Description
Book SynopsisPISA and Global Education Policy: Understanding Finland's Success and Influence provides an in-depth investigation for the reasons behind Finland’s success in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Finland’s high performances in every administration of PISA since 2000 have captured worldwide attention. This volume offers a comprehensive exploration into the context of Finland, uncovering its historical, cultural, political, and societal nuances. Furthermore, it delves into the history of Finnish education, providing a strong foundation from which to view the system that produced so much success in PISA. The book analyses empirical data from Finnish professors of education, ministers of education, head teachers, and teachers for the reasons behind Finland’s consistently high outcomes in the survey. It includes viewpoints from OECD officers with direct responsibility for PISA. In addition, it uncovers the impact of Finnish influence on education policy worldwide. Thus, the text presents an analysis of the growing politicisation of international achievement studies such as PISA. The increasingly globalised educational context surrounding PISA calls for an analysis of policy transfer and the already-apparent uncritical policy borrowing of Finnish education policy within the UK context.
Trade Review"This volume (…) deals with the attempt, developed by the OECD, to implement an international standard to compare educational outcomes for several nations, known as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Using aggregate scores generated by PISA in participating European countries, Chung hones her focus on Finland, which has consistently maintained top PISA scores since the program was first conducted in 2000. Seeking to understand the factors underlying this success, the author conducts an in-depth historical investigation in chapters 2 and 3, laying the groundwork to compare other European countries participating in PISA later. The text delves into an important discussion of OECD, PISA, and their connections in chapter 4, and chapters 9 and 10 cover the challenges of PISA adoption. The concluding chapter considers the possibility of PISA's serving as a comparative database for educational systems in the future. Some shortcomings of this study include the omission of the American education system from discussions and the rather limited bibliography." - J. H. Larson, University of North Dakota "The book is a good guide for policy makers, offering the theoretical approaches and lessons learned to date on public policy transfer; and for political scientists and educationalists, who can learn about teaching guidelines through the book, and other pedagogical approaches, as well as for those interested in Finnish society, history, and their education system. All of the above is only a fraction of the very interesting and rich content of the book, which is the result of the author's many years of work and research in the field of Nordic education systems. The book brings new dimensions to political science knowledge, as well as general insights and interesting facts, and contributes to a different perspective on everyday events and the development of the world in a global context." - Urša Koritnik translated from Šolsko polje, volume 31, issue 1/2 (2020)
Table of ContentsForeword Michael Crossley Acknowledgements Introduction 1 The Global Context of Education Policy-Making 1 Introduction 2 Summary 2 The Backdrop for Success: Finland’s Context and Configuration 1 Introduction 2 Summary 3 The Education System of Finland 1 Introduction 2 The Current Education System of Finland 3 Education Provision for Minority Groups 4 Teacher Education in Finland 5 Summary 4 The Programme for International Student Assessment: The Birth of an Achievement Study that Captured Worldwide Attention 1 Introduction 2 Summary 5 Issues of Policy Transfer 1 Introduction 2 Summary 6 Strengths of Finnish Education 1 Introduction 2 Teachers 3 Equality 4 High Value of Education 5 Structure, Organisation, and Characteristics of Finnish Schools 6 Summary 7 Weaknesses of Finnish Education 1 Introduction 2 The Downsides of Mixed Ability Teaching 3 Decreasing Importance of Education 4 Lack of Enjoyment in School 5 Budget Cuts 6 Structural Weaknesses 7 Summary 8 Finnish Responses to PISA 1 Introduction 2 Positive Responses to PISA 3 Negative Responses to PISA 4 Additional Responses to PISA 5 Summary 9 Cross-National Attraction and Education Policy Transfer 1 Introduction 2 Summary 10 The Temptation of Uncritical International Transfer: The Politics of Finland’s Success in PISA 1 Introduction 2 Summary 3 Conclusion Conclusion Appendix: List of Participants References Index
