Danish pupils post worst PISA results as reading skills plunge

Danish 15-year-olds have recorded their worst-ever results in the international PISA assessment, with performance declining in mathematics, reading and science, DR reports.

Reading skills have fallen particularly sharply, according to Maja Bødtcher-Hansen, chair of Danske Gymnasier, an organisation representing Danish upper-secondary schools, and rector of Frederiksberg Gymnasium.

“When you ask them to read a long and difficult text, they come to a standstill. They simply find it too demanding and not stimulating enough,” she told the P1 Morgen programme.

Bødtcher-Hansen said young people had not become less intelligent or less capable of learning. Instead, she said, they struggled more to concentrate for a long time when faced with something difficult.

“We have to insist that people must be able to sit and read longer texts, even if it is painstakingly boring,” she said.

She said responsibility lay with primary and lower-secondary schools, upper-secondary schools and, in particular, parents. “We spend time on things that perhaps we did not in the past. I also think that is a challenge,” she said.

The decline is not limited to Denmark and has also been recorded in many other countries, including the Nordic countries with which Denmark is normally compared. However, Denmark has seen the sharpest drop in the Nordic region since the previous PISA assessment in 2022.

The share of Danish pupils classified as low-performing has increased to between one in three and one in four pupils.

Bødtcher-Hansen said the answer was not to give pupils less teaching. “We absolutely need to get them to read more and learn more,” she said.

At the same time, she said young people had strengths that she herself did not have at the same age. They were knowledgeable about the world, quick to understand new subjects, curious and good at working together, she said.

“It should not sound as if we have completely lost them. What we need is to get them to sit down and concentrate for a long time on something difficult, and learn these basic skills,” she said.

What is PISA?

PISA is a large international assessment conducted every three years. It tests 15-year-old pupils in mathematics, reading and science, while also asking about their background, wellbeing and school environment.

In Denmark, 6,200 pupils from 283 schools and educational institutions took part, including schools and youth education institutions, both public and private. The pupils completed the assessment last year, but the results have only now been published.