Falling test scores in schools startle EU countries: Why are standards going down?

Home Shows Talking Europe To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Cover image: TALKING EUROPE © FRANCE 24 12:20 Issued on: 09/10/2026 - 17:03Modified: 09/10/2026 - 17:04 From the show It has been dubbed "the PISA shock". Countries that had been used to their school pupils performing well in test scores are seeing a plunge in standards. The PISA test is an international assessment led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which measures how well 15‑year‑olds in over 80 countries apply reading, mathematics and science skills to real‑world problems. In the latest rankings, France's results were the worst it has ever had, and Germany's school pupils got their worst PISA report card too. When it comes to EU member states in the global PISA rankings, the top five performers are Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Austria and Poland. France hovers in 27th place, while the bottom five performers are Malta, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus. We look at these ...