Australian classrooms remain among the most disruptive in the world because of noise, disorder and distraction caused by digital devices, the latest report card ranking school systems around the world has found.
Students reported a less positive “disciplinary climate” compared to 67 countries in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey.
Higher reports of disruption in Australian classrooms were above the OECD average across six indicators, with 39 per cent of students reporting getting distracted by digital resources compared to the OECD average of 28 per cent.
It also found computer use was higher in the classroom, with 57 per cent of Australian students reporting spending more than two hours a day at school, almost double the OECD average of 30 per cent.
Overall, Australian high school students recorded their worst maths and reading results, and 15-year-olds are now two and a half years behind teenagers who went to school at the turn of the millennium.
Education Minister Jason Clare has said the amount of time students were spending on digital devices would be the subject of the next state and federal education ministers’ meeting.
Outside school, student device use was slightly lower in Australia compared to the OECD average.
A NSW Department of Education spokesperson said research into screen addiction, including best practice for screen use, which will be finalised by the end of this year.
“While much screen use occurs outside school hours, the NSW Department of Education has a role to play to ensure students’ use of technology during school hours remains evidence-based and age-appropriate,” the spokesperson said.
Centre for Independent Studies director of education research Blaise Joseph linked disruptive classrooms with Australia’s poor academic performance.
Australian students have declined by the equivalent of over two years of learning in maths since 2003, almost two years of learning in reading since 2000, and about one year of learning in science since 2006.
“Turning around this decline requires a sustained focus on what happens in classrooms,” he said.
“Students cannot learn effectively when classrooms are regularly disrupted. Schools need clear expectations, explicitly taught routines and consistent approaches to behaviour so teachers can teach and students can learn.”
Exposure to bullying in schools increased slightly according to the Programme For International Assessment conducted last year, with Australian students reporting more exposure to bullying than 70 countries.
About one in five said other students made fun of them, while one in 20 reported being threatened or hit or pushed around.
Across the world, the OECD has noted AI use and its relationship to student performance is “complex”.
“PISA data show that students who use AI for specific schoolwork tasks, such as summarising texts, drafting or conducting research, attain lower scores in science than students who do not use AI,” it said.
It also noted less than half of students around the world reported both checking the credibility of information sources and placing greater trust in scientific evidence than in common sense.
The report said students in most education systems use AI chatbots for schoolwork. In Australia, 50 per cent of students reported using AI chatbots to help them learn at least once a week, above the OECD average of 46 per cent.
In 2025, about 44 per cent of students in Australia reported having skipped at least one day of school in the two weeks before the test.
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