Australian students continue to shine in world’s largest learning assessment
ACER news less than 1 day ago 7 minute readAustralian 15-year-old students have performed above the OECD average in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment.
The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has released Australia’s results for the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2025, the world's largest international assessment of student learning. In Australia, PISA is delivered by ACER on behalf of the Australian Government and all state and territories.
PISA assesses how well 15-year-old students can apply their knowledge and skills in science, reading and mathematics to real-world situations. In 2025, it also introduced a new assessment domain, Learning in the Digital World.
More than 760,000 students from 91 countries participated in the study, including more than 14,600 Australian students from 766 schools.
PISA national project manager and co-author of the Australian reports Lisa De Bortoli said the results provide valuable insights into the strengths and challenges of Australia’s education system.
‘PISA is a very useful tool because it provides us with a snapshot of where Australia’s education system is at, how our students are performing, and where we need to make improvements,’ said Lisa.
‘It also allows us to see how we’re doing on the world stage, and whether what’s worked for other countries can possibly work for ours.’
Lisa also commended the students who participated.
We’re extremely grateful to those who took part. Without them, we wouldn’t have access to all this crucial data.
Australia holds its ground as OECD results fall behind
As OECD results softened, Australia’s students continued to stand out. The latest findings show Australia remains one of the world’s higher-performing education systems, with students outperforming the OECD average across science, mathematics and reading.
Australia’s performance was significantly higher than the OECD average for all domains. The story was strongest in reading and science, where Australia held a top-10 place among countries that participated in both the 2022 and 2025 assessments. Australia remained 10th in science, rose from 12th to 10th in reading, and edged up from 17th to 16th in mathematics.
In reading, Australian students recorded a mean score of 491 points, well above the OECD average of 461 points.
Mathematics told a similar story, with Australian students achieving a mean score of 478 points, compared with the OECD average of 463 points.
Science remained Australia’s standout domain, with students achieving a mean score of 509 points — significantly higher than the OECD average of 482 points.
More Australian students meet essential learning benchmarks than OECD peers.
Australian students continue to be more likely than their OECD peers to demonstrate the knowledge and skills considered essential for future learning, employment and participation in society.
In science, 60% of Australian students attained the National Proficient Standard, compared with 49% across the OECD. Similar advantages were recorded in reading and mathematics.
Australia also recorded lower proportions of low-performing students than the OECD average across maths, science and reading.
Strong results in new assessment domain
As classrooms become more connected and technology plays a bigger role in everyday learning, Australian students have shown they are adapting strongly to the shift.
In the newest PISA assessment domain, Learning in a Digital World, students were tested on how well they could use digital tools and technology-rich environments to learn, solve problems and respond to new challenges.
For Dr Jonas Bertling, Research Director of ACER Implementation and Reporting and co-author of the report, the results point to a clear area of strength for Australian students.
‘Out of all the assessment domains, Australian students achieved the strongest results in Learning in the Digital World,’ Dr Bertling said.
‘It gives a real insight into just how well students are adapting to learning and problem solving in an ever-increasing technological world.’
The performance was reflected in the numbers. More than three-quarters (77%) of Australian students attained the National Proficient Standard. Australia’s mean score of 532 points was also well above the OECD average of 500 points.
Results vary across sectors
While Australia’s overall results remain strong, the findings highlight continuing differences in outcomes for some students.
Independent schools recorded the highest average achievement across science, reading and mathematics, scoring roughly 50 points higher than government school students and about 30 points higher than Catholic school students in science, reading and mathematics. However, differences between school sectors become substantially smaller when taking differences in socio-economic background into account.
Meanwhile, students in major city schools outperformed students in regional schools by 24 points in science, 27 points in reading and 30 points in mathematics.
The report also found in Australia, significant achievement gaps remain associated with socioeconomic background. The data revealed students in the highest socioeconomic quarter outperformed students in the lowest quarter by 80 points in science, 74 points in reading, and 83 points in mathematics.
Achievement gaps also remain for First Nations students, who scored 72 points lower in science, 76 points lower in reading, and 74 points lower in mathematics than non-First Nations students. However, science results provide an encouraging sign, with First Nations student achievement improving by 16 points between 2022 and 2025.
ACER’s role in PISA
Australia plays a distinctive role in PISA through ACER's leadership of the international program. ACER is the OECD's international contractor for PISA and is responsible for the design and implementation of the assessment globally. Through its leadership of PISA, ACER supports participating countries and economies with implementation and quality assurance.
Upcoming PISA report
In December 2026, ACER will release a second PISA report that looks more closely at the factors behind the results and provides a stronger evidence base for understanding them. The report will provide policymakers, educators and school leaders with deeper insights into the factors shaping student achievement across Australia.
The next report will examine areas such as student motivation, attitudes to school and learning, the school environment, and how these relate to performance. It will also look at technology use and its relationship with student outcomes.