ACER to deliver PISA 2029 with novel focus on AI and media literacy
Media release less than 1 day ago 4 minute readAfter a competitive tender process, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has appointed the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to lead the development and implementation of the 2029 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) across more than 90 countries and economies, once again entrusting the world’s largest international education survey to ACER, the 96-year-old Australian organisation.
Now in its 10th cycle, PISA is the most comprehensive international comparative education programme. It is a major influence on both international and domestic education policymaking.
PISA assesses 15-year-olds’ ability to use their reading, mathematics and science knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges. The 2029 cycle will focus on reading.
In addition to these core subject areas, each PISA cycle also assesses student proficiency in a different ‘innovative domain’ every cycle.
The 2029 Innovative Domain, Media and AI Literacy, is a first-of-its-kind international assessment. It will explore students’ capacity to access, analyse and critically engage with digital information, misinformation and disinformation. It’s an exciting and deeply relevant issue, and ACER will work with the OECD and subject matter experts to develop an assessment that is engaging and reflects the skills students need to navigate AI in their learning.
Drawing on the successful delivery of PISA 2025, ACER is again forming a consortium with leading quality assurance partners cApStAn and HallStat, whose expertise in translation verification, cultural sensitivities and linguistic control underpins the reliability, comparability and global credibility of PISA results across more than 90 countries.
ACER is looking to leverage its experience and expertise to implement a host of improvements for PISA 2029. The 2029 assessment cycle will feature new universal accessibility features, as well as new test forms designed to open access and enable students engage with PISA responding to their functional access needs.
To help deliver these improvements, Dr Goran Lazendic has been reappointed International Survey Director for PISA 2029, having led the 2025 assessment program.
‘Our goal with PISA 2025 was simple: to show that one platform can support one global survey, delivered online where possible and offline where needed. I am proud to say our team achieved that goal.’ Dr Lazendic said.
‘The innovation does not stop there. We are harnessing the digital platform to lower access barriers and enable more students to participate in PISA 2029.’
ACER CEO Lisa Rodgers said that the 2029 Innovative Domain was coming at a critical juncture.
'Measuring how well students can apply learning to the real world has always been at the heart of PISA. The 2029 Innovative Domain will be the first study of its kind to assess how equipped the next generation is to co-exist with AI and think critically about what they see online.' she said.
'PISA is a huge undertaking. We’re grateful to the OECD for entrusting its management to us for another cycle. This is a vote of confidence in our expertise and our staff.'
The results of PISA 2025 are due to be released on 8 September 2026. The innovative domain for this cycle was ‘Learning in the Digital World.’
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