Research Questions

This research originally stemmed from an interest in Finland. This interested spawned an academic interest concerining the bilingualism of the country. However, the advent of PISA sparked a new twist on the academic interest of the country, relating specifically to its education system.

Many have wondered about the reasons for Finnish success in PISA and the factors behind it.

This is the main research question:

• In light of the results of the OECD's PISA surveys, how can we explain the phenomenon of Finland's educational success?

Upon further investigation, two sub-questions emerged. The first tackles the perceptions of Finns involved in education on their performance in PISA, as well as the perceptions of the PISA creators at the OECD.

The second one takes some of the warnings of policy borrowing into account and delves into the external factors influencing Finland's success in PISA.

• What are the perceptions of Finland's education officials, PISA test administrators, heads of schools, and teachers of this success and how do they explain the outcomes?
• Which external factors, historical, social, political, and cultural, influence the success of Finland in PISA?