The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has worked alongside the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to make the tests available to schools across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands.
However, schools will have to pay £3,550 in order to get their hands on the examinations.
The OECD’s PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) test for schools assesses 15-year-olds across its member countries in their reading, writing, and mathematics.
The resulting international league tables are hugely scrutinised by educationalists, politicians and policy-makers and often cited as justification for new initiatives and policies.
Schools using the new PISA-based test will be able to compare themselves to international and national averages and will receive feedback from the OECD.
There are two opportunities a year for schools to use the test – autumn and spring – with orders for the first testing window next spring closing on November 21.
Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s director of education and skills, said: “The idea for this test came from schools who were keen to understand how they stand in a global context and what they can learn from the best performing education systems internationally.
“With this new PISA-based test, schools will have the tools to see how they compare in relation to their peers in some of the world’s leading education systems.”
For more information, visit www.nfer.ac.uk/pb4