From time to time, discussions arise about the state of our comprehensive school system in Finland, so I thought I’d kick off a thread related to the topic. ![]()
This thread is mainly for comprehensive school + upper secondary education. The hope is for discussion about the situation in Finland: what works, what doesn’t? What can we do differently? Will private schools take over the sector in a few years because parents are fed up with insecurity and declining learning levels?
PISA
The discussion will become even more frequent in December 2023, when the results of the PISA study are made public. The focus area for PISA 2022 (which will be published) was mathematics. In previous years, Finland has performed excellently in PISA studies in all areas! The reason why this topic causes discussion is the direction in which Finland is undeniably heading in the studies. As someone working in the field, I am somewhat concerned about the upcoming results, and I believe the trend has remained steadily poor.
To provide some comparison, let’s list a few years of PISA results [1].
Below are the ranks Finland achieved among OECD countries. In the scale reported in 2018, the scores did not differ statistically significantly from each other.
Compared to the 2015 PISA assessment, Finland’s average reading literacy score decreased by 6 points. Reading literacy skills have declined in Finland over the long term, as they have on average in OECD countries. Finland’s average score decreased by 16 points compared to 2009 and 26 points compared to 2000.
The results are therefore by no means absolutely alarming, but rather the direction in which the level is heading.
I’ll end this opening post here so I can clearly separate PISA from my actual opinions/observations. I will return later today with a message more about everyday life. ![]()
If the topic sparks discussion, let’s try to keep party politics out of the thread as much as possible.
Finally, something to think about, which is meant as a joke, but everyone can still consider if there is that famous grain of truth in it.


