Public school students are more than two years behind their independent counterparts and Australia’s classroom disruption remains among the worst in the world, a global report has found.
The ۲۰۲۵ Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) results, released on Tuesday by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), tested the literacy of ۱۵-year-olds in ۹۱ countries, including Australia. The tests have run every three years since ۲۰۰۰.
The latest report found Australia’s year ۹ students were continuing a long-term national decline in performance, particularly in mathematics and reading, despite maintaining above-average OECD results. It also pointed to continuing gender divides in performance.
ACER research director, Dr Jonas Bertling, said Australia remained a “strong international performer” that was placed “well above the OECD average” but the full story was “a little mixed”.
He pointed to “persistent challenges”, including a steadily falling trend in the three Pisa testing areas – mathematics, reading and science, as well as persistent inequalities.
“We see a decline that is different for different genders in reading and in math. And we see that there are uneven outcomes by socioeconomic backgrounds,” he said.
“The disciplinary climate also still needs attention, so we’re not quite where we want to be as a nation. We’re really standing high, but I think we have some strengths to build on.”
Students in government schools recorded a mean score about ۵۰ points lower than independent schools across science, reading and maths – equivalent to two and a half years of study behind. The federal government has reached a deal with states and territories to fully fund public schools for the first time – but not until ۲۰۳۴. Low funding has been blamed for a steady exodus from the sector.
The latest results also found gender differences in performance were persisting, with more female students reaching the proficient standard and exceeding in reading than males and the converse in maths. Performance in science was similar for both genders.
Australia’s disciplinary climate had improved compared with a record low in ۲۰۱۵ but remained poor, ranking behind ۶۸ countries and better than just ۱۱.
Noise and disorder in the classroom was reported by ۴۱% Australian students as occurring often, compared with the global average of ۳۱%, and ۳۹% said their peers got distracted by using digital resources compared with the OECD average of ۲۸%.
Australia is among ۵۸% of countries that have banned smartphones in schools, indicating other tools, such as laptops and tablets, are causing distractions.
The federal education minister, Jason Clare, said Pisa results pointed to the “need to wind back the amount of screen time in schools”. “A bit of a digital detox,” he said.
“These results and Pisa over the past show us students who use screens a lot score lower than those who don’t.”
The last Pisa test, undertaken in ۲۰۲۲, saw Australia’s students climb into the top ۱۰ of OECD countries, despite continuing the national dip. Australia’s ۲۰۱۸ results were the nation’s worst performance to date, due to narrowing gaps between its average results and the OECD average, particularly for mathematics.
Australia is now ranked ۱۱th for science and reading and ۱۷th in mathematics, which is largely stable compared with the ۲۰۲۲ results. The OECD gap between Australia and other nations had widened in all domains, with students around a year ahead of average in science and reading and six months ahead in mathematics.
The ۲۰۲۵ tests were the first time Pisa introduced a new category, learning in the digital world, which required students to demonstrate their use of digital tools to solve problems, including generating online models. Australia ranked lower than seven countries and ۳۲ points, or around one and a half years, above the OECD average.
East Asian nations including Singapore, Japan, South Korea and participating Chinese regions performed the best overall globally, while Estonia also ranked highly. Australia scored higher than the US in science, mathematics and reading but below the UK and New Zealand. It also ranked above Canada in reading.
The shadow education minister, Julian Leeser, said the results should be a “wake-up call” for the federal government.
“This is the sharpest drop in maths and reading scores in a decade,” he said. “What we need is a rigorous curriculum, effective teaching methods and discipline in the classroom.”
