How are Hungarian students performing? PISA study results out

The latest PISA study showed no significant change in Hungarian students’ reading and mathematics skills compared with the previous, 2018 results, even as the performance of other OECD countries fell, the head of the Hungarian Education Office (OH) said on Tuesday.

The 2022 PISA study, released on Tuesday, showed the results of tests from 81 countries, Sándor Brassói said.

The reading, mathematics and science skills of 15-year-olds fell sharply in countries long considered as having exemplary education systems such as Iceland, Norway, the Netherlands and Finland, he said.

Meanwhile, Hungary maintained — and slightly improved — those skills despite the pandemic and the difficult economic situation, Brassói said. Students have taken the transfer to digital education in stride, and the number of weak-performing students fell slightly, he added.

Gábor Kristóf Velkey, the head of public education analysis at OH, said the 2022 survey had seen the most participants so far, 37 OECD members and 44 partner states. In Hungary, 6,198 students of 270 public education institutes completed the tests, he added.

In maths, Hungarian students scored an average of 473 points, compared with the OECD average of 472 points, Velkey said. The OECD average in science was 485 points, and Hungarians scored an average of 486; in reading, the OECD average was 476 point, and the Hungarian 473 points, he said.

Velkey noted that the study places individual results of proficiency levels to indicate larger-scale trends. The EU’s goal is to push the ratio of the students not reaching proficiency level 2 below 15 percent.