PISA
Programme for International Student Assessment

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) regularly examines how well 15-year-old students can solve everyday tasks in mathematics, reading and science towards the end of their compulsory schooling. The study is coordinated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In Germany, it is led by the Center for International Educational Comparison Studies (ZIB) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). In addition to TUM, the DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education in Frankfurt, the IPN - Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN) in Kiel and the Institute for Quality Development in Education (IQB) in Berlin are involved in the ZIB. The German part of the study is conducted on behalf of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. PISA 2022 is the eighth PISA survey.

The results of PISA 2022, which were published in December 2023, are sobering: young people in Germany perform significantly worse in mathematics, reading and science than in 2018. Around a third of the 15-year-olds tested have very poor skills in at least one of the three areas. The results confirm a downward trend already indicated in the previous PISA surveys. The students only reach the average level of the OECD countries in mathematics and reading. Their results are only still above average in science.

Average math and reading skills of students have decreased compared to the previous PISA survey from 2018, not only in Germany but also in many OECD countries. To a lesser extent, this also applies to scientific literacy. However, performance losses in Germany are above average in all three areas. This means that Germany is only significantly above the OECD average in science. The results in mathematics and reading are now in line with the OECD average, both of which have also fallen.

Germany was initially able to improve its results after the first PISA survey in 2000 and maintain them at a high level. The last PISA survey, however, showed signs of a downward trend. Scores in mathematics and science now lie below the level of the PISA rounds of the 2000s, when mathematics (PISA 2003) and science (PISA 2006) were each examined in depth for the first time. The results in reading roughly correspond to the 2000 PISA survey, when reading was the main focus for the first time.

In Germany, the eighth PISA survey tested the skills of approximately 6,100 representatively selected 15-year-old students at some 260 schools of all types. The students were also surveyed about their learning conditions and attitudes as well as their social background. Principals, teachers and parents answered questions about the design and resources of lessons and the role of learning in the family. Around 690,000 students worldwide took part in the survey. Each PISA round focuses on one area more closely, this time it was mathematics.

Based on the scores achieved in the test, the study classifies students into six competence levels. If students do not score above competence level one, they need additional support to complete vocational or further schooling and participate in all areas of societal life.

Approximately one third of 15-year-olds only have these very limited skills in at least one of the three domains tested. Roughly one in six young people have significant deficits in all three areas. The proportion of these particularly low-performing students has increased since 2018 and amounts to approximately 30% in mathematics, 26% in reading and 23% in science.

Students who perform particularly well are on the other side of the spectrum. In mathematics, their share has fallen to around nine percent and in reading to around eight percent. In science, this proportion remained stable at around ten percent.

On the one hand, PISA researchers assume that the school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic had a negative effect on skills acquisition. In Germany, distance learning involved less use of digital media and more use of materials sent to students than the OECD average. However, the analysis of the international data shows no systematic correlation between the duration of school closures and declines in performance between 2018 and 2022. Some countries with relatively few school closures achieved significantly worse results than in 2018, while others with relatively many school closures scored only slightly lower or even slightly higher than in 2018.

Another possible factor explaining the results in mathematics: In Germany, the correlation remains strong between students' skills and the socio-economic status of their families as well as their immigration background. Today, 15-year-olds who have immigrated themselves have significantly weaker skills in mathematics than the corresponding group in 2012, when this question was last examined. The families of these young people speak less German at home today than in the corresponding families in 2012. However, this finding only partially explains the overall results. Compared to 2012, the mathematical skills of young people without an immigrant background have also declined - even more so than those of young people whose parents immigrated but who were born in Germany.

Researchers are therefore also looking at the surveys of students regarding motivation, attitudes and lesson design to explain the long-term negative trend. Compared to 2012, young people show less enjoyment and interest in mathematics. Anxiety towards the subject, on the other hand, has increased. Furthermore, 15-year-olds see less benefit in learning mathematics.

Further information on PISA can also be found on the OECD website: https://www.oecd.org/pisa/