School Connection / Flagship analysis
PISA 2025: England’s averages are strong. The distribution is the leadership story.
England scored significantly above OECD averages in science, reading and mathematics in PISA 2025. That is a strong national result, but the averages conceal a persistent lower-attaining tail, socioeconomic gaps and a widening gender gap in mathematics.
The answer in brief
England’s international position is strong, but leaders should examine who is not sharing in it.
England’s mean scores were 516 in science, 497 in reading and 492 in mathematics, each significantly above its OECD average. The sample comprised 5,619 15-year-olds from 183 schools assessed between February and May 2025.12
The distribution complicates the headline: England had comparatively large high-performing groups, yet one quarter of pupils remained below baseline proficiency in mathematics and substantial socioeconomic gaps persisted.2
- England performed significantly above OECD averages across all three assessed domains.
- Science recovered from 2022, but mathematics remained below its 2018 position.
- The lower-attaining tail and pupil-group gaps are central leadership findings, not footnotes to the mean.
01 / Strong averages
The comparative result is genuinely strong.
England scored 516 against an OECD science average of 482, 497 against a reading average of 461 and 492 against a mathematics average of 463. Only seven participating systems were significantly above England in science, three in reading and nine in mathematics.23
These comparisons justify confidence in England’s overall international position. They do not show that every pupil group improved or that the national mean describes an individual school.
02 / The trend
Recovery, resilience and unresolved decline coexist.
Science rose significantly from 503 in 2022 to 516, but the 2025 result was not significantly different from 2015 or 2018. Reading was statistically stable across recent cycles while the OECD average continued to decline.2
Mathematics was unchanged from 2022 and broadly level with 2015, but significantly below England’s 2018 score of 504. The precise account is science recovery, reading resilience and an unresolved post-2018 mathematics decline.2
03 / The distribution
High attainment and a substantial lower tail are both part of the result.
Fourteen per cent reached levels 5 or 6 in science and mathematics, with 10% doing so in reading. Each proportion exceeded the OECD average. Below level 2 were 16% in science, 19% in reading and 25% in mathematics, all below the corresponding OECD proportions.2
The mathematics figure remains operationally significant: one in four participating pupils did not demonstrate baseline proficiency. Leaders need reporting that shows the shape of attainment, not only the average.
04 / From gaps to inquiry
Gender and socioeconomic differences should trigger local testing, not imported assumptions.
Boys led girls by 13 points in science and 26 in mathematics; girls led boys by 11 in reading. The mathematics gap had widened from 12 points in 2015. Between the highest and lowest socioeconomic-index quarters, gaps were 81 points in science, 66 in reading and 89 in mathematics.2
Using the report’s six-year FSM measure, gaps were 48 points in science, 39 in reading and 49 in mathematics. Schools should test these signals against prior attainment, attendance, SEND, mobility, curriculum participation and local assessment rather than treating PISA as a diagnosis.2
Leadership questions
Questions that turn the development into a governing conversation.
Board test
Does our reporting show the complete attainment distribution as well as the mean?
Board test
Where do disadvantaged pupils lose access, security or momentum in the curriculum sequence?
Board test
Is the mathematics gender gap visible locally, and what evidence explains it?
Board test
Are interventions expanding access to ambitious content as well as improving short-term scores?
School Connection intelligence lens
What the national Observatory can add, and where it must stop.
School Connection can connect the national signal to verified attainment, attendance and contextual evidence while preserving definitions and uncertainty. It should not generate school-level PISA rankings or infer causes from cross-sectional associations.
Only human-approved, public-safe intelligence can appear here. Private candidates, commercial signals, contacts, opportunity values and internal scores are never exposed through School Connection.
Evidence boundary
What this analysis does not prove.
- PISA is a cross-sectional sample survey, not a census, causal study or school-performance table.
- The 2025 socioeconomic-index methodology changed, limiting statistical comparison of that measure over time.
- Small international differences and subgroup patterns should be interpreted with sampling uncertainty and response bias in view.
What we are monitoring next
Publication is the beginning of the watch.
- PISA 2025 Volume 2, expected in December 2026.
- Any OECD database revisions or additional technical material.
- Current national attainment, attendance and subgroup data that corroborate or challenge the PISA pattern.
Approved public intelligence
What the live evidence is showing now.
School Connection continues to monitor standards, curriculum & accountability evidence. New machine-detected signals remain private editorial candidates until a human editor investigates and approves them for publication.
This panel reads only the editor-approved School Connection public feed. It never exposes raw Observatory records, private candidates, contacts, commercial opportunities or internal scores.
Sources and methodology
Evidence used in this analysis
School Connection links to the primary source behind each material claim. Source status, period and limitations are stated so readers can reproduce the evidence trail.
- 01
Department for Education · Published 8 September 2026
PISA 2025 national report for England
The official publication page for England’s national PISA 2025 report. - 02
Department for Education · Published 8 September 2026
PISA 2025 national report for England: full report
The full findings, methodology, statistical testing and limitations for England. - 03
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development · Published 8 September 2026
PISA 2025: students' reading and mathematics performance declined sharply across the OECD
The OECD's international release, used for the wider comparative direction rather than school-level or England-specific diagnosis.