PISA 2025 results show reading declines as Spain records 451 points and sample disputes

Global and national score declines

The 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results, published on 8 September 2026, show a widespread drop in student competencies across 91 participating countries and economies. Over 760,000 fifteen-year-old students completed the evaluation, which included 38 member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Between 2015 and 2025, reading scores fell by 28 points across the OECD and 16 points in non-OECD economies. Mathematics scores dropped by an average of 22 points in the OECD, while science declined by 7 points. The OECD considers a 20-point change roughly equivalent to one academic year of learning, and estimates that 29% of OECD students now show low performance in all three evaluated areas.

OECD analyst Tue Halgreen identified specific challenges facing secondary school pupils during the evaluation:

Students have trouble with long texts.

Regional disparities and university alarms

In Spain, where 30,000 students completed the assessment, the national reading score dropped 23 points over three years to 451 points, trailing the European Union average of 459. In mathematics, Spain recorded 457 points against the EU average of 463, while science reached 477 against an EU average of 481. Performance varied by region, with Andalusia recording 441 in reading, 442 in mathematics, and 462 in science, placing it among the lowest-ranking Spanish autonomous communities. Francisco Oliva, rector of the Pablo de Olavide University and president of the Association of Public Universities of Andalusia (AUPA), called a meeting in Granada for ten regional public universities to assess the incoming academic standard.

If we keep dropping, the consequences will end up affecting universities.

Sample exclusions and data scrutiny

The assessment raised procedural scrutiny after Spain exceeded the 5% maximum student exclusion threshold established by the OECD. Spain registered a nationwide exclusion rate of 7.89%, prompting a formal bias analysis by the OECD data adjudication team, which ultimately validated the national sample. Discrepancies were concentrated in specific autonomous communities, leading the OECD to exclude Catalonia from the main international tables after the region excluded 23.22% of its eligible student cohort. Murcia recorded an exclusion rate of 12.72%, which the OECD accepted for trend comparisons with an explicit caveat regarding potential bias, while the Balearic Islands recorded 7.5% without drawing special conditions.

Curricula, habits, and testing questions

The release of the test details by the Ministry of Education revealed items such as an energy grid evaluation for a fictional town in Zedland, where students analyzed diesel generator replacements using solar, wind, and gas data. Beyond test questions, the results renewed discussions on reading habits and pedagogical approaches. Spanish book sector data indicates that while general reading as a leisure activity grew from 60% in 2017 to 66% in 2025, non-textbook reading among children aged six to nine dropped from 85% to 79%. Teacher Toni García, speaking on Espejo Público, criticized recent curriculum modifications in Spanish public education.

The competence-based approach is a problem because content has been reduced and students end up without basic knowledge.