Time to stop fixating on Finland

It may be a new year, but we’re still stuck with the old myth that Finland is an education utopia Australia should emulate.

A Finnish education expert has argued his country’s school system has a lot to teach Australia — especially in having more student play time and less standardised testing, and this viewpoint was credulously pushed on 60 Minutes last weekend.

Yes, Finland consistently outperformed Australia on all the international standardised tests in 2016, and of course we should be willing to learn lessons from the top-performing countries — including the East Asian ‘tiger economies’.

But Finland’s international test results have declined in recent years, and there are many reasons its school system would be difficult to emulate here; even if it were desirable to do so.

For example, Finland has a small and geographically concentrated population, less cultural or racial diversity, and a lower immigration rate than Australia. Finnish is also a simpler language than English, which means learning to read is relatively easier, boosting school results in later years.

Analysing high-achieving school systems is useful, but it is fantasy to suggest Finland is the epitome of good education. It is part of a broader myth that the Nordic countries are socialist paradises (ignoring that most socialists would pan Finland’s corporate tax rate of only 20%, not to mention its lower life expectancy).

Finland came to the world’s attention when it topped the Program in International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings in 2000. Helsinki became the capital of edu-tourism, and for those who couldn’t visit in person, Pasi Sahlberg’s book Finnish Lessons put Finland’s PISA success down to its adoption of progressive, child-centred pedagogies and rejection of educational policies he called the Global Education Reform Movement (or GERM). ‘Harmful GERMs’ include focussing on core knowledge and skills (ie. literacy and numeracy) and testing.

However it is problematic to ascribe student achievement in the year 2000 to the educational policies of that time. Those results are more likely to have been influenced by the policies of the years prior. According to Cambridge University’s Tim Oates and the Fraser Institute’s Gabriel Heller Sahlgren, policies and pedagogy in Finland in the years prior to the PISA 2000 were more traditional and involved annual testing and reporting. Finland’s move to an even more progressive model of education preceded its downward slide in PISA performance.

There is also reason to apply a healthy dose of scepticism to Finland’s apparent academic success. An open letter from more than 200 Finnish mathematics professors and lecturers decried the standard of maths teaching and learning in Finnish schools. A study published by the Finnish government’s Education Evaluation Centre in 2015 found that two-thirds of ninth graders were unable to calculate everyday math problems like price reduction percentages.

In any case, could more play time and less testing be the keys to boosting Australia’s school results?

No evidence has been presented to suggest Australian kids don’t have enough time to play or be physically active. About one quarter of every school day is given to recess and lunch breaks, there is additional school time devoted to physical education and sport, and the school day typically ends around 3pm.

And blaming NAPLAN for the lack of improvement in Australian schools is like blaming the thermometer when it is 40 degrees. NAPLAN identifies problems; it doesn’t solve them or create them by itself.

NAPLAN is not a ‘high stakes’ test by the usual definition. Teacher salaries and school funding are not determined by NAPLAN scores. There is always the possibility of ‘teaching to the test’, but if that leads to fewer children finishing primary school unable to read, teaching to the test is arguably a good thing. The recent Progress in International Reading Literacy Study found that one in five Australian Year 4 students had reading levels below the international literacy benchmark.

Furthermore, there’s a twisted logic in the argument that we should be more like Finland and have fewer standardised tests, on the basis that Finland’s school system performs well on international standardised tests.

Blaise Joseph is a policy analyst and Dr Jennifer Buckingham is a senior research fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies