Why Swiss school performance is slipping despite strong results

499 points in mathematics and 470 in reading keep Switzerland above the OECD average, yet the direction of travel has changed. The latest PISA results show a school system that still performs strongly in international comparisons while losing ground in skills pupils need every day.

Swiss 15-year-olds scored about 4% lower in mathematics and reading than they did in 2015. Mathematics fell from 521 to 499 points. Reading dropped from 492 to 470. Science has proved more resilient, edging down from 503 to 501 points.

The country remains highly placed among 91 participating countries and economies: ninth in mathematics, 13th in model-based problem-solving, 14th in science and roughly 18th in reading. Those rankings offer useful context, yet they do not erase the decline. Switzerland has a wealthy economy, a long-established vocational pathway and a decentralised school system that generally produces strong results. Its leaders now have to explain why the foundations are weakening.

The immediate concern sits at the bottom of the distribution. 29% of pupils failed to reach the required reading level, while 23% fell short in mathematics and 21% in science. These are the pupils most likely to struggle with further education, apprenticeships and the demands of work.

Basic literacy and numeracy are becoming a shared concern for schools, employers and trade unions. Christophe Darbellay, the Valais education minister and president of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education, has argued that schools may have taken on too many competing responsibilities. “Perhaps we have spread ourselves a little too thin,” he told RTS.

That diagnosis has found support beyond cantonal education departments. Travail.Suisse has connected reading and mathematics to equal opportunity and employability. The Swiss Union of Arts and Crafts wants those subjects returned to a more central place in compulsory schooling. Economiesuisse has reported weaknesses in reading and arithmetic among some young people entering vocational training, although its survey was not representative.

The concern matters particularly in Switzerland, where apprenticeships form a major route into skilled employment. A teenager who cannot follow a technical text, interpret instructions or calculate reliably faces difficulty before formal training has properly begun. Employers may respond with additional remedial instruction, narrower recruitment or greater reliance on already well-prepared applicants.

PISA cannot identify the precise classroom practice behind each result. It does show that the system’s strongest reputation cannot substitute for consistent mastery of core skills across the full pupil population.

Social background, migration history and the language spoken at home remain closely tied to attainment. Pupils who do not speak the language of instruction at home can face an extra barrier before they begin to tackle the curriculum. Children from poorer families also tend to have fewer resources outside school to reinforce reading, homework and academic support.

The latest figures contain a misleading sign of progress. The gap between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils has narrowed since 2022, according to the source report. That change has partly resulted from weaker performance among better-off pupils. A smaller gap created by decline at the top does little to improve the prospects of children who were already struggling.

Switzerland’s cantonal structure gives local authorities significant responsibility for schools, while the country’s linguistic regions bring different classroom languages and institutional traditions. The available figures do not establish that one canton or language region caused the national decline. They do underline the importance of early language support, targeted help for disadvantaged families and reliable standards across compulsory education.

A system can remain internationally competitive while leaving too many pupils below the level needed to understand complex texts or solve routine mathematical problems. Those pupils are the clearest measure of whether school is delivering equal opportunity.

The pupils taking the latest tests lived through the disruption of Covid during childhood. The pandemic interrupted lessons, routines and social contact across rich countries, and absenteeism has remained high in many of them. Covid may therefore form part of the explanation for weaker reading and mathematics. The PISA figures alone cannot measure how much of the decline came from lost classroom time or disrupted concentration.

Technology adds another pressure. Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s education director, has pointed to smartphones, social media and digital distraction as possible reasons pupils practise sustained reading less often. He has also described a rise in “hasty readers”, pupils who rush through assessments and make avoidable mistakes. Weak reading affects every subject because mathematics and science require pupils to understand written problems, instructions and evidence.

Artificial intelligence has made the debate more immediate. Swiss teenagers use AI for schoolwork more than many of their OECD peers. That statistic does not prove that AI damages learning. It does require schools to define when a tool supports analysis and when it allows a pupil to bypass the work of understanding.

Teachers need clear expectations, practical training and time to check what pupils can do independently. Digital access alone will not restore concentration or comprehension.

Switzerland needs evidence before it copies the next fashionable education reform. Over the past two decades, many Western school systems have embraced pupil-led, project-based and discovery learning. Critics say those approaches can displace explicit teaching, repeated practice and the systematic acquisition of knowledge. Supporters argue that no single teaching style can explain a decline spread across countries with different institutions and cultures.

Finland offers a warning against easy conclusions. In 2006 it ranked first in science and second in reading and mathematics. In the latest comparison cited by Le News, it ranks 12th in science, 16th in reading and 22nd in mathematics. The decline does not prove that progressive teaching methods caused the change, nor does it establish that Finland’s 2016 curriculum reform was responsible. It does show why reputation should not replace evaluation.

Swiss policymakers should track basic skills over time, examine which interventions help pupils at the bottom and give teachers room to use methods supported by evidence. Smaller classes and higher spending may contribute to better outcomes, yet neither is an automatic cure. The practical test is straightforward: can pupils read demanding material, reason with numbers and solve unfamiliar problems without outsourcing the thinking?

The next response will require coordination among cantons, schools, families, employers and teacher-training institutions. PISA has identified the pressure points. Switzerland now has to measure which repairs work.