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Numerous studies have for years documented a declining academic level in Denmark’s public schools. But at Christiansborg, the center of government, critics say, officials have been slow to listen.

Schools hit historic low score as politicians confront long-signaled learning crisis

In 2020, an international study found that the country’s fourth-grade students had become worse at math. Those are the students who have now reached the final years of lower secondary school and have been assessed in Pisa. Arkivfoto: Janus Engel
In 2020, an international study found that the country’s fourth-grade students had become worse at math. Those are the students who have now reached the final years of lower secondary school and have been assessed in Pisa. Arkivfoto: Janus Engel

A historically bad Pisa score has shocked Christiansborg, the center of the Danish government. The international PISA study, which measures 15-year-olds’ skills in reading, math, and science, has caused crisis meetings to be called on short notice since the score came out, and on Thursday the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen (the Social Democratic Party), and the rest of the government’s top leadership have invited the press to a news conference.

Still, the new Pisa report is far from the first time loud warnings have been sounded that public-school students are getting worse and worse at reading, writing, and math.

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