Teen reading slumps to worst this century due to surge in screen time

Teenagers more accustomed to smartphones than Shakespeare are reading at the worst levels seen this century, driving a broader decline in education, a global student assessment found.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's 2025 test of 760,000 15-year-olds across 91 countries showed reading, mathematics and science scores at their lowest levels since data began to be collected in 2000.

On average, students were reading at a level that had in the past been expected of students one year younger, according to the OECD's latest Programme for International Student Assessment released on Tuesday.

A 2012 reading high of 501 on PISA's index had declined to a score of 466 last year. The test is widely regarded as the world's leading gauge of educational performance, and its results are closely scrutinised by governments and educators.

"In reading, more screen time and less reading for pleasure have gone hand in hand with weaker results," OECD head Mathias Cormann told a press conference.

"We're also seeing more hasty reading, students rushing through a text and giving a quick wrong answer."

Reading scores fell more sharply in students from better-off backgrounds, the study added.

Hindered by falling reading standards, average teenage science and maths skills were also at their lowest this century. Science fell from a 2009 high of 506 on the index to 486, while maths was down from 502 to 469 in the same period.

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East Asia was the best-performing region. Chinese cities that participated in the test, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan had the best educational systems, with Britain and Estonia the only countries outside the region that made it into the top 10 in reading, mathematics and science.

Digital distraction

The report stopped short of endorsing smartphone bans in schools. But it said that digital distraction is linked to lower science scores in 59 of 82 education systems studied, and more than one in four students say devices distract classmates in science lessons.

The OECD said students reported spending an average of 3.4 hours per weekday on digital devices for leisure in OECD member countries, and another 3 hours per weekday in the classroom and at home for learning.

Digital devices could be used to improve learning, but only up to a point, Cormann said. If used more than five hours a day, results started to fall, he added.

The study also found that nearly half of students use artificial intelligence chatbots regularly for learning, but those who use them for drafting essays, summarising texts and researching topics generally score about 20 points lower in science, equivalent to a year's learning.