FAQs
These FAQs have been compiled from the most common questions asked by schools. If you have any queries on any aspect of the study, please do not hesitate to contact the PISA25 support team.
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is the world’s largest international study of education systems, developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Every three years, PISA tests 15-year-old pupils from all over the world in mathematics, reading, and science. The tests are designed to gauge how well the pupils master key knowledge and skills in order to be prepared for real-life situations in the adult world. More information can be found at pisa25.pearson.com and on the OECD’s PISA website.
For England PISA will take place February to March 2025, and in Wales and Northern Ireland from September to October 2025.
A date has been proposed for the study to be conducted at your school (in the introductory email sent to your Headteacher). We hope that this date is convenient for your staff and pupils, and that suitable room(s) can be made available. If for any reason this date is not suitable, your PISA School Coordinator can contact our PISA Support Team to suggest three alternative dates between 24th Feb – 4th April 2025 (England) or 15th September – 14th October 2025 (Wales / NI) for the study to take place. Our PISA Support Team will reply to confirm your new test date.
3) Why has my school been selected to take part in PISA?
Your school has been specifically selected to represent your country in the PISA study. One of the requirements of PISA is to ensure that the sample of participating schools is representative of schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Participation in the study is not compulsory but the Department is making it clear that its strong expectation is that all schools do participate.
4) Why are England, Wales and Northern Ireland take part in PISA?
PISA is the world’s largest international education study that measures the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds. The results help us understand the national picture of pupil achievement of this age group and directly influence national policy and developments, helping shape education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for pupils of the future.
PISA helps us to understand how well pupils can apply knowledge and skills in science, mathematics and reading to analyse, reason and communicate effectively as they examine, interpret and solve problems. The study also collects valuable information on pupil's attitudes and motivations to help understand how they contribute to pupil performance.
PISA provides an opportunity to compare achievement internationally and encourages countries to learn from each other, creating fairer and more inclusive school systems. More than 90 countries and economies will take part, providing a rich set of data for comparison.
PISA is the world’s largest international education survey that measures the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds. It builds the national picture of pupil achievement of this age group, with implications for local and national policy and developments.
5) What have we learnt from PISA?
Results from PISA 2022 were published in December 2023. You can find the full national reports for England, Northern Ireland and Wales at the link below. There is also a University of Oxford blog that summarises some of the key findings, which you can find here: https://www.education.ox.ac.uk/oxford-education-deanery/digest/15472/
National Reports:
- Department for Education (England)
- Department of Education (Northern Ireland)
- Welsh Government (Wales), in English and Cymraeg
6) What are the benefits to my school for taking part in the study?
The schools and pupils that participate in PISA are making a valuable contribution to the understanding of our education system and it is only with this participation that we can realise the opportunities that PISA brings to improve our educational policies and practices.
By participating in PISA, you will be:
- Supporting a study that helps us better understand our education system, directly influencing national policy and developments.
- Contributing to an international evidence base that shapes educational reform globally, helping to raise standards and reduce attainment gaps. See how PISA shapes education reform by visiting www.oecd.org/pisa/aboutpisa/
- Providing insights into areas such as social and gender equality, and attitudes to learning, allowing policy-makers to learn from best practice within the UK and internationally.
You will be providing your pupils with the opportunity to:
- Engage with questions that challenge their ability to retrieve and creatively apply knowledge, via scenario-based questions.
- Practise their external assessment skills through an innovative ‘low stakes’ online assessment for which no prior preparation is needed.
- Have the experience of representing their country in an important global study, demonstrating skills, abilities and resilience to the world.
7) How is our contribution recognised?
In recognition of your valued contribution, your school will receive an administration payment. You will be sent a payment form following your initial call from the PISA Support Team.
8) Will school staff be required to invigilate the study?
No. The National Centre (Pearson) will provide a Test Administrator who will visit the school on the assessment day and have responsibility for running the study. Test Administrators are experienced education professionals, often ex-teachers, who all have Enhanced DBS / Access NI clearance. However, we do ask that a member of the school staff stays in the room during the assessment. Welsh speaking Test Administrators will be provided where required.
9) What does the assessment consist of?
Pupils will complete a two-hour interactive computer-based assessment, answering multiple choice and open-ended questions on science, mathematics and reading. In PISA 2025, the focus area will be science, which includes a range of topics. For more information on the specific framework, see here https://pisa-framework.oecd.org/science-2025/
Each pupil will take different combinations of test items from a larger question bank. The assessment is designed to capture how pupils master certain skills such as critical thinking in science, problem-solving in mathematics and reading strategies; skills that are important beyond the classroom.
Pupils and staff will also be asked to complete an online questionnaire to provide important contextual information to supplement the assessment data:
- The pupil questionnaire asks participating pupils about aspects of their home and school lives, including demographic information, their home environment, school climate for learning, their attitudes towards learning mathematics, science and reading, and their use of digital resources.
- The school questionnaire asks the Headteacher (or member of the SLT) a range of contextual questions about the participating school, including demographic characteristics of the school’s pupils, the availability of resources for teaching, and the school’s learning environment. The school questionnaire should be completed before the assessment date.
Examples of the assessments and questionnaires can be viewed at pisa25.pearson.com
10) Can I choose which pupils take part in the study?
No – a random sampling process will be used to select up to 40 of your pupils who were born in 2009 (across appropriate year levels) for schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. You will be informed of the pupils chosen as soon as the sampling is complete: we expect this to happen between November and December 2024 (England) or between May and June 2025 (Wales / NI). It is important that all pupils in the sample carry out the assessment, however for pupils that may find it difficult to engage with the assessments, exclusion criteria can be applied. You will be sent more detail on exclusions at a later stage.
