Addressing underachievement in literacy, mathematics and science : policy changes in European school education since 2020

This Eurydice report offers valuable evidence of how education systems across Europe are working to address underachievement in reading, mathematics and science at primary and lower secondary level. It presents recent policy developments in curriculum and assessment, learning support, teacher training and parental engagement. It also points to areas where further efforts are needed to ensure that no students have equal access to quality education. This report analyses policies aiming to counter underachievement in basic skills (literacy, mathematics and science) that were adopted and/or implemented in the school year 2020/2021 or later and were still in place in 2024/2025. Temporary measures (e.g. related to the immediate management of the COVID-19 crisis) that are no longer active are excluded from this study. The report relies on qualitative data on policies and measures that have been collected by means of a Eurydice data collection survey. It covers primary and lower secondary education in 37 European education systems. While the focus is on new policy measures or changes to existing policies that have been adopted/implemented since 2020, it is evident that in all education systems, relevant policy measures were also put in place before 2020. Indeed, policies to tackle underachievement in basic skills and, more generally, enhance inclusion in education and support disadvantaged students, have been extensively reported in several recent Eurydice reports (see especially European Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024), which, where relevant, are referenced in this report as background information. The report consists of seven chapters examining the topics depicted in Figure B, which illustrates the interdependent ecosystem of policy measures that education systems have put in place to address underachievement in basic skills.