Open AccessPISA in Finland: An Education Miracle or an Obstacle to Change?
Author(s) -
Pasi Sahlberg
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
ceps journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.372
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 2232-2647
pISSN - 1855-9719
DOI - 10.26529/cepsj.418
Subject(s) - miracle , benchmarking , obstacle , political science , higher education , economic growth , regional science , geography , business , marketing , economics , law
The present article discusses the role and impact of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in Finland. PISA has created a new geography of education policies and reforms by shifting global interest away from Anglo-Saxon education systems to Asian countries, as well as to Finland and Canada in the West. The article describes how PISA has become evidence of the successful education reforms in Finland carried out since the 1970s, but at the same time has created a situation where the continuous renewal of the Finnish education system has become more difficult than before. The conclusion is that PISA is animportant global benchmarking instrument, but that policy makers and the media need to make better use of the rich data that have been collected together with information about students’ academic performance.