How learning environments shape science achievement: evidence from PISA 2022

Purpose This study examines how students' perceptions of the school learning environment are associated with science achievement in Australia using PISA 2022 data. It focuses on five psychosocial dimensions drawn from the student questionnaire: sense of belonging, cooperation, trust, empathy, and leadership, and aims to clarify their relative associations with achievement within the learning environment's tradition. Design/methodology/approach The study uses Australian data from PISA 2022 and models relationships between five psychosocial learning environment dimensions and science achievement. Because PISA reports achievement through ten plausible values and uses a complex sample design, the analysis treats results as population-level associations rather than causal effects. Structural equation modelling was used to estimate the relationships among the focal constructs and science performance. Findings All five learning environment dimensions are positively associated with science achievement. Empathy and sense of belonging show comparatively stronger relationships than leadership, cooperation, and trust. However, the explained variance is modest, indicating that psychosocial dimensions matter but represent only one part of a wider set of factors linked to science performance among Australian students. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to cross-sectional PISA 2022 data for Australia, so the findings should not be interpreted causally. In addition, the modest explained variance suggests that important academic, social, and contextual influences remain outside the model. The study nevertheless highlights the value of survey-aware modelling strategies when analysing official PISA achievement variables and supports further work integrating psychosocial and broader contextual predictors. Practical implications The findings suggest that schools and educators should not focus only on cognitive instruction when seeking to improve science achievement. Strengthening belonging, empathy, trust, cooperation, and leadership within school environments may help support better student outcomes. In practice, these points to classroom and whole-school strategies that build supportive relationships, student inclusion, collaborative learning, and socially responsive teaching. Social implications The study underscores that students social and relational experiences at school are meaningfully connected to academic performance. Creating school environments where students feel accepted, understood and supported may contribute not only to stronger science achievement but also to healthier, more inclusive and more cohesive school communities. Attention to the psychosocial climate, therefore, has value beyond test scores alone. Originality/value The study contributes to the learning environments literature by showing that multiple psychosocial dimensions of school experience are meaningfully associated with science achievement in Australia using recent PISA 2022 data. It adds value by comparing five dimensions within one framework and by emphasizing the importance of handling plausible values and complex survey features appropriately when working with large scale assessment data.