“How was school?” is a small question. Asked regularly, it can open a conversation about a lesson, a difficulty or something a teenager would otherwise keep to themselves.
In the latest PISA survey, fewer Portuguese 15-year-olds say those conversations happen every week. The decline appears in both ordinary questions about the day and discussions of problems.
Weekly discussions of school problems fell most
Both types of family conversation became less common
Portugal · student-reported weekly family contact · 2022 and 2025
Blue: 2022. Copper: 2025. Separate samples of 15-year-olds, rather than the same families followed over time. Source: OECD Portugal country note.
The OECD describes a decrease in reported family support in almost all participating countries and economies. Portugal is one example of a wider change. The measures describe students’ perceptions of contact; they do not establish why it changed.
Everyday interest is associated with higher scores
Across the OECD, students reporting that family members ask about their school day score about 26 points higher in science after adjustment for socioeconomic profile. Other forms of interest have different associations.
Asking about the school day has the largest association of these items
OECD average · adjusted science score difference · 2025
All five individual support items from Table I.B1.4.124. Dots are estimates; whiskers show approximate 95% confidence intervals using the published standard errors. These are associations, not gains caused by conversations.
Families may talk more about future education or school problems precisely when a student is struggling. That possible reverse direction helps explain why these figures cannot rank parenting habits by effectiveness.
A useful question for schools and families
The survey cannot tell us whether work schedules, family pressures, changing routines or something else lies behind the decline. Those are questions for follow-up reporting, not explanations established by this dataset.