Almost one in three Australian students are below a minimum maths standard, new PISA data shows

Nearly a third of Australian 15-year-olds are failing to reach the minimum standard for functional numeracy, according to the latest OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results, prompting the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) to call for a coordinated response to reverse two decades of decline in school-age literacy and numeracy.

The 2025 PISA results, released by the OECD this month, show Australia's mean scores have fallen across all three tested domains since testing began in 2000: science (509 points), maths (478 points) and reading (491 points). Maths has fallen furthest, down 8.2 per cent since 2006, followed by reading (down 4.3 per cent) and science (down 3.4 per cent).

Almost 15,000 Australian students across 766 schools took part in the assessment, representing 275,400 15-year-olds nationally.

The proportion of Australian students scoring at or below PISA Level 2, the threshold the OECD considers necessary for functional literacy and numeracy, has grown sharply:

• 29 per cent of students scored Level 2 or lower in maths in 2025, up from 13 per cent in 2006
• 23 per cent scored Level 2 or lower in reading in 2025, up from 13 per cent in 2006
• 18 per cent scored Level 2 or lower in science in 2025

At the same time, the share of high-achieving students has shrunk. Just 10 per cent of Australian students reached Level 5 or higher in maths in 2025, down from 20 per cent in 2006.

Despite the falling scores, Australia's international ranking has improved as other countries' results have declined faster: 10th in reading (up from 12th in 2022), 16th in maths (up slightly from 17th in 2022) and 10th in science. (Ranking compares only countries that took part in both the 2022 and 2025 PISA rounds.)

CEDA is calling on Australia to target a mean score of 525 points in maths and science and 510 points in reading, in line with the world's top five performing nations in recent years. Australia has previously reached these benchmarks in reading (2000 to 2012) and science (2006 and 2009), but never in maths.

The 2025 results also highlight a complex relationship between digital technology and learning outcomes. Globally, students who never used AI tools for schoolwork recorded the highest average science scores, while frequent personal (non-school) AI users scored similarly to non-users. The OECD cautioned that opportunities to build AI-related skills remain concentrated among socio-economically advantaged students.

"These results should be a wake-up call,” explains CEDA Economist Julie Toth.

“A record share of Australian teenagers are leaving school without the literacy and numeracy skills they need to fully participate in further education, training and work, and that is a problem for productivity as much as it is for individual opportunity.

"There is no single fix. Socio-economic disadvantage, resourcing shortages and student engagement are all playing a role, and any serious response has to address all of them together. We also can't assume more spending alone will turn this around: the evidence shows it's how we spend, and how we support teachers and students, that matters most.

"Australia has hit world-leading benchmarks in reading and science before. There's no reason we can't do it again, including in maths, if we treat this as the national priority it is."