this paper, the main aim of which is to make an in-depth analysis of the outcome of this international survey. More specifically, it seeks to shed light on why there is such heterogeneity in the performance of the Portuguese youths in a comparison with the students from other countries, notably from Southern Europe. This analysis is supported by multivariate statistical analyses which allow the hierarchisation of a broad set of factors.

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This publication is an output of the following project(s):

• Students and their Trajectories in Higher Education: Success and Attrition, Factors and Processes, Fostering Best Practices