The Relationship Between Creative Thinking and Mathematical Literacy in Indonesia: A PISA 2022 Study

Creative thinking has become an important educational competency, particularly following its inclusion as a new domain in PISA 2022. However, empirical evidence regarding its relationship with other academic competencies remains limited, especially in non-OECD educational contexts. This study employed a quantitative secondary data analysis using the PISA 2022 dataset to examine Indonesian students’ creative thinking performance and its association with mathematical literacy. The analysis included approximately 13,000 Indonesian students who participated in PISA 2022 and was conducted using OECD-calibrated plausible values in RStudio. Descriptive and correlational analyses were performed to examine the distribution of creative thinking scores and their relationship with mathematical literacy. The results revealed substantial variation in creative thinking performance among Indonesian students. In addition, a Pearson correlation analysis showed a strong positive association between creative thinking and mathematical literacy (r = 0.67, p < .001). Interpreted through a deep learning lens, these findings suggest that creative thinking and mathematical literacy may share common cognitive foundations related to reasoning, conceptual understanding, and meaningful problem solving. Although the findings do not imply causality, they highlight the importance of learning environments that support deep engagement with mathematical ideas. This study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between creative thinking and mathematical literacy in a non-OECD educational context.