Pisa experts reject claim that Finland caused other countries’ decline

Finland’s national PISA research director and the Finnish National Agency for Education have rejected a claim by The Economist that Finland is responsible for declining PISA results in other OECD countries, Yle reports.

The British magazine argued that other countries copied elements of Finland’s education model after Finland topped the first PISA study in 2000. According to the magazine, this included play-based early childhood education, fewer exams and a shift from teachers lecturing at the blackboard towards guiding pupils in independent learning.

The Economist suggested that copying these methods may have contributed to falling PISA results in several countries. It interpreted Finland’s strong results in the early 2000s as a consequence of a more traditional education system that had continued into the 1990s, while other countries drew inspiration from reforms made in Finland during the 2000s.

Arto K. Ahonen, Finland’s national research director for the PISA study, described the interpretation as almost amusing. He said it was nearly impossible to change an entire education system, or even a curriculum, to match another country’s model because such systems are closely tied to their culture.

Finland has exported education, Ahonen said, but mainly through individual schools. Schools based on the Finnish model have been established abroad, and Finnish teachers have trained local teachers. Ahonen said he did not believe entire education systems had been changed as a result.

He attributed Finland’s declining PISA results more to broad social changes, including the growing influence of pupils’ socioeconomic backgrounds, than to curriculum changes made during the 2000s.

Agency finds no scientific evidence for the claim

Kurt Torsell, director general of the Finnish National Agency for Education, also rejected The Economist’s argument. He said there was no scientific evidence that Finland had misled other countries.

Torsell noted that PISA results in the other Nordic countries have followed a similar trend to Finland’s. Sweden, Denmark and Norway have societies and education systems that resemble one another, but he said they had developed their own curricula rather than copying Finland’s model exactly.

Torsell said curricula influence what happens in schools and how teaching is conducted, but they are not the only factors affecting learning outcomes.

Finland revised its curriculum in 2004 and 2014. These reforms included the introduction of discussion about phenomenon-based learning in schools. The 15-year-olds who took the PISA test last year were, according to Torsell, the first age group to follow the 2014 curriculum throughout their entire comprehensive education.

Finland’s PISA results have declined since 2006, and the latest study showed a sharper fall than in other OECD countries. Torsell said curricula should always be examined critically and updated based on the best available knowledge and research.

Finland has also begun a substantial curriculum reform linked to its learning guarantee, which aims to clarify learning objectives, content and assessment. Torsell said the two areas he would most like to improve were literacy and support for pupils performing at the lowest level.

Ahonen said he considered the direction of the learning guarantee and the new assessment criteria to be appropriate.