Public school students are more than two years behind their independent counterparts and Australia’s classroom disruption remains among the worst in the world, a global report has found. The 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) results, released on Tuesday by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), tested the literacy of 15-year-olds in 91 countries, including Australia. The tests have run every three years since 2000.
The latest report found Australia’s year 9 students were continuing a long-term national decline in performance, particularly in mathematics and reading, despite maintaining above-average OECD results. It also pointed to continuing gender divides in performance. ACER research director, Dr Jonas Bertling, said Australia remained a “strong international performer” that was placed “well above the OECD average” but the full story was “a little mixed”.
He pointed to “persistent challenges”, including a steadily falling trend in the three Pisa testing areas – mathematics, reading and science, as well as persistent inequalities. And we see that there are uneven outcomes by socioeconomic backgrounds,” he said. We’re really standing high, but I think we have some strengths to build on.” Students in government schools recorded a mean score about 50 points lower than independent schools across science, reading and maths – equivalent to two and a half years of study behind.
The federal government has reached a deal with states and territories to fully fund public schools for the first time – but not until 2034. Low funding has been blamed for a steady exodus from the sector. The latest results also found gender differences in performance were persisting, with more female students reaching the proficient standard and exceeding in reading than males and the converse in maths.
Performance in science was similar for both genders. Australia’s disciplinary climate had improved compared with a record low in 2015 but remained poor, ranking behind 68 countries and better than just 11. Noise and disorder in the classroom was reported by 41% Australian students as occurring often, compared with the global average of 31%, and 39% said their peers got distracted by using digital resources compared with the OECD average of 28%.
Australia is among 58% of countries that have banned smartphones in schools, indicating other tools, such as laptops and tablets, are causing distractions. The federal education minister, Jason Clare, said Pisa results pointed to the “need to wind back the amount of screen time in schools”. Australia’s 2018 results were the nation’s worst performance to date, due to narrowing gaps between its average results and the OECD average, particularly for mathematics.
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