The OECD has released the PISA 2025 results, providing a new picture of how 15-year-olds across the world are performing in science, mathematics and reading. While the findings show continued challenges in learning outcomes, they also underline that decline is not inevitable and that education policy, the quality of learning environments and support for teachers matter.
On 8 September, the OECD published PISA 2025 Results (Volume I): Future-Ready Students. More than 760,000 students across 91 countries and economies participated in the assessment, representing approximately 33 million 15-year-olds worldwide. Science was the main domain assessed in this cycle, alongside mathematics and reading, while PISA 2025 also introduced an assessment of computational problem-solving skills.
The results present a mixed but concerning picture. Across OECD countries, average performance has reached its lowest levels recorded by PISA in science, mathematics and reading. Looking over the past decade, mathematics performance declined by 22 points between 2015 and 2025, while reading fell by 28 points. Science proved comparatively more resilient, although average performance also declined moderately.
At the same time, the results demonstrate that declining performance is not inevitable. Costa Rica, the Slovak Republic, Türkiye and the United Kingdom, for instance, improved their science performance compared with 2022. During the international launch, the OECD highlighted these examples as evidence of the importance of policy choices and of how effectively available resources are used.
Reading in the digital age: an emerging challenge
One of the clearest warning signals concerns reading. The decline is particularly pronounced in higher-order skills such as evaluating information, connecting information across different sources and critically reflecting on what is read – competencies that are becoming increasingly important in an information environment shaped by social media and artificial intelligence. The OECD also identifies a rise in “hasty reading”, whereby students move through texts quickly but inaccurately. The proportion of students displaying this pattern almost doubled between 2018 and 2025, reaching 9%.
These findings raise questions that go beyond traditional literacy. Education systems increasingly need to help learners develop the ability to concentrate, engage with complex information, distinguish reliable evidence from misleading content and think critically about what they encounter online. Indeed, fewer than half of students across OECD countries reported both checking the credibility of information and placing greater trust in scientific evidence than in common sense, suggesting considerable vulnerability to misinformation and disinformation.
Technology should deepen learning, not replace it
PISA 2025 also provides timely evidence about the rapidly changing role of digital technologies and artificial intelligence in education. Almost half (46%) – of students across OECD countries use AI chatbots at least weekly to support their learning. Yet the relationship between AI and achievement is far from straightforward. Students using AI for tasks such as summarising texts, drafting or conducting research scored around 20 points lower in science, on average, than students who did not use it for these purposes. At the same time, students who regularly use AI more generally and have opportunities at school to develop AI literacy tend to perform slightly better.
This distinction matters. As emphasised during the OECD launch, AI should not simply provide students with ready-made answers. Learning still requires engagement, questioning and cognitive effort. Technology can enhance education, but its educational value ultimately depends on how, why and under what conditions it is used.
Attention in the classroom is equally important. Twenty-eight per cent of students across OECD countries report that their peers are distracted by digital devices during most or every science lesson. Digitalisation therefore needs to be accompanied by thoughtful pedagogical approaches and clear frameworks that enable technology to support rather than disrupt learning.
Teachers and learning environments remain at the heart of educational quality
Behind the headline performance figures lies another important message: students learn better when they are properly supported. PISA 2025 shows that performance and engagement are closely connected. Students are more likely to succeed when they feel that they belong at school, see value in their education and learn in safe, supportive and adequately resourced environments. Strong relationships with teachers and families also contribute to both engagement and achievement.
For education employers, this reinforces the importance of ensuring that school leaders and teachers have the conditions they need to focus on management, teaching and learning. During the PISA launch, the OECD highlighted continuous professional development, sufficient resources and reducing unnecessary administrative burdens among the areas requiring attention. It also stressed the need to direct additional support towards schools and learners facing the greatest challenges, including those affected by teacher shortages and insufficient learning resources.
This is particularly relevant because PISA continues to reveal significant socio-economic inequalities. High performance and equity should not be treated as competing objectives. Several education systems, such as Türkiye, Montenegro and the United Arab Emirates, demonstrate that it is possible to reduce the proportion of low-performing students while maintaining strong outcomes among high performers.
From PISA results to action
PISA’s greatest value lies in helping policymakers, education employers, teachers and other education stakeholders understand which conditions enable learners to succeed. For EFEE, the PISA 2025 findings reinforce the need for a comprehensive approach to improving basic skills. Raising outcomes in reading, mathematics and science cannot be separated from tackling teacher shortages, strengthening the attractiveness of the profession, ensuring meaningful initial teacher education and continuous professional development, providing adequate resources and addressing inequalities between learners and schools.
At the same time, education systems need to respond to a rapidly changing learning environment. Digital and AI tools offer important opportunities, but their integration must remain pedagogically meaningful and accompanied by investment in teachers’ and learners’ digital and AI competences. The objective should not be to use technology simply because it is available, but to ensure that it strengthens deeper learning, critical thinking and student agency.
The results ultimately carry both a warning and a reason for optimism. Performance has deteriorated considerably in several fundamental areas, but the experience of improving education systems shows that trajectories can change. As the OECD stressed at the launch, reversing the trend requires sustained focus on the basics, strong support for teachers and families, targeted assistance for those who need it most, and technology that deepens learning rather than bypasses it.
READ THE FULL OECD REPORT HERE