Finland has best students in the world, finds survey
Finnish students are the brightest in the world, according to an OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) survey carried out among 15 year olds in 41 countries in 2003. Some 250,000 teenagers sat a test assessing their maths, science, problem solving and reading skills. The results were compiled into a comparative study of education systems known as Pisa - Programme for International Student Assessment. The 2003 PISA study focused on mathematics, with problems mainly set in real-world situations, covering space and shape, change and relationships, quantity and uncertainly. 'Finland already led in the PISA 2000 reading assessment,' explains the OECD report, 'and in PISA 2003 it maintained its high level of reading literacy while further improving its performance in mathematics and science. In mathematics, where the PISA 2003 tests sought to establish how well students can develop and apply mathematical models to deal with real-life tasks and interpret, validate and communicate the results, top-performing OECD countries also include the Netherlands.' The Netherlands, which was not a part of the survey in 2000, placed fourth in mathematics and sixth in science For most other countries, their relative positions in the survey remained largely similar to those in the 2000 survey. There were some exceptions, however. For example, Poland's 1999 major reform in its education system appears to have paid off, with big improvements among lower-performing students. Smaller but still noteworthy improvements in at least two assessment areas also occurred in Belgium, the Czech Republic and Germany. The Czech Republic took seventh place in science, while Belgian students were particularly good in mathematics and problem solving (seventh in each category). While Germany improved its results since the last report, when the country's education system was strongly criticised, it still remained below average among OECD member nations. Germans were only 16th out of 29 in the rankings for mathematics. This amounts to being a year behind the Finns. Data for the UK were not included, due to insufficient response rate of students and schools. 'Overall', states the OECD, 'wealthier countries tend to do better in educational terms than poor nations, but there are exceptions: Korea's national income, for example, is 30 per cent below the OECD average but its students are among the best performers in OECD countries. Nor is high expenditure necessarily a key to success: a number of countries do well in terms of 'value for money' in their education systems, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Japan, Korea and the Netherlands, while some of the 'big spenders' perform below the OECD average,' adds the OECD The OECD used seven proficiency levels to categorise level of skills, from 'below level 1' to level six. Half or more of the students reached at least level four in Finland, South Korea and Hong Kong. In most members of the OECD, at least three quarters of students reached level two, but more than a quarter failed to complete these tasks in Italy, Portugal and the US and over a third in Greece. 'These students fail to demonstrate consistently that they have the baseline mathematical skills,' the report states. In Belgium, between eight and nine per cent of students - more than double the OECD average - were able to perform the highly complex skills required to reach level six in mathematics. The study, however, found that student interest in mathematics is far lower across countries than in reading. Only 38 per cent of students reported they did mathematics because they enjoyed it. The vast majority of students, however, believed that studying maths will help them in the future. The survey also found that girls consistently report lower interest in and enjoyment of mathematics, lower levels of self-confidence and higher levels of anxiety with mathematics. According to the OECD, if girls are to be encouraged to go on to study mathematics and related subjects at a higher level, schools will need to do more to build their interest and confidence in maths from an early age.
Countries
Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Greece, Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal