Why Finland´s education scores are so high
Charlotte E. Leskinen
December 14, 2007
Now that the last PISA results on Education have been published and as a product of the Finnish education system I’d like to offer a few, completely non-scientific, layman’s speculations on why the Finnish students traditionally score so high.
PISA, the Programme for International Student Assessment coordinated by the OECD, is an internationally standardised assessment of 15-year-old schoolchildren’s scholastic performance. The survey is triennial and the first assessment took place in 2000. The latest results refer to the assessment conducted in 2006.
In my opinion, one of the reasons for the good results of the Finnish students is that there are no tuition fees. This grants a general education for everybody regardless of their socio-economic background. Moreover, the same curriculum is taught to all students and therefore there are no large differences between different regions within the country.
Finland’s harsh climate and geopolitical situation have also forced the country to perform well in general in order to “survive”. As a result, the country does well not only in surveys assessing its education system but also its competitiveness. In addition, education is traditionally highly valuated by the society, which probably encourages the students to commit to their studies. No matter what the reason behind the success is, there is evidently no need “to change a winning team”.
More information on the PISA 2006 results here.
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As a layman I think that your analysis is correct: highly valued education, no tuition fees, a modern cuuriculum for all, as well as fairly well educated and respected teachers.
While the climate is harsh, the student groups are still fairly homogenous, since the proportion of students with immigrant backgrounds is low. Rising numbers of immigrants are going to pose a challenge for the schools in Finland, too.
Comment by Ralf Grahn — December 15, 2007 @ 3:46 am
its good news !
I agree with your opinion.
Comment by masduqi — December 10, 2008 @ 6:29 am