Spanish 15-year-old students obtain an average performance of 473 points in mathematics, 474 in reading and 485 in science, in line with international averages.

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Spanish schools

Spanish secondary schools are better adapted to adversity than most countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to the report Program for International Student Assessment PISA 2022, prepared by the OECD with data from 37 OECD countries and 44 partner countries. Based on the international report, the National Institute for Educational Evaluation (INEE) of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports publishes the Spanish report.

The Secretary of State for Education, José Manuel Bar, presented the report at the Ministry’s headquarters, together with the Director General for Evaluation and Territorial Cooperation, Mónica Domínguez, and the OECD’s senior PISA analyst, Daniel Salinas. The Secretary of State highlighted the “enormous effort of the entire educational community and in particular of teachers” during the pandemic, which has allowed for greater resilience of Spanish educational centres. “The pandemic has been a critical moment to test the resilience of our educational system,” he added.

This edition of the study evaluates the mathematical competence of 15 and 16-year-old students as the main subject and reading and science competence as secondary areas. In all three areas, the performance of Spanish students is at levels similar to international averages.

In mathematics, the average performance of Spanish students is 473 points, a figure similar to the OECD average (472) and to the European Union total (474), at levels of countries such as Hungary, France, Germany, Portugal or Italy.

Compared to 2012 (the last PISA report in which mathematical competence was the main subject) there is an almost generalized drop, although lower in Spain (-11 points) than in the OECD average (-22 points). This drop is accentuated from 2018, the last study conducted before the pandemic that forced the temporary closure of schools: between 2018 and 2022 performance fell 8 points in Spain, 17 points in the OECD average and 20 points in the total EU.

In the case of science proficiency, Spanish students score 485 points (the OECD average stands at 485 and the EU total at 484), two points higher than in 2018. Compared to 2012, performance drops 11 points in the Spanish average and 16 points in the OECD average.

As for reading literacy, Spain’s average performance (474) is also in line with the OECD average (476) and the EU total (475). In this case, the results fall 14 points concerning 2012 in Spain, while in the OECD as a whole, they fall 21 points.

In terms of gender, in almost all countries students score better than girls in mathematics and science (10 and 5 points higher respectively in the case of Spain), while girls have more facility with reading (25 points higher in the case of Spain). Moreover, in all countries, students from socioeconomically advantaged backgrounds perform significantly better than those from disadvantaged backgrounds. In Spain, however, the difference in mathematics performance, at 86 points, is smaller than in the OECD average (93 points) and the EU as a whole (102).

Spanish students are also among the most resilient concerning their socioeconomic background: 12% of socioeconomically disadvantaged students achieve high performance (10% in the OECD average).

Students’ emotional well-being
The study also analyzes the emotional well-being of students in terms of several variables, such as exposure to bullying. In Spain, 6.5% of 15-year-old students report having been bullied frequently, compared to 8.3% of students in the OECD average.

As in previous editions, Spanish students once again stand out for their high degree of integration at school, with Spain having the third highest value in the study, behind only Austria and Switzerland. Thus, 86% of Spanish students report feeling that they belong at school (compared to 75% in the OECD average) and 78% report that they make friends easily (compared to 76% in the OECD average), which has a positive impact on the school climate and student motivation and performance.

The study was conducted among 37 OECD countries and 44 partner countries and economies. A total of 690,000 students and 21,621 schools took part. Among them, 30,800 are Spanish students and 966 Spanish schools. In addition to the three core subjects, the report, whose fieldwork was carried out in the spring of 2022, analyzes an innovative competence, this time creative thinking. The results of this competency will be known in June 2024. In 2024, the results of the financial competence and a volume on student readiness for lifelong learning will also be published.