Lisbon, Sept. 8, 2026 (Lusa) - The poor results achieved by Portuguese pupils in the international PISA study «are causing concern» at the ministry of education, which denies any political responsibility for the decline in learning outcomes but says it is responsible for finding solutions to reverse the downward trend by 2029.
«We are talking about results that are historic, but in a negative sense,» lamented the Deputy Secretary of State for Education, Alexandre Homem Cristo, on the day the PISA 2025 report – Programme for International Student Assessment – was published. The study involved more than 760,000 pupils from 91 countries and economies, including nearly 7,000 15-year-old Portuguese pupils.
Portuguese pupils who sat the tests last year performed worse in Reading than in 2000, whilst in Mathematics they achieved average results similar to those recorded in 2003. Portugal took part in PISA for the first time in 2000, with pupils ranking among the lowest-performing, well below the OECD average.
By 2015, results had improved to such an extent that the Director of the OECD's Directorate for Education and Skills, Andreas Schleicher, no longer viewed Portugal as a country of "poor pupils" but instead saw it as one of «Europe's greatest success stories». In 2015, Portuguese pupils scored above the OECD average for the first time in all three assessed areas: Maths, Science and Reading. In 2018, results stabilised, but over the last decade the upward trend has reversed.
«From a public policy perspective, these results are not directly linked to this Government's term in office. This does not mean that the Government does not feel responsible for finding solutions,» argued Alexandre Homem Cristo, who was first appointed as secretary of state to the Minister for Education, Fernando Alexandre, in April 2024. The PISA tests were held around a year later in 225 Portuguese schools.
Pupils scored 462 points in Reading, eight points below the result of the test held in 2000, on a scale where 500 points correspond to the OECD benchmark. In Maths, Portugal scored 460 points, falling back to figures similar to those of 2003, when it scored 466 points.
«We are faced with results that give cause for concern,» lamented the secretary of state, acknowledging that the decline had occurred across all three subjects assessed and that the ministry's departments are «concerned and keeping a close watch».
«We had already seen signs that this was necessary; naturally, it is still striking to look at the OECD results,» he acknowledged.
Although the decline recorded in Portugal follows a trend seen across OECD countries, Homem Cristo argued that Portugal cannot «rest on its laurels with the OECD average», which should be merely «a point of comparison», not least because, according to the organisation's calculations, the decline in knowledge already represents the loss of at least one year's worth of learning.
The ministry of education wants Portuguese pupils to score above the OECD average in the next PISA assessment in 2029, a cycle which, according to the secretary of state, will already be able to evaluate the policies of the current government.
Among the measures currently underway in the area of reading, Cristo highlighted investment in libraries for primary schools, the assessment of reading fluency and a new training programme on the pedagogy of reading instruction for teachers, «which is being prepared by EduQA» (Institute of Education, Quality and Evaluation).
On the causes of underachievement, he emphasised that «Portugal's PISA results tell many stories», rejecting a single explanation. Among the factors he cited were the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on these young people, who were still in primary school at the time, and the growing difficulty in concentrating on tasks that require greater effort.
He also advocated for greater pedagogical diversity, through a review of the curriculum and core learning outcomes, enabling teachers to adapt resources to the needs of each pupil and to nurture those with the greatest potential.
Regarding inequalities between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils, he emphasised the importance of early and rigorous assessment, particularly in primary education, to improve schools' response.
As for the shortage of teachers and support staff, he acknowledged that the lack of resources penalises pupils, but rejected the notion that increasing resources alone is sufficient to improve results.
According to the minister, performance also depends on how schools are run, the curriculum, assessment processes and the use of diagnostic assessments to identify difficulties and guide appropriate responses.
He also highlighted regional disparities, with the greatest difficulties concentrated in the Lisbon region, the Setúbal Peninsula and the Algarve, where there are also problems with recruiting teachers.
SIM/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
