Finnish teenagers' performance has declined once again in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) study. Scores fell in all three subjects measured: reading, mathematics and science.
Even so, Finnish students still performed above the OECD average from 91 countries in the results published on Tuesday.
Science was the main focus of this round of the Pisa study, and Finnish teenagers still performed above the OECD average in the subject.
The drop in Finnish teens' performances was found to be especially sharp in reading, with Finland ranking 17th in the latest standings. Things were much different at the turn of the millennium, when Finland ranked first in the world for reading in the initial PISA study.
The reasons behind the decline include less reading of printed books as well as dwindling perseverance.
Only 41 percent of Finnish pupils now say they try harder when a task feels difficult.
"This was the smallest share among the different countries," said Arto K. Ahonen, Finland’s national research director for the Pisa study.
School no longer the great equalizer
A new development evident from the Pisa results is that teens from wealthier families are now seeing the biggest decline. In the past, they performed the best.
This trend is not limited to Finland. Performance has also declined in other countries, with Asian countries being the exception.
"We used to think that perhaps a stronger family background supported pupils' skills so well that they would not decline. This time, that was no longer the case," Ahonen explained.
Differences in performance between schools in Finland remained small compared with the OECD average and were largely unchanged from the previous assessment. At the same time, the gap between students within individual schools has widened and is now considerably larger than the OECD average.
Girls perform better in reading and science, while boys and girls are fairly evenly matched in math.
While Finland's score did not fall by a statistically significant amount compared with the previous results from three years ago, a longer-term decline in performance is clear.
After reviewing the Pisa test results of thousands of 15-year-olds, Ahonen hopes the findings will finally draw attention to differences in pupils' skill levels.
"From an education policy perspective, the most important thing is to stop the gap between students' skills from widening," he said.
Pupils in Finland had an average science score of 504 points, well above the OECD average of 482.
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial international study conducted by the OECD that evaluates the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students. The 15-year-old students took part in the Pisa tests in spring 2025.
