The new PISA results: student performance in maths and science unchanged, reading literacy declines further

The reading literacy of Dutch 15-year-olds has declined further over the past three years. In science and mathematics, student performance has remained at the same level. Compared with other countries, Dutch students are still good at mathematics. They also rate their lives more highly than they did three years ago. These are the findings of the international PISA-2025 study, in which 91 countries took part. Martina Meelissen (project leader), Nathalie Maassen and Jolien Valk of the Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences (BMS) were responsible for the University of Twente's part in carrying out PISA.

PISA stands for Programme for International Student Assessment and measures the performance, attitudes and wellbeing of 15-year-olds worldwide every three or four years.

No recovery

In 2022, PISA showed a sharp worldwide decline in both reading literacy and the science and mathematics domains. The effects of the coronavirus pandemic on education may have played a part in this. Three years on, many countries, including the Netherlands, still show few signs of recovery. The Dutch PISA scores have remained the same for science and mathematics and have fallen further for reading literacy. For the 14 EU countries that have taken part since 2006 ("EU14"), the average PISA score has fallen for both reading literacy and mathematics. As in the Netherlands, the average science score of the EU14 countries has remained the same.

Good at mathematics

Of the 91 PISA countries in total, 34 performed better than the Netherlands in reading literacy. For science this applies to 19 countries, and for mathematics to only nine. In 85 countries, students were also tested for the first time in Computational problem solving, which is solving problems step by step with the help of a computer. Of these, 14 countries achieved a higher score than the Netherlands. Compared with their peers in the EU14 countries, our 15-year-olds score lower on reading literacy and higher on mathematics in the PISA test. For science and Computational problem solving, Dutch performance is comparable to the EU14 average.

More students with insufficient literacy skills

In 2022, a third of 15-year-olds in the Netherlands performed below the second PISA proficiency level for reading literacy. This means that these students are likely to function less well at school and in society. They also risk leaving education without adequate literacy skills, or even with low literacy. In 2025, this percentage has risen further to 39%. In addition, 27% of Dutch students did not reach the second proficiency level for science. For mathematics this figure is 30%. On the other hand, 13% of Dutch students reach at least the fifth proficiency level for mathematics, which means they can be regarded as top performers. This puts the Netherlands among the 13 PISA countries where this applies to more than 10% of students. For reading literacy, 4% of Dutch students are top performers, and for science 7%.

Girls are better readers than boys

As in all previous PISA rounds, Dutch girls are more proficient readers than Dutch boys. The Netherlands shows no gender differences in science performance overall, but it does in environmental science specifically, where girls also perform better than boys. Boys, on the other hand, are better at Computational problem solving and at mathematics. The earlier gender differences in mathematics performance (in favour of boys) had disappeared in the Netherlands in PISA-2015 and PISA-2018, but they have been back since 2022.

Dutch students less environmentally aware

Dutch students rate their own influence on environmental change lowest of all participating PISA countries. Dutch 15-year-olds also turn out to be less environmentally aware and less often involved in environment-related activities than their peers in the EU14 countries on average. In the Netherlands, girls rate their own influence on environmental change and their involvement in environment-related activities higher than boys do.

More than a third of students use AI weekly

Well over a third of Dutch 15-year-olds say they use artificial intelligence (AI) for learning at least once a week, for example to do preliminary research into a new topic, to draft texts for writing assignments or to summarise a text. The level of AI use in Dutch schools is comparable to use in schools in the EU14 countries on average.

More satisfied with life than in 2022

Dutch students are quite satisfied with their lives, rating them 7.6 on average. That is a higher score than in 2022 (7.3). Our 15-year-olds are also more satisfied with their lives than their peers in the EU14 countries on average. Both girls and boys in the Netherlands rate their lives higher in 2025 than in 2022, although girls are less positive about their lives than boys. Compared with their peers in the EU14 countries on average, students in the Netherlands have a stronger sense of belonging at school and report being bullied at school less often.

About PISA

In the Netherlands, PISA-2025 was carried out by Expertisecentrum Nederlands, the University of Twente and KBA Nijmegen, commissioned by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and funded by the Dutch National Education Institute (NKO). Thanks to the cooperation of students, teachers and school leaders, over 6,600 Dutch students took the digital PISA test. An interactive infographic of the main outcomes and the full Dutch report can be found at www.pisa-nederland.nl