Australian school students are suffering levels of bullying at higher levels than other comparable English-speaking nations, a report has found.

Education experts are concerned the breakdown in classroom discipline is hampering the school results of students.

The concerning rates of bullying in Australian schools was highlighted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) which examined data from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

It surveyed about 690,000 students aged 15 from 81 countries, including 13,437 from Australia.

The analysis showed Australian students experienced the second highest level of bullying, behind only Latvia.

Around one in six Australian students canvassed (16 per cent) said classmates had made fun of them.

Incidents of being hit or pushed were reported by 6 per cent of Australian students and one in 10 said they had unpleasant rumours spread about them.

Only students in Poland, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the United States felt less safe in schools than their Australian counterparts.

The report said Australian classrooms were among the most disorderly in the world.

About 42 per cent of students in Australian schools reported rowdiness in most classes, and 40 per cent said they were distracted by digital devices.

Teachers were ignored in the classroom, one-third claimed.

Another takeaway from the report was girls feeling less safe than boys and coping worse under stress.

One in five girls feel anxious if they are unable to immediately access their phone or other digital device.

Australian schools were also hampered by low numbers of teachers compared with other OECD countries.

Only four other nations had greater teacher shortages than Australia.