England went up in the international school rankings. Most countries went down
What happened
The results of PISA 2025 were published on 8 September 2026, and for England they were unusually good news. PISA stands for the Programme for International Student Assessment. It is run by the OECD every three years, and it tests 15-year-olds in reading, maths and science. This round involved more than 760,000 students, representing around 33 million 15-year-olds across 91 countries and economies. Science was the main focus this time, alongside computational problem solving. England's scores were: Science: 516, against an OECD average of 482. That is 8th place, up from 13th in 2022, and a jump from 503 three years ago. Reading: 497, against an OECD average of 461. Joint 9th, up from 13th, and a slight rise from 496. Maths: 492, against an OECD average of 463. 10th place, and unchanged from 2022. England outperformed Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in all three subjects. The wider picture was very different. Across the OECD, reading and maths performance fell to the lowest averages ever recorded. Reading scores dropped by 28 points between 2015 and 2025, which the OECD says is worth about a year and a half of learning. Maths fell 22 points, or just over a year. One less welcome finding in England: a 13-point gap opened in science, with boys ahead of girls. Previous PISA rounds showed no meaningful gender difference in the subject.
Why this matters
PISA is not a perfect measure, but it is the closest thing there is to a common yardstick across school systems. Governments watch it closely. The most important context here is the comparison. England's science score rose by 13 points while the OECD average in reading and maths hit record lows. Holding steady during a period when most countries slipped is itself an achievement; going up is better still. The science result also reverses a downward trend that had been running since 2015. That is the kind of turn that education researchers will spend the next few years arguing about. The gender gap in science is the finding that should worry people most. A 13-point gap where there was none before is a real change, and it appeared in the round where science was the main focus, so it was measured in more depth than usual. Schools minister Georgia Gould said the government was "determined to build on these positive results" so young people develop strong literacy and numeracy. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, called the results "an opportunity to celebrate the excellent work taking place in England's schools"
What the evidence actually says
It is worth understanding what PISA can and cannot tell you. PISA is a sample survey, not a census. In England, 5,619 pupils across 183 schools sat the tests. That is a decent sample, but the researchers themselves cautioned that the results should be "interpreted cautiously" because the sample may not be fully representative. This is a recurring issue for the UK. Response rates from schools have been a known problem in past rounds, and where schools that agree to take part differ from those that decline, results can shift. Ranking positions also move for reasons that have nothing to do with a country's own performance. England's reading rank rose from 13th to 9th on a score that went up by one point. The countries around it fell. That is not a criticism of England's result. It is a reminder that rank and score are different things, and score is the more meaningful of the two. Nor does PISA explain why anything happened. It measures outcomes at 15. It cannot tell you which policy, if any, produced them. Any confident claim that a particular reform caused these results is going beyond the data. On the science gender gap, the same caution applies. PISA shows the gap exists. It does not show why. Explanations will need other kinds of research.
Practical advice
For parents, the most useful response to PISA results is a modest one: they say very little about your own child's school. If you want to know how your child is doing, the sources that matter are their teachers, their reports and parents' evenings. The science gender gap is worth a thought at home, though. If you have a daughter who has drifted away from science, it is worth asking what changed and when. Research consistently shows that confidence in science, more than ability, drives whether girls carry on with it. Practical things that help: talk about science as something people do rather than something people are good at, avoid describing subjects as naturally suited to boys or girls, and take an interest in what they are studying even when you do not understand it yourself. On reading, which fell across the OECD, the strongest evidence remains reassuringly simple. Children who read for pleasure do better across the board. Reading anything counts - comics, football writing, fan fiction, recipes. If your child is struggling in a specific subject, ask the school what support exists before paying for tutoring. Many schools run intervention groups that parents never hear about because nobody asked.
What to know
PISA 2025, published by the OECD on 8 September 2026, put England 8th in science, joint 9th in reading and 10th in maths, all above OECD averages, with science rising 13 points since 2022. Across the OECD, reading and maths averages fell to the lowest levels PISA has ever recorded, so England's improvement came against a declining backdrop. England outscored Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in all three subjects. A 13-point science gender gap opened, with boys ahead of girls, where previous rounds showed no meaningful difference. The England sample was 5,619 pupils in 183 schools, and researchers advised interpreting the results cautiously. Sources: OECD, "PISA 2025: Students' reading and mathematics performance declined sharply across the OECD", 8 September 2026, https://www.oecd.org/en/about/news/press-releases/2026/09/pisa-2025-students-reading-and-mathematics-performance-declined-sharply-across-the-oecd.html ; Schools Week, "PISA 2025: Rise across the board, but science gender gap opens", 8 September 2026, https://schoolsweek.co.uk/pisa-2025-rise-across-the-board-but-science-gender-gap-opens/ ; OECD, "PISA 2025 Results (Volume I)", https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/pisa-2025-results-volume-i_73451bc5-en.html This article is for general information about education policy and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional.
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