Finland : Success Through Equity : The Trajectories in PISA Performance

The Finnish education system has gone through an exciting developmental path from a follower into a role model. Also on the two-decade history of PISA studies, Finland’s performance has provided years of glory as of the world’s top-performing nation, but also a substantial decline. This chapter examines Finland’s educational outcomes in recent PISA-study and the trends across previous cycles. Boys’ more unsatisfactory performance and the increasing effect of students’ socio-economic background are clear predictors of the declining trend, but they can explain it only partly. Some of the other possible factors are discussed.peerReviewe

Rethinking ethical-political education. Beyond the Nordic Model

Abstract: Ethical-political education is an area of continuous disputes and conflicting beliefs, values and world-views related to its embedded complexity embracing social, cultural and not least political community and identity. In short, “education” is a name for those phenomena through which a community or society preserves and renews itself. The term “ethical-political education”, however, more explicitly relates to those aspects of education through which the communal and formative values and norms of a community, culture or society seem to be at stake. Discourses on ethical-political education, however, do not only mirror conflictual values and beliefs. They also carry the potential to shape, justify, uphold and direct shared images, values, norms and practices. So, taking the fact that communal beliefs, values and worldviews are at stake in an ever-changing globalized and multi-faceted world, a systematic re-thinking of the many faces of ethical political education seems today more urgent than ever. This chapter gives and overview of this book by introducing some overall perspectives on ethical-political education; a few of the hot topics of today; and the ways in which the authors of this book explore and discuss these topics