PISA report: mixed picture across the UK for educational outcomes
The 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) results have now been released. These are reported every three years and are taken from a sample of 15-year-old students across multiple nations to assess their maths, science and reading skills.
While science scores rose across England, Scotland and Wales, with the largest increase happening in England, the reading results were more mixed. Scores rose slightly in England but fell in both Wales and Scotland. Maths results were even worse with England only managing to maintain their score from the last assessment and Scotland and Wales’ scores falling again.
These results show that while progress is being made across the board in science as well as with reading in England there is still a lot of room for improvement.
Tim McLachlan, Chief Executive of National Day Nurseries Association, said: “Across the UK the latest PISA report shows a mixed picture of educational outcomes, with pupils in England making great progress compared with other countries. At the same time we are seeing Scotland’s performance dipping and Wales’ outcomes below the OECD average.
“Research consistently shows that giving children access to high quality early education and care boosts their foundational learning which underpins their overall educational performance and life chances. These fifteen-year-olds will have benefited from 15 hours of universal government-funded childcare per week as youngsters, so we are now seeing how that investment has supported them as they enter their GCSE stage. Investing in children’s early years stays with them throughout their lives.
“In addition, we have evidence from the Early Education Foundation that early intervention programmes such as NDNA’s Maths Champions can boost the development of children’s numeracy and literacy skills by up to six months.
“It’s vital that all governments – particularly in Wales and Scotland – continue to invest in their children’s early years, particularly supporting their numeracy and literacy skills.”
You can see the full Pisa reports linked below:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/pisa-2025-national-report-scotland
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pisa-2025-national-report-for-england
https://www.gov.wales/program-international-student-assessment-pisa-national-report-2025
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