The PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) survey was conducted among 15-year-old secondary school students in 65 countries in 2009.

The main focus of the survey was reading, with Croatian students ranking 36th, scoring one point less than in the previous survey, carried out in 2006.

Croatian students ranked 37th in science and 40th in mathematics, scoring seven points less than in 2006, the project manager for Croatia, Michelle Bras Roth, told a press conference in Zagreb this past week while presenting the results of the survey.

In Croatia, about 5,000 students from 157 secondary schools from throughout the country participated in the survey; 35 students were randomly selected in each school.

Girls in Croatia who attend general-programme secondary schools in urban areas, and who have highly educated parents with better socioeconomic status, demonstrated the best reading skills. The poorest results were scored by male students of three-year vocational schools whose parents have lower socioeconomic status and lower education qualifications.

Although the results scored by Croatian students in all three areas are below the average in relation to the developed OECD countries, the results are not substantially different from the previous PISA cycle, conducted in 2006, Bras Roth said.

Dijana Vican, State Secretary with the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, said that the Ministry would take the survey results into account when modifying the education policy.

This is a clear confirmation that it is necessary to change the curriculum so as to focus on increasing students' competencies, she said.

The 2009 survey covered over 470,000 fifteen-year-old students in 65 countries. The top performers were East Asian countries – China (Shanghai), Hong Kong and Korea, and traditionally successful Finland.