Free fall in PISA: Spanish students, more than one school year behind the United Kingdom in mathematics and reading

BarcelonaEducational results in the State are in free fall, as evidenced by the PISA 2025 report, made public this Tuesday and from which Catalonia has been excluded for excluding more students than permitted. The OECD report confirms that 15-year-old Spanish students –between 3rd and 4th year of ESO– have the worst level in the history of the State in the PISA tests. Furthermore, the drop in level is significantly higher than that suffered by Spain in the last edition when, after the pandemic, there was a drastic reduction in scores around the world, setting off all alarms.

To get an idea, Spain has lost twice as many points in mathematics as in the 2022 edition and seven times more points in reading comprehension. Spanish adolescents are more than one school year behind their English peers in mathematics and reading.

However, the decline in level is not exclusive to the State; around the world, the majority of countries have seen their scores drop in international exams. In fact, the OECD average has fallen 10 points in mathematics and 14 in reading comprehension –the equivalent of half a school year of knowledge.

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23 points lost in reading

The most worrying setback, therefore, is found in the reading level. Spain has obtained 451 points in reading comprehension, a loss of 23 points compared to the last report. According to OECD calculations, this drop represents a loss of knowledge of a little more than one school year (one year is equivalent to 20 points). In this sense, it is important to take into account that the students evaluated suffered through the pandemic when they were 10 years old, a key moment in the development of reading comprehension.

With this decline, the reading level of Spanish students is half a school year less (12 points) than the OECD average and 8 points less than the European Union (EU) average. Spain's PISA score in reading is similar to that obtained by Croatia (453), Norway (453 points), Hungary (452 points), or the Slovak Republic (448 points).

Conversely, students in the country who have just finished compulsory secondary education (ESO) are two and a half school years behind their peers in Japan (503), South Korea (501), Ireland (500), Estonia (499), or the United Kingdom (494), who occupy the top positions in the OECD ranking.

Behind Turkey in mathematics

The results in mathematics are not more encouraging either. With 457 points, Spain has suffered a drop in level of almost one school year (16 points) compared to 2022. In fact, the state's level has fallen twice as much as in the last PISA edition, when Spain lost eight points. In this sense, Spanish adolescents are more than ten points behind the European and OECD average (both rising to 463 points).

In mathematics, the difference between the countries that come out best in the OECD tests is even more drastic. Students in the state are more than three school years behind the Japanese (525) and the Koreans (522); two school years behind the Swiss (499) and one and a half school years below the English (488).

Once again, the Spanish level is similar to that of Croatia (455), Norway (452), or France (458). It is also surprising that Spain is behind in mathematics compared to countries like Turkey (462) or Latvia (460).

One in four does not reach the minimum in science

The 2025 PISA tests have focused primarily on science, which is precisely the competency where Spain has suffered the least, despite losing 8 points in level compared to 2022. With 477 points, Spanish students are only four points behind the European average (481) and five points below the OECD average (482). Once again, however, the gap with the top of the ranking is more than three school years: Japan (538), Estonia (527), and the United Kingdom (511).

In this competency, the OECD also provides data on the percentage of students at each level. In this regard, Spain has only 6% of students with a high or very high level in science, while in the OECD and the European Union as a whole, this proportion rises to 8%. Conversely, in Japan it is 17%, and in the United States and the United Kingdom, it is 13%.

Regarding students considered not to reach the minimum scientific knowledge—a level lower than 2 on a scale reaching 6—in Spain they represent 24%, a proportion identical to the OECD average and close to the European average (25%). In contrast, in Japan, students who do not reach the minimum level account for 12% of the total, and in the United Kingdom, 17%.