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 Pupil 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.
2. What is the field trial and when does it take place?
The field trial takes place a year and a half before the main study and is an opportunity to trial how the PISA 2025 assessments, questionnaires and processes work with a small sample of schools and pupils. Lessons learned from the field trial are used to improve the main study - it is therefore a very important and influential part of the study. The field trial will take place in March 2024.
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 two alternative dates between 4th - 29th March 2024 for the study to take place. Our PISA Support Team will reply to confirm your new test date.
Due to industrial action by the teaching unions Northern Ireland will not be taking part in the field trial. The main study will proceed as planned in 2025 in Northern Ireland.
3. Why has my school been selected to take part in PISA field trial?
Your school has been specifically selected to represent your country in PISA 2025 field trial. One of the requirements of the study is to ensure that the sample of participating schools is representative of schools in England and Wales.
4. Why do England and Wales 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 and Wales for pupils of the future.
PISA helps us to understand how well pupils can apply knowledge and skills in mathematics, science 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 PISA2022 will be released in December 2023.
Results from PISA 2018 were released in December 2019. The Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment blog covers various findings from the study and can be read on the PISA 2022 website for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, along with the National Reports: www.pisa2022.uk. As well as results in reading, mathematics and science (shown for each country below), the PISA 2018 study reported on pupils’ reading practices, their engagement with reading and their wellbeing.
Northern Ireland
In 2018, it was reported that pupils in Northern Ireland scored significantly higher than the OECD average in reading. PISA also reported that girls perform better than boys in reading, a pattern in common with most other OECD countries.1 Pupils in Northern Ireland showed relative strengths in the reading skills of ‘locating information’ and ‘evaluating and reflecting’ but were less strong in ‘understanding’.
England
In PISA 2018, pupils in England scored significantly above the OECD averages in reading, mathematics and science, and in common with all other participating countries, girls in England performed better than boys in reading.2 In relation to reading skills, PISA also reported that pupils in England were relatively strong in ‘evaluating and reflecting’ and ‘locating information’ but demonstrated less strength in ‘understanding’.
Wales
PISA 2018 demonstrated that pupils in Wales were more confident in their reading ability than the OECD average. The PISA study also reported that pupils in Wales were more likely to read online than printed material.3 Additional analysis of the PISA 2018 results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has showed that: Engagement in reading is strongly correlated with reading performance and is a mediator of gender and socio-economic status4; Strength of personal relationships was the most important factor linked to pupils’ life satisfaction and wellbeing. Pupils’ sense of belonging in school had the highest correlation with life satisfaction, followed by parental and then teacher relationships5; and Higher performing disadvantaged pupils tended to use metacognitive strategies, had a growth mindset and higher aspirations for their future education or careers than their lower performing similarly disadvantaged peers6.
1 Sizmur, J., Ager, R., Bradshaw, J., Classick, R., Galvis, M., Packer, J., Thomas D. and Wheater R.: National Foundation for Educational Research (2019), Achievement of 15-year-olds in Northern Ireland: PISA 2018 national report
2 Juliet Sizmur, Robert Ager, Jenny Bradshaw, Rachel Classick, Maria Galvis, Joanna Packer, David Thomas and Rebecca Wheater: National Foundation for Educational Research (2019), Achievement of 15-year olds in England: PISA 2018 result
3 Sizmur, J., Ager, R., Bradshaw, J., Classick, R., Galvis, M., Packer, J., Thomas D. and Wheater R.: National Foundation for Educational Research (2019). Achievement of 15-year-olds (Program for International Student Assessment) PISA national report: 2018
4 OECD (2021) 21st-Century Readers: Developing Literacy Skills in a Digital World
5 Lisa Kuhn, Sally Bradshaw, Angela Donkin, Lydia Fletcher, Jose Liht and Rebecca Wheater: National Foundation for Educational Research (2021), PISA 2018 additional analyses: What does PISA tell us about the wellbeing of 15-year-olds?
6 Rachel Classick, Geeta Gambhir, Jose Liht, Caroline Sharp, and Rebecca Wheater: National Foundation for Educational Research (2021), PISA 2018 additional analyses: What differentiates disadvantaged pupils who do well in PISA from those who do not?
6. What are the benefits to my school of 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 also receive a £200 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, not if you do not want to. 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 DBS 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. However, if you wish to invigilate the assessment yourself, this is allowed, and Pearson will train a member of your staff on how to administer the assessments and renumerate the school for their time.
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 67 of your year 10 and 11 pupils who were born in 2008 for schools in England and Wales. You will be informed of the pupils chosen as soon as the sampling is complete: we expect this to happen between November and December 2023. 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 in advance?
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 2024, 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).
We also ask that your IT Coordinator is available on the assessment day to assist with any issues that may arise.
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 you school were required to make and your views of the way in which the study was organised.
16. What if a pupil 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.
17. 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 and Wales and in other participating nations. For the field trial information, is used to test the assessments and procedures for the main study. 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.
18. 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.
You can view data privacy notices at pisa25.pearson.com.
19. 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 and Wales at pisa25.pearson.com.
20. 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/