International | The parable of Finland

PISA results can lead policymakers astray

All the more reason to pay close attention to them

|HELSINKI AND TALLINN

WHEN ESTONIA gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 it took the chance to reshape the country’s education system. Mailis Reps, the current education minister, says officials and politicians looked everywhere—from America to the Netherlands—for inspiration. But they kept coming back to their Nordic neighbours. As Ms Reps recalls, the concluding argument in any debate often ran: “Let’s try something like that because it works in Sweden or Finland.”

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “The parable of Finland”

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