PISA 2025: Argentina ranks last for classroom climate and second-worst for mobile-device distractions

Noise, disorder, students ignoring the teacher and lost class time place Argentina at the bottom of the classroom climate ranking in PISA 2025. The country recorded a score of -0.43, compared with an average of 0.14 among the 82 education systems with available data.

Students' own responses show what that ranking means inside science classrooms. Fifty-eight percent said noise and disorder occurred in most or all classes, nearly twice the international average of 31%. Forty-seven percent said classmates did not listen to the teacher, compared with 29% internationally, while 29% said students could not work well, against 19% across participating systems.

The indicator does not measure a general idea of indiscipline. It asks how often classmates fail to listen, noise and disorder occur, teachers must wait for students to calm down, students cannot work effectively, or it takes them too long to begin an assignment. Argentina and Uruguay were the only two systems where at least half of students reported habitual noise and disorder. Argentina also ranked below Greece, at -0.32, Paraguay, at -0.22, and Uruguay, at -0.21.

The findings shift attention to the conditions needed for a class to take place before assessing what teenagers know about science, mathematics or reading. Pablo Mainer, founder of Hablemos de Bullying and a spokesman for Argentinos por la Educación, attributed the deterioration to several factors. "The underlying cause is a crisis of adult authority," he told La Nación. He said the issue involves not only teachers' abilities or leadership, but also institutional backing, family involvement and the need to rebuild authority that no longer comes automatically with the teacher's role.

Mainer also pointed to a gap between school rhythms and those familiar to adolescents, who are used to immediate information, images over text and accelerated audio and video. He argued that coexistence should be addressed across the school's educational and institutional plan, rather than through isolated interventions.

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The underlying cause is a crisis of adult authority.