Türkiye Makes Strong Gains in PISA 2025 Despite Education Gaps

Türkiye Makes Strong Gains in PISA 2025 Despite Education Gaps

Türkiye recorded some of the largest improvements among OECD countries in the PISA 2025 assessment, raising its scores and international rankings in science, reading and mathematics.

The latest results released by the OECD show that Türkiye ranked 19th among 91 countries in science, 18th in reading and 28th in mathematics. Compared with 2022, the country climbed 15 places in science, 18 in reading and 11 in mathematics.

Türkiye also moved above the OECD average for the first time in science and reading, while its mathematics performance reached the OECD average.

Scores Improve Across All Three Subjects

Türkiye's science score increased by 18 points compared with 2022, reaching 494 points. Reading rose by 16 points to 472, while mathematics increased by nine points to 462.

More than 760,000 15-year-old students from 91 countries and economies took part in PISA 2025, which evaluates students' abilities in reading, mathematics and science.

Türkiye's progress also came against a broader decline in average OECD performance. Between 2015 and 2025, the average OECD score fell by 28 points in reading, 22 points in mathematics and seven points in science.

Across OECD countries, around 29% of 15-year-olds were classified as low performers in all three subjects.

Socioeconomic Gap Remains Significant

Despite the improvement in overall results, PISA data shows that socioeconomic differences between students in Türkiye remain substantial.

Students from the most advantaged 25% of households scored 81 points higher in science than students from the least advantaged 25%.

The science performance gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students widened in Türkiye between 2015 and 2025, while the gap narrowed across OECD countries.

Material and Social Deprivation

PISA 2025 also looked at material and social deprivation among students.

In Türkiye, 41.6% of students experienced at least one form of deprivation. Material deprivation affected 34.3%, while 18.9% experienced social deprivation.

Material deprivation included situations where students lacked access for financial reasons to basic clothing, footwear, new clothes or bathing facilities. Social deprivation covered limited access to paid leisure activities, games at home and outdoor activities.

Across participating countries, students experiencing any form of deprivation scored an average of 52 points lower in science than their peers who did not experience deprivation.

Schools Continue to Face Resource Shortages

The assessment also highlighted shortages of staff and educational resources in Turkish schools.

Eight percent of students attended schools where principals said teacher shortages were hindering instruction. Shortages of non-teaching staff were more widespread: 43% of students attended schools where such shortages disrupted education to some extent, compared with an OECD average of 39%.

Educational resources were another concern. Twenty-four percent of students attended schools lacking resources such as textbooks, information technology, library materials or laboratory equipment.

Another 14% studied in schools with shortcomings in facilities, including buildings, schoolyards or heating systems.

School Absenteeism Remains High

School attendance was another area where Türkiye remained well above the OECD average.

Fifty-three percent of students said they had missed at least one full day of school during the two weeks before the PISA assessment. The figure was 52% in 2018 and 53% in 2022, compared with an OECD average of just 22% in 2025.

Late arrival was less unusual: 49% of students in Türkiye said they had been late for school at least once, close to the OECD average of 50%.

At the same time, 28% of students in Türkiye described school as “a waste of time”, compared with 24% across the OECD.

Bullying Remains a Concern

Bullying also remains widespread among students in participating countries.

In Türkiye, 21.4% of students said they experienced at least one form of bullying several times a month or more, compared with an OECD average of 20%.

Some 15.7% said other students had made fun of them, while 3.2% reported being threatened. Three percent of students in both Türkiye and the OECD overall said upsetting information about them had been posted online several times a month or more.

📊 The overall picture is mixed: Türkiye has made significant progress in PISA performance and moved above the OECD average in science and reading, but socioeconomic inequality, deprivation, school resources and absenteeism remain important challenges.