WIREDGOV

UK pupils are bucking the international trend of declining educational attainment, maintaining standards in reading and maths while improving in science, finds a study co-led by a UCL researcher.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings assessed the skills and knowledge in science, mathematics, reading and computational problem solving of more than 760,000 students in 91 countries. In the UK, where education differs between the home nations, 15,566 students took the tests in 515 schools for the latest rankings. 

The study, launched at the UCL Institute of Education on September 8, found that overall the UK performed well since the last rankings in 2022, rising to 10th in the world for reading and maths, but this was driven largely by England’s performance. 

For science, the UK’s ranking rose to eighth, but that followed a decade-long decline in performance up to 2022. 

In England, pupils improved in science since 2022 and their performance was stable in reading and maths. This contrasts with the international trend of OECD countries, where performance was broadly stable in science but has declined in reading and mathematics.  

The average science scores in Northern Ireland and Wales in 2025 were not significantly different from the scores in 2022 in keeping with the international trend.  

The reasons for the changes vary, but globally the OECD analysts said the longer long-term declines in performance suggested deeper structural issues within education systems, including the impact of “digital distractions” on students and rising levels of absenteeism.

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