Performance in Scotland's high-schools continues to decline in reading, maths and science, according to a new report.
The country's reading scores remain above average, though further drops came in maths and science, while England leads Scotland in all three subjects.
The Pisa (Programme for International Student Assessment) research, run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), compares education standards in different countries.
Nearly 700,000 pupils from 81 different countries took part, including 3,300 from 117 schools across Scotland.
The study, which was carried out last year for the first time since the pandemic, found Scotland's reading score was 493, down from 504 in 2018 and 526 when the survey started in 2000. The performance was higher than the OECD average of 476.
The maths score is down to 471, one behind the OECD average of 472. In science, Scotland scored 483, a drop from 2018 (490) and 2015 (497).
Why are levels dropping?
The research suggests there's various mitigating factors for a decline in standards, including the pandemic, which led to home-schooling for families throughout Scotland
It also found high levels of food poverty, with 11% of 15-year-olds skipping a meal at least once a week due to a lack of money.
Andreas Schleicher, of the directorate of education and skills in the OECD, added that the use of technology is impacting results.
He said: "We can see that students use of smart phones was quite clearly linked in Scotland, but also in other countries, to greater student anxiety, to more disruption, to less concentration.
"Even many students in Scotland said 'my neighbour is using their smart phone during a lesson and I can't concentrate'.
"So clearly the use of technology for leisure may have played an equal role as the pandemic, but we can't disentangle - we just see the overall results."