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The Finnish miracle of PISA: historical and sociological remarks on teaching and teacher education
Hannu Simola
- Vol. 17, Iss: 2, pp 153-169
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TLDR
In this article, the authors present some of the social, cultural and historical factors behind the pedagogical success of the Finnish comprehensive school and present two paradoxes that could be considered meaningful and important in attempts to understand Finnish comprehensive schooling.Abstract:
One of the recent tributes to the success of Finnish schooling was the PISA 2000 project report. As befits the field of education, the explanations are primarily pedagogical, referring especially to the excellent teachers and high-quality teacher education. Without underrating the explanatory power of these statements, this paper presents some of the social, cultural and historical factors behind the pedagogical success of the Finnish comprehensive school. From the perspectives of history and the sociology of education, it also sheds light on some ironic paradoxes and dilemmas that may be concealed by the success. The focus is on the problematic nature of international comparative surveys based on school performance indicators. The question is whether they really make it possible to understand schooling in different countries, or whether they are just part of processes of ‘international spectacle’ and ‘mutual accountability’. By way of conclusion, I will present two paradoxes that could be considered meaningful and important in attempts to understand Finnish comprehensive schooling today and in the near future.read more
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References
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the role of mass education expansion in a world organized politically as nation-states and candidate states and found that mass education spreads in a S-shaped diffusion pattern.
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Critical Theories in Education : Changing Terrains of Knowledge and Politics
Thomas S. Popkewitz,Lynn Fendler +1 more
TL;DR: The authors examines the issues of critical thinking traditions within education and explores a broad range of 'disciplined theories that question the ways in which power works through the discursive practices and performances of schooling' Following an introduction by Thomas S Popkewitz, the monograph contains the following essays: A social epistemology of educational research, critical thinking and critical pedagogy: relations, differences and limits, Emergent identity versus consistent identity.
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An international comparison of equity in education systems
Stephen Gorard,Emma Smith +1 more
TL;DR: The authors used pupil responses to the PISA study in 2000 for all EU countries using indicators of the pupil intakes to schools and their outcomes and computes segregation indices for 15 countries, and then tries to explain the resulting patterns in terms of the characteristics of national school systems.
Book
The Finnish success in Pisa - and some reasons behind it : Pisa 2000
Jouni Välijärvi,Pekka Kupari,Pirjo Linnakylä,Pasi Reinikainen,Sari Sulkunen,Jukka Törnroos,Inga Arffman +6 more
TL;DR: The authors in this paper pointed out that the successful performance of Finnish students seems to be attributable to a web of interrelated factors related to comprehensive pedagogy, students' own interests and leisure activities, the structure of the education system, teacher education, school practices, and in the end, Finnish culture.
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