Sweden Faces Historic Drop in PISA 2025 Results Amid Political Dispute on Causes

The latest PISA 2025 results reveal an alarming decline in Swedish students' proficiency across all measured disciplines—science, reading, and mathematics—marking the lowest performance in 25 years. Swedish 15-year-olds demonstrated historically weak competencies in these subjects, sparking urgent debate among politicians and educational experts over the causes and necessary remedial actions.

According to the OECD's PISA assessment covering 91 countries, this decline coincides with an overall low in average scores among OECD nations. Swedish political factions are sharply divided: left-wing politicians attribute the deterioration to chronic resource shortages within the education system, while the Tidö parties blame the rise in screen exposure and effects of mass immigration for declining student performance.

Anna Olkog, president of Sveriges Lärare, emphasizes the critical need to move beyond excuses and implement decisive political interventions. She highlights an especially concerning downward trend in reading comprehension skills that hampers students’ ability to critically evaluate information—an essential capability in today’s world saturated with information and AI-generated content. Olkog calls for protecting students' time for reading both in and outside school.

The complex interplay of factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing use of AI technologies in education complicates pinpointing a singular cause. Sveriges Lärare proposes three key measures to halt and reverse this trend: increasing teachers' planning time, reducing class sizes to allow more individual attention, and providing timely support for students at risk of falling behind. Furthermore, national regulations defining teachers’ workloads and minimum planning time are viewed as instrumental to enhancing educational outcomes.

This comprehensive call to action opposes quick fixes, advocating instead for sustained, long-term strategic efforts to restore Swedish students’ capabilities in core academic areas amid growing global educational challenges.