11) How long will the study take?
On the day of the assessment we will require pupils for around 3 to 4 hours. Most schools aim to complete the study by lunch, though we can make arrangements to start later.
The assessment lasts 2 hours. After a 5-10 minute break, pupils will be asked to complete the online questionnaire, which will take around 30-40 minutes.
Our Test Administrator will arrive at least an hour before your chosen start time to prepare the room. The School Coordinator should aim to arrive at the same time. Parking on the school premises is welcomed if available.
The school questionnaire is completed online in advance of the assessment day. Instructions on how to access the questionnaire will be sent to the School Coordinator to pass on to the Headteacher. The questionnaire should take about 30 minutes to complete.
12) Do pupils need to bring anything or prepare?
No prior preparation or work is required for pupils to be able to complete the assessment.
Pupils should bring a calculator and a book to read quietly in the event of finishing the assessment early.
13) Where should the study take place and what IT equipment do we need?
Pupils will need to take the assessment in a room that is quiet and free from distraction. Pupils can sit next to one another in normal classroom spacing.
Each pupil will need access to an internet enabled computer with keyboard and mouse/trackpad. Using IT rooms is ideal; alternatively a classroom with laptops and wifi/internet is fine, as long as the laptops can either last for 4 hours on battery or access a plug.
Ipads and tablet devices are not suitable for PISA.
14) Will I need to set up IT facilities and Wi-Fi for my pupils to take the tests?
We will liaise closely with your nominated School Coordinator and IT Coordinator ahead of the assessment day to ensure that the IT facilities in your school are set up correctly.
On the assessment day we will require:
- An internet enabled computer with keyboard and mouse for each pupil: this can be a laptop or PC and will be required for up to 4 hours (for the assessment, pupil questionnaire and breaks)
- If laptops are used, they should be fully charged before the day of the study
- A wi-fi or internet connection, since the assessments and questionnaires are accessed over the internet using a secure log in
- We also ask that your IT Coordinator is available on the assessment day to assist with any issues that may arise.
In January 2025 (England) or June 2025 (Wales, NI), we will send you a link to run a short (5 minute) diagnostic test on a computer on your school system, to test the compatibility of your computers with the assessments. If the test detects any issues, we will be in touch and work with your IT staff to remedy the issue(s).
If your school doesn’t have enough PCs or laptops we can provide additional laptops for the assessments: please get in touch with the PISA Support Team who will be happy to help you.
15) What are the main duties of the PISA School Coordinator?
The PISA Support Team will support your PISA School Coordinator throughout the process and aim to keep administration to a minimum. A year 11 class teacher or examinations officer is often selected for this role. The main duties include:
- Being the main point of contact for Pearson and for the PISA Test Administrator.
- Agreeing the date and making arrangements for pupils to complete the assessment in school.
- Working with Pearson to confirm details of all eligible pupils and then those sampled to participate.
- Informing pupils and parents of the study, using the letter templates provided by Pearson.
- Informing the board of governors about the school’s participation in the study (your Headteacher may wish to do this).
- Ensuring IT facilities are set up ready for online assessments.
- Ensuring secure storage of any materials sent prior to the study.
- Overseeing the distribution, completion and collection of school questionnaires prior to the test date.
- On the assessment day, supporting the PISA Test Administrator.
The Next Steps page provides a timeline of on the duties of the PISA School Coordinator and we’ll send you more detailed information as you reach each step and tasks are upcoming.
To check that we are delivering the study in a similar way in all schools, a Quality Monitor may attend your session. If this happens, the School Coordinator will be asked some questions about the arrangements your school were required to make and your views of the way in which the study was organised.
16) What are the main duties of the deputy School Coordinator?
We ask that each school provides a deputy School Coordinator in case of absence of the main School Coordinator. They will not have to carry out any duties unless the main School Coordinator is absent for a long duration.
17) What if a student does not want to answer a particular question?
Pupils are encouraged to do their best when answering the assessment questions to demonstrate what they know and can do. In the questionnaire, pupils are encouraged to give honest answers, with the knowledge that their responses will remain confidential throughout the process. However, pupils may refrain from answering any question/s they do not feel comfortable answering.
18) Will results remain confidential?
Yes - pupil and school identities will remain confidential and the results of individual schools or pupils will not be published.
The data shared with the international study organisers will be de-identified: pupil and school details will be removed and replaced with a code so that no individual school or pupil can be identified.
The data will be analysed alongside that of other schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and in other participating nations. The government and any organisation granted access to the data for the purposes of international comparison or research will not publish information which identifies or makes it possible to identify any individual or school participating in the study.
19) How will the study protect my school’s data?
We take data protection very seriously and follow the Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Any personal information we collect will be held securely and no individual pupil or school will be identified or identifiable in any report or publication. We will only hold the PISA data long enough to allow the analysis and reporting of the study after which we will delete the data from our systems.
20) How will pupils and parents/guardians be informed about the study?
We will provide template letters for you to send to pupils taking part in the study and their parents/guardians. These templates will be emailed to you so you can edit them as necessary and print or distribute electronically. We will provide you with letters on data privacy (one for pupils and one for parents) which must be sent to pupils and their parents/guardians and should not be altered. Letters should be sent once we have confirmed the pupils taking part in the study (not before).
To find out more, parents/guardians and pupils can be directed to the dedicated website we have set up for PISA 2025 specifically for participants in England, Wales and Northern Ireland at pisa25.pearson.com.
21) Where can I get support/ further information?
The PISA Support Team can be reached Monday to Friday between 9am-4pm (from 8am on test days), see contact details at the top of FAQs.
For more general information about PISA, please access the OECD PISA website at http://www.oecd.org/pisa/aboutpisa/
