Icelandic MP questions system as 44% miss PISA basics

Jón Pétur Zimsen, a member of Iceland’s Independence Party, says the country’s education system should not be considered successful when 44 percent of 15-year-olds fail to achieve basic skills in reading comprehension, mathematics and science. He made the comments in an interview with mbl.is.

“If you were dealing with a company where 44 percent of the raw material was lost in some way, you would not be happy,” Jón Pétur said.

He appeared on the Dagmál programme with Magnús Þór Jónsson, chairman of the Icelandic Teachers’ Association, to discuss education in light of the latest PISA results.

Magnús said most parents were satisfied with their children’s compulsory schools. Jón Pétur questioned what, in practice, they were satisfied with, asking whether parents were content to know that their school graduates students while 44 percent fail to reach basic proficiency.

He said better measurements were needed to identify what could be improved.

“I’m not saying measurements solve everything, but we would know more about what we are doing well and what we are not doing well, and that would create some kind of discussion,” Jón Pétur said.

He also said education received limited attention in local authorities and parliament. Politicians did not act until the public demanded action, he said, while the public was not demanding change because it was simply being told that the schools were good.

Jón Pétur added that schools assessed themselves and that there was no external oversight or accountability.

“This is something we could change fairly easily,” he said.