French PISA 2025 scores hit record low as math and reading results drop

Sharp score declines across subjects

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development released the 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment on 8 September 2026. The triennial survey evaluated approximately 760,000 fifteen-year-old pupils across 91 countries and territories, including between 6,500 and 8,000 French students sampled across 335 schools. While the 2025 edition focused primarily on science, French performance dropped across all assessed domains compared to previous cycles. Science results showed relative stability with a 4-point decline from 2022, but reading comprehension scores fell by 18 points and mathematics dropped by 16 points. The OECD equates a 20-point decrease to roughly one year of formal schooling, while Asian education systems retained the leading positions globally.

Long-term trends and student disparities

Over a broader period, French academic performance metrics show continuous downward trajectories. Between 2012 and 2025, French science scores dropped from 499 to 483 points, reading comprehension declined from 505 to 456 points, and mathematics fell from 484 to 458 points. France now ranks in the lower average of OECD countries for mathematics, placed between Hungary and Spain. Most of the French students evaluated in 2025 entered primary school in 2015 and began middle school in 2020. One-third of French fifteen-year-olds now face severe reading comprehension difficulties. Furthermore, the proportion of top-tier pupils shrank between 2015 and 2025, falling from 11% to 5% in mathematics and from 13% to 5% in reading.

Ministry diagnosis and institutional findings

OECD analysts observed that the performance gap between socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged students narrowed only because scores among advantaged pupils deteriorated while disadvantaged cohorts remained stable. Education specialist Éric Charbonnier noted that national education spending remains comparatively high relative to performance, recommending improved resource allocation rather than increased spending. Charbonnier also stated that performance differences between immigrant and non-immigrant students have remained stable since 2015.

France is always in the average of OECD countries in mathematics, reading comprehension, and science, but the scores are increasingly low.

French Education Minister Édouard Geffray responded by pledging targeted reforms for middle schools over the next five-year term. Speaking to Le Monde, Geffray cited diminishing parental involvement, vague learning objectives in middle schools, and social media platforms, which he described as a weapon of mass intellectual destruction.

It is concerning, but sadly, it comes as no surprise.

Proposals for structural reform

Outside the ministry, education researchers pointed to teacher training deficits and classroom practices. In an action plan published on 3 September 2026 by the Conseil d'analyse économique, co-author Guillaume Houzel argued that French teachers experience higher levels of professional isolation than peers in other OECD member states. Houzel emphasized that mandated continuing education exists in legal texts but is rarely implemented effectively in classrooms.

For primary school teachers, we recommend increasing from 18 to 80 hours of training per year. In Singapore, which is often cited as an example, it is 100 hours.

Houzel also recommended organizing struggling pupils into small remedial groups of one, two, or four students rather than larger twelve-student classes. Geffray confirmed that future ministerial initiatives will focus on clarifying academic standards and curriculum goals across middle schools.