SISD Outperforms in PISA 2025 Results

Dubai has just delivered one of its strongest PISA results yet. The city's private schools ranked 6th in the world for reading, 8th for mathematics, 8th for science and 9th for computational problem solving, out of more than 90 participating countries and economies. Only few education systems anywhere can match that.

We're proud to say our students went further still. Across every subject tested, SISD has scored above the Dubai private school average and well above the OECD average. Here's what the numbers tell us, and what they tell you about your child's future here.

What Is PISA, and Why Does It Matter?

PISA stands for the Programme for International Student Assessment. Every three years, the OECD tests 15-year-olds around the world in reading, mathematics and science, then compares the results across countries and cities.

Over 850,000 students from more than 90 countries took part in PISA 2025. Dubai has taken part as its own region since 2012, so our schools are measured on their own and not measured with the rest of the UAE.

This year's test put science front and centre, with reading and mathematics as supporting subjects. For the first time, students also sat a new digital test on computational problem solving, and answered questions on environmental science and sustainability.

In short, PISA tells parents something exam results can't: how well a school is preparing children for life beyond the classroom.

Our PISA 2025 Results at a Glance

Science literacy: 534 (OECD average: 482)
Mathematics literacy: 532 (OECD average: 463)
Reading literacy: 504 (OECD average: 461)

Every score sits at Level 3 or above on the OECD proficiency scale. That means our students can build and evaluate scientific explanations, work through multi-step problems, and pull meaning from a text rather than just reading it.

How We Compare Against Dubai's Private School Average

Domain	SISD	Dubai Private Schools
Science	534	522
Mathematics	532	511
Reading	504	501

Science Is Central to Our Curriculum

Science is at the core of what we teach, and this year's results show it. Across all three science subscales, our students scored above the Dubai private school average.

Explaining phenomena scientifically: 535 (Dubai private average: 523)
Evaluating designs for scientific enquiry: 529 (Dubai private average: 518)
Evaluating scientific information for decision making: 538 (Dubai private average: 527)

Preparing Your Child for a Digital World

PISA 2025 introduced a brand new test this year: computational problem solving. It measures how students use digital tools to build, test and improve solutions, and how well they manage their own learning when a task gets hard.

SISD students scored 555. That's ahead of the Dubai private school average of 534, and well clear of the OECD average of 500.

This matters because the world your child is growing up into runs on these skills. They won't just need to know how to use technology. They'll need to know how to think with it, adapt when something doesn't work, and keep going until it does. Our results tell us we're building exactly that kind of resilience and capability.

What This Means for Your Child

These results are a benchmark for where we go next. As Dubai works toward its Education 33 ambitions, we've set our own targets for 2029, building on exactly the strengths this report has shown us: a strong scientific identity, genuine multilingual fluency, and a school culture where students want to learn.

If you're choosing a school for your child, results matter, but so does the environment behind them. We'd love to show you both.

Book a school tour here or Contact our admissions team today to start your child's journey with us.