Australian 15-year-olds’ performances are declining in deep thinking and problem solving – the areas most in demand in the future.
Australia has fallen further down the PISA global school rankings.
Australian students have failed for the first time to exceed the OECD average in maths,while NSW recorded the country's biggest drops in reading and science.
Australian students lag more than 3.5 years behind Chinese students in maths,with one student pointing to longer hours and a more cut-throat culture in China.
Australia's PISA troubles will trigger a frenzy of finger pointing about what to do next. Finger pointing won't help. But there is one thing that will.
The PISA international education assessment results show just over half of NSW students can demonstrate"more than elementary skills"in mathematics,as the state recorded the greatest nation-wide decline over six years.