Malta fails in latest international education results – Almost half of students fall short in reading

Malta’s performance in reading, mathematics and science has deteriorated, with almost half of the country’s 15-year-olds now unable to demonstrate basic reading proficiency, according to the latest international assessment published by the OECD.

In a damning report which shows how the government’s education policy is failing, results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) show that Maltese students performed below the OECD average in all three subjects in 2025. Malta’s average performance also declined across all three areas compared with 2022.

Reading produced the most alarming result.

Only 52% of Maltese students attained at least Level 2, the benchmark the OECD considers the minimum proficiency needed to identify a text’s main idea, locate information using specified criteria and reflect on its purpose and form.

This means that approximately 48% of Malta’s 15-year-olds did not reach that benchmark, compared with 31% across OECD countries.

Only 2% of Maltese students were top performers in reading, against an OECD average of 6%.

The results were also weak in mathematics, where 56% reached the minimum proficiency level, compared with an OECD average of 65%. In science, 63% reached the benchmark, against 74% across the OECD.

The decline extends beyond the latest three-year period.

Compared with 2015, the proportion of low-performing students increased by 15 percentage points in mathematics, 12 points in reading and four points in science.

The OECD said Malta’s 2025 reading and science results were lower than those recorded in any assessment before 2022.

The findings also challenge explanations that attribute weak outcomes principally to socioeconomic disadvantage. Almost half of the Maltese students assessed were among the most advantaged quarter of students internationally.

Although the science-performance gap between Malta’s most and least advantaged students narrowed over the decade, the OECD found that this happened partly because advantaged students performed worse while disadvantaged students improved.

Conditions within schools present further concerns.

Some 43% of students said noise and disorder disrupted most or every science lesson, compared with an OECD average of 31%. Another 42% said classmates did not listen to their teacher.

These findings contrast with students’ relatively positive assessment of their teachers.

Seventy-eight per cent said their science teacher showed an interest in every student’s learning, while 77% said teachers provided additional help when required – both above OECD averages.

Absenteeism also worsened sharply.

Around 45% of Maltese students reported skipping at least one entire school day during the two weeks preceding the assessment, twice the OECD average of 22% and up from 35% in 2022.

Bullying increased, while students reported declining family engagement. The proportion who discussed school problems with a parent or guardian at least weekly fell from 58% in 2022 to 46% in 2025.

There were some positive developments.

Reported teacher shortages declined, disadvantaged students demonstrated comparatively strong academic resilience, and most schools introduced mobile-phone bans.

But the overall picture is one of declining achievement accompanied by persistent disruption and disengagement.

The Maltese sample included 3,680 students across 46 schools, representing an estimated 95% of the country’s 15-year-old population.

The OECD said Malta met all its technical data-quality standards.