PISA 2025 Results Reveal Global Decline in Student Performance

The PISA 2025 results show a widespread decline in educational performance among 15 year old students across the OECD, with significant drops in mathematics, reading, and science. Five out of six OECD countries saw a decrease in results. In Argentina, mathematics scores reached their lowest point since the country began participating in the tests, with 76 percent of students failing to reach basic proficiency. Chile also reported disappointing results, recording its lowest mathematics scores to date and falling below OECD averages in all three categories. Colombia remained relatively stable but continues to perform at the lower end of the scale.

Experts and analysts are debating the causes of this decline. Multiple sources point to the impact of screens, social media, and artificial intelligence as factors that reduce attention spans and hinder the ability to process long texts or solve complex problems. Some analysts suggest that the pandemic exacerbated a decline that began years earlier. In Chile, students report some of the highest levels of social media use in the OECD, with nearly half reporting constant distraction in the classroom.

Interpretations of the crisis vary by political perspective. Center left sources emphasize systemic failures, such as the lack of teacher training and the erosion of real wages for educators in Argentina, while also cautioning against simply demonizing technology. They argue that high performing Asian countries are also highly digitalized, suggesting the issue lies in how technology is integrated pedagogically and supervised by families. Center right sources frame the issue as a structural failure of educational models. They argue that a shift toward soft skills and a lack of discipline have weakened academic rigor. These sources call for a return to traditional teaching methods and a renewed focus on the professional capacities of teachers and directors to combat the distractions of the digital age.