> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.benchmarkanalytics.com.au/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Science: Australia’s decade of stability in proficiency - URL: https://www.benchmarkanalytics.com.au/australia-science-performance-pisa-2025/ - Published: 2026-09-15T21:00:25.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-15T21:00:24.000Z - Description: Australia’s science performance fell during the decade after 2006, but the decline has since stalled. The latest PISA results show science scores essentially unchanged since 2015 and Australia maintaining its advantage over comparable OECD countries. - Author: Nick Hossack - Tags: PISA Science Results, Australia, Productivity, Australian Economy Australia’s latest PISA results contain a considerably more encouraging story on science than they do on mathematics. The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment tests the skills of 15-year-olds across participating countries. Australia’s science score in 2025 was **509.1 points**. That is below the **526.9** recorded when the comparable science series began in 2006 — a long-run decline of **17.8 points**. But unlike mathematics, the deterioration has not continued relentlessly. Australia scored **527.3 in 2009**, before falling to 521.5 in 2012 and 510.0 in 2015\. It dropped further to 503.0 in 2018, but has since recovered modestly: to 507.0 in 2022 and **509.1 in 2025**. The striking result is therefore that Australia’s science performance has been essentially unchanged for a decade. The 2025 result is less than one point below the 2015 result. The distribution of students tells a similar story. In 2006, **12.9 per cent** of Australian students were low performers in science, while **14.6 per cent** were top performers. By 2015, the low-performing share had risen to 17.6 per cent and the top-performing share had fallen to 11.2 per cent. But there has been little further deterioration. In 2025, low performers represented **18.4 per cent** of students and top performers **12.0 per cent**. Australia also retains a substantial international advantage. The Australian science score of **509.1** in 2025 was **27 points above the OECD average of 481.9**. More importantly, Australia has broadly maintained its advantage when measured against the OECD’s consistent group of 23 countries. In 2006, Australia was **24.1 points ahead** of the OECD-23 average. In 2025, it remained **23.2 points ahead**. That provides an important qualification to Australia’s broader education story. Science performance has declined since the mid-2000s, and the proportion of weak students remains substantially higher than it was two decades ago. But the evidence does not show an education system continuing to deteriorate across every academic domain. Mathematics has fallen at every PISA cycle since 2003\. Science has effectively stabilised over the past decade. Understanding why the two subjects have followed such different trajectories may be more useful than treating Australia’s education performance as a single problem. Australia's science performance has stabilised PISA mean science score, Australian 15-year-olds 2006 526.9 2025 509.1 Change since 2015 \-0.9 EFFECTIVELY STABLE SINCE 2015 535 525 515 505 495 526.9 509.1 2006 2009 2012 2015 2018 2022 2025 Low performers 12.9% → 18.4% 2006 to 2025 Top performers 14.6% → 12.0% 2006 to 2025 Above OECD average +27.2 pts in 2025 **Source:** OECD PISA 2025 Results. Australia mean science performance, 2006–2025\. Scores rounded to one decimal place.