England’s teenagers are comfortably beating their peers across the globe when it comes to maths, reading, and science.
That’s a bit of welcome bit of good news for classrooms up and down the country. With all the headlines about post-pandemic learning gaps and stretched school budgets, it’s easy to assume academic standards have taken a complete tumble, but a massive international study reveals that local 15-year-olds are holding their own against some of the stiffest competition in the world.
The celebration comes with a massive catch, though. The same global study flags a worrying trend that’s chewing away at teenagers’ focus in every corner of the map. Classroom experts warn that constant digital distractions, from endless social media notifications and classroom phone use to algorithmic feeds, are steadily unpicking pupils’ core academic stamina. While British teenagers might’ve pulled ahead of the pack for now, fighting the battle against glowing screens has become the real test for teachers and parents trying to keep those hard-won skills intact.
How England performed compared to the rest of the world
The study, run by the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment, tested 760,000 15-year-olds across 91 countries and regions last year. Almost every member country saw its results decline compared to previous years, with England and a small handful of others standing out as exceptions.
England’s steady performance helped push the UK into the top 10 international rankings overall, as other countries dropped further down the table. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland all recorded slightly lower results than in previous years, though the picture wasn’t uniformly negative across the devolved nations either.
Reading was where England’s results stood out most.
While England’s biggest year-on-year improvement came in science, it was reading performance that proved most notable. England placed ahead of Australia, the US, Finland and France, with only Singapore, Taiwan and a combined region covering Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang in China performing significantly better.
According to the lead author of the Pisa reports for Wales and Northern Ireland, despite the wider international trend of declining reading performance, 15-year-olds in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland were found to be reading just as well as they were back in 2022. She also noted strong performances in science and maths, particularly among pupils in England and Northern Ireland, where scores came in above the international average.
What the government has said about the results
England’s schools minister said the government was determined to build on these positive results and go further, so all young people leave school with strong literacy and numeracy skills. She added that the government also wants to address areas where England performs less well, particularly how connected and engaged pupils feel with school itself, arguing the next real leap forward will come from pupils who are excited to be there.
The shadow education secretary took a different view, describing it as “bonkers” for the government to move away from the strong academic focus she credited with driving England’s success. She argued that focusing on academic outcomes increases opportunity, and warned that reducing standards would disproportionately harm the most disadvantaged pupils, who stand to lose out on the most opportunity as a result.
The wider international picture was considerably gloomier.
Beyond England’s relatively strong showing, the OECD’s overall analysis painted a fairly bleak picture globally, noting that learning outcomes have stagnated or declined in many countries, in some cases for well over a decade.
The organisation singled out the international decline in reading scores as particularly concerning, with average scores across OECD member countries falling by double digits since 2018. According to the analysis, this suggests a majority of 15-year-olds tested in 2025 were performing at a level previously expected of 14-year-olds instead.
Why the OECD believes results are slipping globally
According to the OECD’s analysts, these long-term declines point to deeper structural issues within education systems more broadly, including changing attitudes toward reading, the growing impact of digital distractions on students, and rising levels of school absenteeism. Overall, the data suggests weaknesses in how education systems are adapting to broader social, technological and economic change.
The OECD’s director for education and skills noted that while the pandemic is often blamed for declining results, the drop in reading skills specifically had actually begun before Covid hit. He suggested that declining reading for enjoyment, combined with a move toward digital reading habits like skimming social media feeds and rapidly scanning information, may be undermining students’ ability to properly engage with more complex texts and data.
Smartphones in schools came under particular scrutiny.
While some educational uses of digital devices were found to be beneficial, countries that allowed devices for leisure use during school hours saw substantially lower student performance overall. This raises real questions about whether devices like smartphones, which are specifically designed to maximise user attention, are actually compatible with the kind of sustained academic focus needed for learning.
How Scotland’s results compared
A separate report on Scotland’s performance, produced for the Scottish government, described the 2025 results as presenting a mixed but broadly more positive picture, with science, maths and reading scores little changed since 2022.
Even so, the report concluded that scores remain significantly below levels achieved in several previous testing cycles, and that a substantial proportion of pupils, particularly in maths, failed to reach the OECD’s baseline proficiency level. Scotland’s education secretary acknowledged the positives in the results, while also stressing that they highlight the need for change in certain areas going forward.
