The PISA 2025 results, released on September 8, reveal Portugal's worst performance since joining the international study. The country scored 460 points in mathematics and 462 in reading, both historical lows, while science registered 482 points. Compared to 2015, the year of Portugal's best result, the decline in mathematics exceeds 30 points, wiping out two decades of progress and returning to 2006 levels.
Portugal dedicates approximately 4.3% of GDP and more than 10% of total public expenditure to education, above the European average. The problem identified in the article is not the lack of financial resources, but rather the inability to transform them into effective learning and how they are allocated.
Socioeconomic inequality explains 17% of the variation in mathematics results in Portugal, compared to 12% on the OECD average. Among the most disadvantaged students, 53% do not reach minimum proficiency levels, compared to only 14% among the most advantaged, revealing that the education system is amplifying, rather than correcting, inequalities of origin.
The article warns that in a country facing a shortage of qualified labor and structurally low productivity, this situation represents a problem of economic competitiveness. The Government has committed to reversing the trend by 2029, but the article argues that concrete decisions will be needed starting now, with a strategy oriented toward results, clear targets, and serious evaluation of what works.
