Vrij zwakke prestaties van Finse leerlingen  op onderzoeken universiteit Helsinki (2010 & 2012), die deels ook op PISA-2012 tot uiting kwamen -Een reactie van Pasi Sahlberg

Vooraf: Een laattijdige bekentenis  van Pasi Sahlberg: “National student assessments and academic research in Finland have shown that students’ knowledge and skills in mathematics have declined since the mid-2000s. A recent study from the University of Helsinki found a significant drop in 15-year-old students’ learning skills. PISA 2012 accordingly revealed no big surprises in Finland”.

Sahlberg verwees in zijn spreekbeurten in de verschillende landen nooit naar de voor het Fins onderwijs tegenvallende en zorgwekkende studies van de universiteit van Helsinki. De laatste dateren van 2010 en 2012. De studie van 2012 was grootschaliger dan deze van 2010, maar bevestigde niet alleen de achteruitgang sinds 2000, maar ook de heel lage leerprestaties van de Finse 15-jarigen voor de verschillende  basisvakken. In Onderwijskrant schreven we al een paar jaar geleden over het onderzoek vaan 2010. Omdat PISA niet  de resultaten van de door de school gerealiseerde leerresultaten meet, waren de opeenvolgende PISA-resultaten gewoon misleidend. 

De universiteit van Helsinki stelde ook heel grote verschillen tussen klassen en scholen vast en een vrij sterke relatie tussen de leerresultaten en b.v. de scholingsgraad van de ouders. Zo’n - grotendeels evidente -  relatie tref je overigens ook aan in de goed scorende Aziatische landen en in Vlaanderen.  Volgens egalitaire sociologen en de OESO zou zo’n relatie enkel wijzen op een grote sociale discriminatie.
 
De onderzoekers  van de universiteit van Helsinki concludeerden ook dat Finland dringend moest onderzoeken of de zwakke leerprestaties en het beperkte aantal toppers niet een gevolg waren van de gemeenschappelijke (weinig differentiërende) lagere cyclus. Ook in de andere Scandinavische (Nordic) landen  brengen veel onderwijsmensen de lage scores  in verband met de gemeenschappelijke lagere cyclus en het ermee verbonden stellen van te lage eisen.

Bijlage uit The Washington Post van 3 december

Are Finland’s vaunted schools slipping? Pasi Sahlberg

Pasi Finland has for years been a leader in education, scoring at or near the top of international assessments and capturing the attention of the world for its successful approach to education. But Finland is no longer at the top of international test rankings (though they  haven’t fallen very far), as newly released results from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment show. Are Finnish schools slipping? By what measure? Why?

Here’s a post on the issue by Finland’s Pasi Sahlberg, one of the world’s leading experts on school reform and the author of the best-selling  “Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn About Educational Change in Finland.”  Sahlberg is director general of Finland’s Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation and has served the Finnish government in various positions and worked for the World Bank in Washington D.C.  He has also been an adviser for numerous governments internationally about education policies and reforms, and is an adjunct professor of education at the University of Helsinki and University of Oulu.

Pasi Sahlberg

The irony of Finland’s successful school system is that the Finns never aimed to be better than anyone else — except, it is often humorously claimed, Sweden. Since the announcement of the first results of the Organization for Economic and Cooperation and Development’s Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, in 2001, Finland has been the center of educational attention.  Finland’s PISA scores  topped the charts, and the Finnish approach to educational policy has stood in direct opposition to the path embraced by the United States, England, and much of the rest of the world.

International student assessments, especially the PISA study, have become a crucial source of evidence in national policy-making around the world.  Some claim that lower PISA scores cost nations billions in lost labor skills and productivity.  Others go even further by insisting that poor PISA rankings are a threat to national security. High-ranking countries – South Korea, Singapore, Canada, and Finland – have consequently become benchmarks of educational policy-making in many parts of the world.

This begs a question: What happens when global educational models begin to lose their leading places in international student assessments like PISA, as has happened to Finland. What will Finland do?

National student assessments and academic research in Finland have shown that students’ knowledge and skills in mathematics have declined since the mid-2000s. A recent study from the University of Helsinki found a significant drop in 15-year-old students’ learning skills. PISA 2012 accordingly revealed no big surprises in Finland.  The score in reading dropped 12 points since the last administration of the exam three years earlier, from 536 to 524; math, 22 points from 541 to 519; and science, 9 points, from 554 to 545.  National student assessments show that improvement of student learning stagnated and started to slip about five years ago. PISA 2009 showed signs of this shift.  Reading slid 11 points from the 2006 results, from 547 to 536; math, 7 points, from 548 to 541; and science 9 points, from 563 to 554. (Commentaar: de vaststellingen in het onderzoek van de universiteit van Helsinki zijn veel belangrijker, betrouwbaarder en zorgwekkender dan deze in de PISA-studie omdat ze veel meer meten wat leerlingen op school leren. Sahlberg zwakt dit af door enkel maar de PISA-uitslag te vermelden en deze van de universiteit van Helsinki te verzwijgen.)

Many may ask: ‘What has gone wrong in Finland?’  Why have scores dropped? Is it because something that had driven improvement earlier has now disappeared from Finnish schools? Or is it due to changes in Finnish society or homes?  Whatever the reasons behind the changes, Finns must adopt smart responses and avoid hasty, false recoveries; analyze past data again; and learn more from other countries, their success stories and failed reforms.

The unexpected position as a global educational leader and role model may have disturbed Finland’s previous commitment to continuous improvement and renewal. Some argue that complacency and focus on explaining the past to thousands of education tourists have shifted attention away from developing Finland’s own school system.  Others contend that the high-profile of PISA have led other nations to alter their curricula.  Such observers point to the usage of PISA questions to shape lessons and coaching students to take PISA-like tests. As a norm-referenced test, PISA is graded on a curve. What other nations have learned from Finland and put into practice has necessarily brought down Finland’s results. (Commentaar: Shalberg vermeldt niet dat mensen van de universiteit van Helsinki en anderen de lage scores in verband brengen met de nivellerende en gemeenschappelijke lagere cyclus, met te lage eisen, met het ontbreken van niveaubewaking vanwege de overheid...)

O, what will Finland do? Finland should not do what many other countries have done when they have looked for a cure to their ill-performing school systems. Common solutions have included market-based reforms, such as increasing competition between schools, standardization of teaching and learning, tougher test-based accountability and privatization of public schools. Instead, Finns must protect their schools from the Global Educational Reform Movement (GERM) that has failed to help schools to get better in other countries.  The better way for Finland is to ensure that schools are able to cope with increasing inequality, that teachers have tools to help students with individual needs, and that all schools get support to succeed.

PISA results are too often presented as a simple league table of education systems. But there is much more that the data reveal. The Finnish school system continues to be one of the most equitable among the OECD countries. This means that in Finland, students’ learning in school is less affected by their family backgrounds than in most other countries. Schools in Finland remain fairly equal in learning outcomes despite the rapid growth of non-Finnish speaking children in schools.

Finland should also continue to let national education and youth policies — and not PISA — drive what is happening in schools. Reading, science, and mathematics are important in Finnish education system but so are social studies, arts, music, physical education, and various practical skills. Play and joy of learning characterize Finland’s pre-schools and elementary classrooms. Many teachers and parents in Finland believe that the best way to learn mathematics and science is to combine conceptual, abstract learning with singing, drama, and sports. This balance between academic and non-academic learning is critical to children’s well-being and happiness in school. PISA tells only a little about these important aspects of school education.