The 2025 Pisa scores, which assess how 15-year-olds apply school-learned knowledge in reading, mathematics, and science to real-life situations, have revealed significant declines in several Western European education systems. France, Germany, and the Netherlands all recorded their worst-ever results, while Finland, previously a global leader, also saw its scores plummet.
In France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Finland, nearly one in three 15-year-olds now lack basic functional literacy and maths skills. This decline continues a trend that began in 2018, with pandemic learning losses accelerating the drop. Education experts point to chronic teacher shortages, repeated curriculum reforms neglecting basic skills, and widening inequalities as underlying issues.
Germany's 2025 report showed about one in four pupils lacking competency in natural sciences and one in three in reading and maths. The number of teens deemed "at risk" due to insufficient reading and maths skills for further education has doubled over the last decade. In the Netherlands, a record 39% of 15-year-olds now lack basic reading skills, up from 33% in 2022, with researchers noting that today's 15-year-olds are effectively reading at the level 12-year-olds achieved a decade ago.
French education minister Édouard Geffray described the scores as "worrying," while Marine Le Pen, a far-right presidential candidate, called the outcome a "catastrophe." Finnish Pisa national project manager Dr Arto K Ahonen stated that the results have prompted serious discussion regarding pupils' perseverance and effort, with the goal to reverse the decline.