Perhaps the lesson of Finland is that mono-culturalism achieves better educational outcomes than multi-culturalism.
Maybe it is easier if stakeholders have high levels of trust, and similar performance expectations, work ethic, language skills, etc.
Maybe it is easier if stakeholders have high levels of trust, and similar performance expectations, work ethic, language skills, etc.
Your objection has been raised before. As http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-are-finlands-sc... points out:
> Some of the more vocal conservative reformers in America have grown weary of the “We-Love-Finland crowd” or so-called Finnish Envy. They argue that the United States has little to learn from a country of only 5.4 million people—4 percent of them foreign born. Yet the Finns seem to be onto something. Neighboring Norway, a country of similar size, embraces education policies similar to those in the United States. It employs standardized exams and teachers without master’s degrees. And like America, Norway’s PISA scores have been stalled in the middle ranges for the better part of a decade.
No country is an absolute monoculture or absolutely multicultural, but Finland is a remarkably monocultural country compared to most industrialized nations, with a strong social cohesion and rather minor ethnic divides. Swedish-speakers are very similar in culture and values to Finnish-speaking Finns, they just speak a different language.
Right now there is a huge migration going on - about 50 000 asylum seekers will come to the country within the year and it looks the pace will just increase. That means 1% of population, which is a rather significant demographic change in just one year. It will definitely have an impact.
I do not really believe Norwegian results are that much different. PISA is just one metric. In the most recent PISA (2012) Finland is #12; in the previous one it was #6 and the one before that it was #2. Did the quality of teaching drop that much in just a few years? Hardly.
That is, andyl said Finland 'achieves better educational outcomes'. This is (in my experience) based on PISA. Indeed, much of what I've read coming out of the US is that students must get more 'academic' education, backed by large-scale testing, in order to compete against the countries with high PISA scores.
You use the term 'do not really believe Norwegian results are that much different'. Could you explain the basis for that statement? The thesis is that a (near) monoculture is a reasonable explanation for high PISA scores. The example of Norway was to show there isn't a simple, direct correlation.
I don't think you don't believe the scores aren't difference. Instead, your objection seems instead to be that PISA isn't a stable/useful metric in the first place, so that comparisons aren't relevant. I think your suggestion is that there simply isn't data one way or the other on how homogeneity affects education.
Which means, I think, that you also disagree with andyl's hypothesis, but for different reasons.
I merely meant that in my experience, the school education that Norwegians get is not noticeably worse than the one Finnish kids get. They speak foreign languages, they can solve an equation, they know where Arkansas is.
Of course this is just my view, nothing you could call a scientific view substantiated by formal research. I just see that Norwegians are generally better (knowledge-wise) educated than Americans, on level with Finns, even if the PISA ratings of Norway and USA are very close to each other and significantly behind Finland.
I did not quite understand when you say you've read that students must get more 'academic' education, backed by large-scale testing, in order to compete against the countries with high PISA scores when the supposed strength of Finnish education system is lack of large-scale testing. Particularly early on - pupils generally don't even get any formal scores or ratings until 6th grade (as 13-year-old).
"I did not quite understand when you say .."
Sorry, I see the confusion. I meant that in the US, in discussion about changes to the US school system, one of the arguments is how US schools need more 'rigorous' testing with a more 'academic' goal, in order to improve PISA scores. Those making this argument often point to a country like South Korea with a very academic/test-centric education system and high PISA as a model for what the US should be. Those opposed point to Finland as a counter-example.
To edit what I wrote slightly, "much of what I've read coming out of the US is that US students must get [a] more 'academic' education ..."
Stictly speaking, maybe, but, c'mon, compared to the United States it is.
Also, AFAIK, the sort of extreme rich-poor divides between schools that is so characteristic of the USA is far less common in Scandanavian countries.
But there is a lot to be said for smart, well-trained teachers. It all starts and ends there.
This is due to the "leveling down" social philosophy prominent in Scandinavian societies.
Nobody is poor, nobody is rich, and this is not optional, enforced through mandatory wealth transfers (punitive taxation for those of above average income, to fund generous social welfare benefits for the below-average.)
Likewise, overachievement in schools is actively hindered just as much as underachievement is given extra assistance. Smarter students' learning is slowed so that they learn no more than about the normal level. This is usually overlooked by the we-love-Finnish-education crowd.
You're going to need a citation of some kind for this.
It depends. My son (8) seems to have a class where they support the strong learners and slow learners at each of their own pace. Some people who I knew talked of eager teachers who gave the all the material they could consume.
Personally - 30:ish years ago I finished the second grade math book in a few weeks and the teacher berated me for consuming all the material she had ("What on earth are you going to work on now?") and I ended up bored and idle for the rest of the math class. Never again did I try to pace up...
So, it depends on the teachers - nowadays the situation seems to be much more supportive of strong learners. A couple of decades ago though this was a political thing - areas where social democrats were strong _prohibited_ people being taught at their own pace because it did not fit with social democrat ideology of complete equality.
So, historically, yes, this was a thing but I think it's better nowadays.
The borders of nations are a bad separation or aggregation for cultures, we'd have to look at cultures by themselves and compare results there. But for now the immigrant percentage of the population has to do: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_immigrant...
China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Madagascar, Cuba, Lesotho, Philippines, Burma, Morocco, North Korea, Somalia, Eritrea, Colombia, Afghanistan, ... That's where you can find regions with pristine mono-cultures.
Comparing these to truly multi-cultural countries like Switzerland, Hong-Kong and Australia I strongly doubt your hypothesis.
You comparison is disingenuous.