WORLD · VERIFIED DEVELOPMENT
New Zealand Students' Performance Stabilizes in PISA 2025
WHY IT MATTERS
The Government's focus on using data to drive improvement in education is crucial, as evidenced by the recent legislation requiring selected schools to participate in PISA and other international monitoring tools, aiming to raise student achievement and address areas of concern.
What happened
New Zealand students have shown a stabilizing trend in their performance in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2025, with achievement levels remaining above the OECD average in reading, science, and mathematics. While the results are encouraging, Education Minister Erica Stanford cautions that more work needs to be done to lift performance.
Notably, New Zealand students excelled in computational problem-solving and reported a more positive attitude towards school, with increased value placed on learning useful skills for work and life. The achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students narrowed in all three subjects, and students reported applying more effort when faced with challenging work.
However, New Zealand did not meet the OECD participation requirements for PISA 2025, with only 52% of selected schools and 76% of selected students participating, which may affect the accuracy of the results.
PRIMARY SOURCES
Results stabilise but more work to do
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