The latest international educational benchmark has revealed student performance results across many nations, with England recording scores that remain above the global average.
The official results of the 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) show that England’s results remained significantly above the global average. The assessment provides a comprehensive look at the 91 countries and economies involved in the study.
Analysts from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which conducts the study, have identified “digital distractions” as a primary factor behind the falling standards. The report specifically highlights the use of smartphones and the rapid integration of AI chatbots as major contributors to the decline in reading literacy across the 91 education systems involved in the assessment.
The 2025 assessment involved approximately 760,000 students worldwide, testing 15-year-olds every three years in the core domains of science, mathematics, and reading.
National performance and regional divides
While the broader international picture was one of decline, data from the Department for Education and the OECD showed that England’s performance remained resilient. England recorded mean scores of 516 in science, 497 in reading, and 492 in mathematics. These figures sit well above the OECD average of 482 in science, 461 in reading, and 463 in mathematics.
But the study also highlighted a performance gap within the UK. Wales recorded the lowest scores of the four UK nations in each domain. The Welsh scores—476 in science, 459 in reading, and 456 in mathematics—trailed behind England and fell below the OECD averages for reading and maths.
The contrast in performance comes despite a universal challenge identified by the OECD regarding technology in the classroom. Researchers noted that while technology can assist learning, the prevalence of non-educational digital use during school hours has correlated with lower achievement in reading across most participating nations.
The PISA study is considered the premier global metric for education systems, providing governments with a standardised comparison of how students apply their knowledge to real-life challenges as they approach the end of compulsory schooling.