Spain's 15-year-old students scored worse than the OECD average in mathematics, science and reading in the latest round of PISA assessments, the most reliable international benchmark for school system quality conducted every three years. The 2025 results dropped from the already-disappointing 2022 scores, with particularly steep declines in reading comprehension — the foundation for all other learning, according to the report. Only in computational problem solving, a newly added test, did Spanish students match the OECD average.
Spanish students scored 457 in mathematics, 477 in science and 451 in reading, all below the OECD averages of 463, 482 and 461 respectively. The reading score fell 45 points from 2015 levels — a decline the report equates to more than two years of learning lost. Results also varied dramatically by region: Castile-León scored 477 in mathematics, 495 in science and 469 in reading, while Valencia recorded 435, 450 and 424 in the same subjects. Spain's 30,000 participating students were part of a global assessment involving 760,000 students across 91 countries. While 44% of Spanish students ranked in the top international quartile for socio-economic status — the largest share — their average science score of 509 points lagged significantly behind similarly advantaged peers in Singapore, Chinese Taipei and Macao.
Education Minister Milagros Tolón identified reading as "the root of the poor results," stating that without comprehension, students cannot solve problems in any subject. The report notes that 11 of Spain's 17 regions saw reading scores drop 20 points or more from 2022. Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's Director for education and skills, suggested that declining enjoyment of reading and the shift toward digital skimming of social media feeds "may be reducing the ability of students to engage with complex texts and data." School principals in Spain reported that 49% face instruction hindered by perceived shortages of teaching staff, compared to a 39% OECD average, while 72% cited lack of assisting staff versus 39% across the OECD.
The report attributes Spain's struggles to several converging factors: excessive use of digital technologies, reduced reading to children at home, less family support, and diminished concentration capacity among students. Spain also faces one of the EU's highest child poverty rates and a sharp 64% increase since 2018 in 15-year-old pupils from migrant backgrounds who often lack Spanish fluency and arrive with educational gaps. These challenges ripple into Spain's broader education outcomes: the country now has just 30 universities in the top 1,000 globally, down from 36 in 2025, with none in the top 100. Youth unemployment stands at 23.8%, and 11.5% of 15-to-29-year-olds are neither in education, employment nor training.
The findings serve as a wake-up call not just for Spain but across OECD countries, where one in five students now performs poorly in all three core subjects, up from 16% in 2022. The report's verdict is blunt: authorities must try harder, and the next assessment cycle will reveal whether they've confronted a problem that threatens an entire generation's prospects.