Why Finland Isn’t Overly Concerned By Declines in Student Test Scores

Why Finland Isn’t Overly Concerned By Declines in Student Test Scores
Ruoholahti Comprehensive School, Helsinki, Finland (photo by Jori Samonen via flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0).

Editor’s note: This article is the first in an ongoing WPR series about education policy in various countries around the world.

Last year, schools across Finland began implementing the country’s new National Curriculum Framework, which was first approved in 2014. Though the country, long praised for its school system, has seen test scores decline in recent years, the reforms show the Finnish government is more focused on other problems. In an email interview, Finnish educator, author and policy adviser Pasi Sahlberg explains what the changes are intended to achieve.

WPR: What are the biggest changes resulting from the adoption last year of the National Curriculum Framework, and what concerns were they responding to?

Keep reading for free

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

Get instant access to the rest of this article by creating a free account below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:
Subscribe for an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review
  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.