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Finnish children are top of the class in reading and arithmetic.
Their skills came out in the OECD's latest PISA study.
The main area in the recently published PISA study for 2003
was mathematics. It examined young people's ability to use
mathematical information and skills in different subject areas
and for solving mathematical problems in various everyday
situations.
Results show that Finnish 15-year-olds' expertise in mathematics
is the best in the OECD countries. Coming up to the same level
with Finland were Korea, the Netherlands and Japan.
"The results were a positive surprise to the examiners,"
says Professor Jouni Välijärvi from the Institute
for Educational Research at the University of Jyväskylä.
According to previous studies, the high level of reading skills
could be expected, says Välijärvi, but the better
result in mathematics and natural sciences than in 2000 was
a surprise.
It was very evident that Finnish children's expertise in
mathematics is evenly spread: it is strong in all the sub-areas.
The proportion of weak pupils is small in Finland compared
with other countries. Gender differences and regional differences
are also comparatively small.
Number one in reading too
Finnish children's reading skills are still better than in
other OECD countries. Only Korea is at the same level. The
success continues as Finland was also number one in the PISA
study for 2000.
Finns also reached the number one spot in natural sciences
as well. The other top countries are Japan and Korea. Problem-solving
skills were a new area of assessment. Finnish children did
well in this area too, achieving the second-highest number
of points behind Korea.
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What is Pisa?
PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment)
is a research programme mainly for OECD countries, the
purpose of which is to assess at three-year intervals
the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds from the perspective
of the requirements for expertise in the future.
The first study, which stressed reading skills, was
published in 2001.
In the second study, which emphasized mathematics, there
were 250,000 participants from 41 countries. In Finland
about 5,800 pupils answered the tests.
PISA is coordinated by an international consortium led
by the Australian Centre for Educational Research (ACER).
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www.pisa.oecd.org
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