Australian students are reportedly among the worst-behaved in the world, with a new global report highlighting high levels of bullying, noise, and classroom disruption. Additionally, public school students are more than two years behind their private independent counterparts.
One in two Australian students reported skipping at least one class or a day of school in the two weeks before taking the survey.
One in two Australian students reported skipping at least one class or a day of school in the two weeks before taking the survey – a trend that researchers said could hinder students’ academic success. Conducted every three years since 2000, Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) assesses 15-year-old students’ ability to apply their science, reading, and mathematics knowledge and skills to solve real-life problems. Over 7,60,000 students took the assessment in 2025, representing about 33 million 15-year-olds in the schools of the 91 participating countries and economies. Noise and disorder in the classroom was reported by 41 per cent Australian students as occurring often, compared with the global average of 31 per cent, and 39 per cent said their peers got distracted by using digital resources compared with the OECD average of 28%.
