PISA 2025: What Ecuador's results suggest about English

Ecuador tested its 15-year-old students between May and July 2025 (May 28 to June 20 in the Sierra-Amazonía region; July 8 to 25 in Costa-Galápagos). The results, delayed more than a year — the normal turnaround time the OECD takes to process and publish a PISA cycle — were only released in early September 2026 by Ecuador's Ministry of Education and the National Institute of Educational Evaluation (INEVAL). They place Ecuador well below the OECD average in the three main areas (math, reading and science) and in the new digital problem-solving module. Here are the exact numbers:

An even starker figure: 53.6% of Ecuadorian students fail to reach the minimum competency level (Level 2) in all three areas at once, versus 19.7% in the OECD average. Only 0.2% reach the highest levels (5-6), versus 11.9% across the OECD.

The figures you will see quoted measure different things: 53.6% do not reach Level 2 in any of the three areas; about 62% do not reach Level 2 in reading alone; and, according to a Primicias headline, only 17.4% reach a basic level in all three areas at once. The remaining students reach Level 2 in one or two areas.

Did Ecuador's PISA test include an English assessment?

Important: the OECD will release results from the optional English assessment for its 22 participating systems in April 2027; Ecuador is not listed among them.

That data gap — we don't have a serious international benchmark for Ecuadorian students' spoken English — is exactly why it's worth looking closely at what PISA did measure: reading comprehension. About 62% of Ecuadorian students did not reach baseline Level 2 in reading, according to the OECD's official country note for Ecuador.

Why Spanish reading comprehension matters for learning English

Possible explanations, based on available evidence:

1. Comprehension skills transfer across languages. Decoding text, inferring meaning and connecting ideas are cognitive processes shared between a first and a second language. A student with weak Spanish reading comprehension starts with an added disadvantage facing English texts, not a neutral one.
2. English has one of the most irregular spelling systems in the world. Comparative research across 13 European languages (Seymour, Aro & Erskine, 2003, British Journal of Psychology) shows English is substantially harder to decode than Spanish, precisely because its sound-letter correspondence is far less consistent — demanding a stronger reading-comprehension foundation to compensate, not a weaker one.
3. Ecuador already had a documented shortfall in actual English instruction hours. A recent study (Valarezo Tenesaca & Montesdeoca Delgado, 2026, Arandu UTIC) estimates Ecuadorian students receive only about 3 hours of English per week, far from the 350 to 400 guided learning hours that Cambridge English estimates, as a guide, to reach B1 — with actual exit levels closer to A1 than B1 despite the official curriculum targeting B1.

What can help, beyond what school already offers:

• Actively practicing comprehension and oral production, not just passively reading or listening
• Getting immediate feedback on mistakes, instead of waiting weeks for an exam correction
• Short, frequent practice sessions that add minutes the school system can't provide on its own

To complete the picture, read how widely English is spoken in Ecuador and what B1 means for Ecuadorian students.

That's where HelloVozi comes in

These results encourage stronger comprehension and more opportunities to apply learning. In English, HelloVozi complements classroom work with voice or text conversation practice, questions adapted to the configured level and feedback at the end of the session. PISA does not demonstrate the effectiveness of HelloVozi or establish a causal explanation of English learning.

Next step: if you don't know your level, take the English level test (about 15 minutes, with instant results). To keep working on this topic, see Vozi Exam's English level check and exam practice.