Key Findings

• The Aotearoa New Zealand average mathematics score has decreased by 15 points since 2018, as did the OECD average. As many other countries also had declines in mathematics achievement, Aotearoa New Zealand has maintained its relative position compared to them.
• While the proportion of high achievers is similar to PISA 2018 the proportion of low achievers in mathematics has significantly increased since PISA 2018.
• Aotearoa New Zealand’s average reading and science scores for PISA 2022 are similar to our PISA 2018 scores. Compared to PISA 2018, Aotearoa New Zealand maintained its relative position to other countries in reading and science, as many of those who had mean scores similar to us in 2018 had declines in reading and/or science.
• In 2022 Aotearoa New Zealand’s mean reading score was higher than the OECD average reading score than it was in 2018, as the 2022 OECD average for reading declined more than the Aotearoa New Zealand average.
• The proportions of high achievers and low achievers in reading and science were similar to that for PISA 2018.
• The variation in mathematics achievement scores was higher in Aotearoa New Zealand than the OECD average. In mathematics, the score-point difference of 258 points between the lowest-performing students (10th percentile) and the highest-performing students (90th percentile) was higher than the OECD score point-difference of 235 points.
• While there are differences between schools in achievement, most of the variation in achievement in Aotearoa New Zealand is due to differences between students within schools. This means that most schools in Aotearoa New Zealand have a large range between high and low performers.
• The between school variation for Aotearoa New Zealand is smaller than for most other participating countries.
• In Aotearoa New Zealand, students from low socio-economic backgrounds had a larger drop in average mathematics achievement than more socio-economically advantaged students.
• In Aotearoa New Zealand, the average performance of boys in mathematics was higher than the average performance of girls. In reading, Aotearoa New Zealand girls had a higher average score than boys. In science, boys and girls had similar average achievement levels.