Philippines Still Lags in Math, Reading, and Science According to PISA 2022

The Philippines' PISA 2022 results revealed that Filipino students continue to be among the weakest globally in mathematics, reading, and science. There was no significant improvement compared to the 2018 scores, despite education reforms. Less than a quarter of students tested reached the minimum level of proficiency in all three subjects.

The Philippines consistently performed below the global average across all categories. While the country's ranking slightly improved, this was largely due to other nations experiencing more significant drops in scores due to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on learning. The Department of Education had anticipated a less than 'good' outcome.

In mathematics, the Philippines scored 355 points, a small increase of two points from 2018. Science scores dropped by one point to 355. Reading saw the largest improvement, increasing by seven points to 347. However, changes under 20 points are not considered statistically significant by OECD, indicating little real progress. Filipino students are estimated to be five to six years behind their global counterparts.

Only 16% of Filipino students achieved basic proficiency (Level 2) in mathematics, meaning 84% lack fundamental mathematical skills. For reading, only 24% reached Level 2 proficiency, where they can identify the main idea in a text. In science, 23% of students achieved Level 2, indicating their ability to recognize explanations for familiar scientific phenomena.

Notably, female Filipino students outperformed male students in mathematics by 14 score points, and also scored better in reading. Experts caution against directly attributing the PISA results to the K to 12 curriculum, which was still in its early stages of full implementation during the testing period. Significant changes from curriculum reforms typically take around a decade to manifest in international test results.