Spain’s 15-year-old students performed badly in the latest assessment of their skills in mathematics, science and reading in the OECD’s PISA tests, conducted every three years and the most reliable measure of the quality of school systems. The 2025 results were worse than those in 2022 and below the OECD average, except in computational problem solving, an added test, which was almost the same as the average (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. PISA 2025 results
| Country | Global score | Mathematics | Science | Reading | Computational problem solving |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| France | 1,894 | 458 | 483 | 456 | 497 |
| Germany | 1,913 | 464 | 486 | 465 | 498 |
| Italy | 1,915 | 468 | 483 | 474 | 490 |
| Spain | 1,884 | 457 | 477 | 451 | 499 |
| OECD average | – | 463 | 482 | 461 | 500 |
If it is any comfort for the education authorities the bad results coincided with a decline across most of the 38 OECD countries. One in five students is now a low performer in the three subjects, up from 16% in 2022.
The 2022 results were partly affected by the COVID pandemic. With that impact over, the 2025 results should, at least theoretically, have been better than in 2022. Not only was this not the case, but Spain’s results were even strikingly lower than in 2015 and among the worst since the PISA tests were started in 2000 (see Figure 2). Particularly worrying was the fall in reading, the gateway to all learning, of 45 points, more than two years of learning.
Figure 2. PISA scores 2015, 2022 and 2025
| 2015 | 2022 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 486 | 473 | 457 |
| Science | 493 | 485 | 477 |
| Reading | 496 | 474 | 451 |
A smaller proportion of students in Spain than on average across OECD countries were top performers (Level 5 or 6) in at least one subject. At the same time, a similar proportion of students than on average achieved a minimum level of proficiency (Level 2 or higher) in all three subjects.
There are wide differences in the PISA results by region. While Castile-León scored 477 in mathematics, 495 in science and 469 in reading (much better than the national average), Valencia’s respective scores were 435, 450 and 424. Teachers in Valencia went on strike for several weeks in June in support of more resources for state schools and better working conditions. Valencia’s score in reading was 58 points lower than in 2022.
Milagros Tolón, the Education Minister in the Socialist-led minority central government, said the root of the poor results was reading. ‘If you don’t understand what you’re reading, it’s impossible for you to solve a problem in maths, physics, chemistry or any other subject’. The reading score of 11 of Spain’s 17 regions and the North African exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla was 20 points or more lower than in 2022.
Education began to be devolved to Spain’s regions in 1980 and was completed in 2000. Eleven of them are currently run by the Popular Party, four of them in coalition with the populist far-right-wing VOX.
The PISA test was conducted in 91 countries and taken by 760,000 students, 30,000 of them in Spain. Most participating Chinese jurisdictions, together with Estonia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Chinese Taipei and the UK, ranked among the 10 highest-performing education systems in science, mathematics and reading.
The PISA index of economic, social and cultural status is computed in such a way that all students taking the test, regardless of the country where they live, can be placed on the same socio-economic scale. This makes it possible to use this index to compare the performance of students of similar socio-economic background in different countries. In Spain, 44% of students (the largest share) were in the top international quartile of the socio-economic scale, meaning they were among the most advantaged students who took the test. Their average score in science was 509 points. In Singapore, Chinese Taipei and Macao (China), students of similar socio-economic background tend to score significantly higher.
The index can also be used to order students from the most disadvantaged to the most advantaged within each country and economy, and to create four groups of students of equal size (each comprising 25% of the population of 15-year-old students in each country). In Spain socio-economically advantaged students (the top 25%) outperformed disadvantaged students (the bottom 25%) by 71 points in science. This is smaller than the average difference between the two groups (85 points) across OECD countries.
While Spain’s results can be compared to those of other countries and previous cycles, Catalonia’s results are not reported separately this time. This was because of high levels of student exclusions by Catalan schools from the tests. This tends to produce an upward bias. Schools participating in the tests can only exclude a certain percentage of students for a variety of reasons. Catalonia’s exclusions increased from 5.6% in 2022 to 23.2%. The Catalan government said the high level was due to a ‘technical error’. There is a suspicion, however, that it was done to make the results look better.
As well as measuring academic success, PISA also gives a glimpse into school life and resources. In 2025, 49% of students in Spain were in schools whose principals reported that instruction was hindered, to some extent, by a perceived lack of teaching staff (OECD average: 39%); the corresponding share for a perceived lack of assisting staff was 72% (OECD average: 39%).
These factors partly explain the poor results. Other reasons are the pernicious impact of an excessive use of digital technologies, the fact that children are not read to as much and also that they read less, while they have less family support and a greater loss of capacity to concentrate. ‘We cannot say for sure, but falling levels of reading for enjoyment and the shift towards digital reading –skimming social-media feeds and rapidly processing information– may be reducing the ability of students to engage with complex texts and data’, said Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s Director for education and skills. He said schools with clear policies on mobile-phone use report better outcomes and fewer students distracted by digital devices.
Spain also has one of the EU’s largest child poverty rates and a proportionately larger number of immigrant children who do not speak Spanish fluently and have educational gaps that need to be addressed. The number of 15-year-old pupils from migrant backgrounds (whose parents were both born outside the country where the PISA assessment is taken) has risen by 25% across the OECD as a whole since 2018, and now accounts for 16.7% of the total. In Spain, the increase has been much greater: 64% (20.3% of the total).
The PISA results have come hard on the heels of the 2026 Shanghai ranking of world universities, which showed Spain now has only 30 universities in the top 1,000 (36 in 2025) and none in the top 100 (see Figure 3).
Figure 3. Shanghai 2026 ranking of world universities, top 100 and top 1,000, number by country
| Top 100 | Top 1,000 | |
|---|---|---|
| France | 4 | 27 |
| Germany | 4 | 51 |
| Italy | 0 | 42 |
| Spain | 0 | 30 |
Higher levels of education tend to correlate with better job prospects. Spain’s early school-leaving rate –compulsory schooling ends at 16– has dropped sharply in recent years (12.8% in 2025, down from a whopping 30% in 2005) but is still above the EU average (see Figure 4). More worrying is that 11.5% of those aged between 15 and 29 are NEETs (‘not in education, employment or training’, see Figure 5). Youth unemployment remains high at 23.8% (see Figure 6).
Figure 4. Early school-leaving rate (of 18-24 year-olds)
| % | |
|---|---|
| France | 7.0 |
| Germany | 13.1 |
| Italy | 8.2 |
| Spain | 12.8 |
| EU | 9.1 |
Figure 5. NEETS: not in education, employment or training (% of 15-29 year-olds)
| % | |
|---|---|
| France | 12,7 |
| Germany | 9,5 |
| Italy | 13,3 |
| Spain | 11,5 |
| EU | 11,0 |
Figure 6. Youth unemployment (under 25%)
| % | |
|---|---|
| France | 21,4 |
| Germany | 7,2 |
| Italy | 16,9 |
| Spain | 23,8 |
| EU | 15,2 |
The PISA results are a wake-up call, and not just for Spain. The report card reads: ‘Must try harder’. The next assessment will tell us whether the authorities have done their homework and got to grips with a serious problem.
