OECD Official Urges Israeli Education Minister to Own Poor PISA Results

Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's director for education and skills, has stated he advised Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch to stand behind the country's "embarrassing" results on the latest PISA international student assessment. Schleicher confirmed he explained the findings in detail to Kisch, emphasizing that the full report would be publicly available, making it advisable for the minister to accept the outcomes.

Following the release of the historically low scores, Kisch attempted to mitigate the damage. He held a press briefing where he presented a message from Schleicher suggesting that given the ongoing war, poor results were expected and perhaps even less severe than anticipated. Kisch also implied that Israel's National Authority for Measurement and Evaluation in Education (RAMA) had a political agenda to present the students negatively. In a video released on X, Kisch highlighted the resilience of Israeli students and educators during wartime, stating that their performance had been maintained compared to 2018 despite the difficult circumstances, a point he claimed Schleicher himself found surprising.

However, behind the scenes, Kisch had reportedly sought to downplay the severity of the academic decline. Critics, including Knesset members Naama Lazimi and Merav Cohen, have sharply criticized Kisch's handling of the situation, labeling the PISA findings a "dramatic and unprecedented collapse" and a "severe indictment" of the education system and its leadership. They attribute the poor performance to a severe shortage of qualified teachers and years of neglect, arguing that the war, while impactful, is not solely responsible for the systemic failures.

Adi Altshuler, a candidate for education minister, stated the results do not reflect Israel's potential and pledged to lead an education system focused on excellence for all children. The Menor Center described the PISA results as the "biggest earthquake" in Israeli education history, calling it a failure of government policy rather than the students. They pointed to the collapse of the secular state education system and the lack of preparedness for operating during emergencies as key issues, arguing that the problem predates the war and stems from neglect, amateurism, and a lack of clear policy.