Ei-iE

Japan’s results in the 2025 edition of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) recently released by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) confirm the strength and relative equity of its public education system. But they also reveal growing pressures on students, severe staffing and resource shortages, and low levels of curiosity. Education unions are calling for the results to drive investment in public education and social dialogue, rather than another race up the rankings.

During a webinar organised by Education International (EI) and the Japan Teachers' Union (JTU), Antonia Wulff, EI Director of Research, Policy and Advocacy, urged education unionists to look beyond rankings and focus on what the evidence reveals about the conditions needed for quality education.

Education International: Looking beyond rankings

" PISA showed a generally negative trend in performance across countries this year," she said. "What we want to flag is not just a decline in reading, but a decline in certain types of reading. Students find it increasingly hard to read longer and more complex texts."

Wulff also pointed to “a troubling decline in the reported curiosity of students,” and willingness to engage with challenging learning tasks, “which is something that we as Education International really should interrogate."

For EI, the findings reinforce the importance of investing in education systems and education workers.

"The report is very clear: if you do not invest in education, you cannot expect good results," Wulff stressed. "PISA 2025 provides useful evidence as we engage with governments and policymakers."

OECD analysis: Strong results but signs of concern

Presenting the OECD's analysis of Japan's results, Miyako Ikeda, senior OECD analyst responsible for reporting on PISA, emphasised that "PISA is not a study to give you answers. It is there to highlight and identify challenges and issues."

Japan maintained high performance across science, reading, and mathematics, while also achieving strong results in the new "Learning in a Digital World" assessment, particularly in computational problem-solving skills. More than 80 per cent of Japanese students demonstrated a solid capacity to solve complex problems by breaking them into manageable parts and thinking logically.

The OECD analysis also highlighted one of Japan's key strengths: educational equity. The relationship between socioeconomic background and academic performance is weaker in Japan than in many other countries, placing the country among a small group that combines strong outcomes with comparatively high levels of fairness.

"Students feel that teacher support is better than before," Ikeda also observed. "I think these findings reflect the extraordinary efforts and hard work of teachers."

However, Ikeda identified several issues requiring urgent attention.

Despite strong academic results, Japanese students reported lower levels of curiosity, cognitive adaptability, and goal setting than the OECD average.

"Wanting to know how things work and wanting to understand things better are important areas in which Japan is scoring low," Ikeda explained.

The OECD also found that school leaders increasingly express concern about teacher shortages and insufficient preparation time, especially for the effective use of digital technologies.

JTU: PISA must be a tool to drive social dialogue, not competition

Reacting to the findings, Junji Kouda, Executive Board member of the Japan Teachers' Union responsible for education system reform, argued that Japan must move beyond its historical fixation with league tables and use PISA as a tool to improve learning and teaching conditions.

"In Japan, there was once what was widely reported as the 'PISA shock', and Japan became extremely sensitive to rankings," Kouda said. "Today, we need to think about how we can use PISA results not as a competition tool, but to improve public education and realise the wellbeing of children and teaching staff."

JTU also acknowledges that one of the key messages emerging from PISA 2025 is that students need more space to develop curiosity and independent thinking.

"One reason for this lack of curiosity is that the curriculum and the number of teaching hours per day are so heavy that there is no breathing space for children," Kouda noted. "Before they even have a chance to think that something looks interesting, they are already being driven by the curriculum and the pressure of the timetable."

The union also warned that the pursuit of improved test scores has contributed to heavier workloads for educators. Teachers increasingly struggle to find enough time to prepare lessons, support students, and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

PISA 2025 highlighted growing concerns about shortages of teachers, learning materials, and adequate facilities in the Japanese context. Kouda argued that these challenges require greater public investment in education, rather than continued efforts to achieve more with fewer resources.

"We have already reached the limits of what is possible in delivering quality education while keeping costs low and maintaining efficiency," he warned. "If this situation is not changed, teachers will simply continue to leave schools."

For JTU, the way forward is clear: strengthen social dialogue, increase investment in public education, and improve both students' learning conditions and teachers' working conditions.

Kouda concluded: "We need to use PISA as a tool for social dialogue rather than for facilitating competition. We must expand investment in public education and guarantee children's right to learn while ensuring that reforms bring real improvements to the working conditions of teaching staff."