Greece’s teens did poorly in the last round of the international student assessment programme (PISA) tests given by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), ranking 43rd among 72 countries in key categories and slipping in relation to previous years.
High school students earned 455 points in science questions, down six points compared with the last test, 467 points in reading (down eight points since the last test) and 454 in mathematics (up one point since the last tests). They were below the OECD average in all three categories, around the OECD average for gender and social background equity but below the OECD average for immigrant student equity.
It might not come as a surprise for some, given the economic instability, limited resources and fragile psyche of Greek society, but these are factors that cannot be dismissed especially when one notices the economic status of the countries that performed well: Singapore, Japan, Estonia, Taiwan, Finland, Macao, Canada, Vietnam, Hong Kong and China.
Greek students were also outranked by their peers in several European countries, including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, Poland, Norway, Portugal, Austria and Spain. They did better than students in Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus and many western Balkan countries.
