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Finland’s education system and its continued resistance to Global Education Reform Movement (GERM)

12 May 2022, 1:00 pm–2:00 pm

Teacher teaching kids in classroom. Image by vectorfusionart / Adobe Stock.

In this webinar, Guy Roberts-Holmes and Jennifer Chung will discuss Finland's policy response to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

This event is free.

Event Information

Open to

All

Cost

Free

Organiser

Bernie Munoz

Event recording

MediaCentral Widget Placeholderhttps://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Player/AB8Jj605

The advent of PISA in conjunction with GERM has fortified and strengthened countries’ neoliberal education policies, including early childhood education in England, the US and Australia. PISA, in essence, has created an "educational Olympics" with the publication of "international league tables", naming and shaming countries’ educational performances.

The Education Reform Act of 1988 in England marks the catalyst of GERM, with the emphasis on competition, school choice, and league tables. The now-ubiquitous terminology of 'standards', Test Based Accountability (TBA) and managerial accounting feed neoliberal policies. GERM, therefore, has infected many education systems around the world.

In this webinar, Guy and Jennifer will discuss how Finland appears relatively resistant to infection by utilising the high level of trust in teachers and a democratic accountability. A paradox of "pedagogical conservatism", along with the aforementioned trust in Finnish education allow for a continuing GERM resistance.


This event will be particularly useful for those interested in international assessment, PISA, Finland's educational system and comparative education.


Related links

About the Speakers

Dr Guy Roberts-Holmes

Associate Professor in Early Childhood Education at IOE

More about Dr Guy Roberts-Holmes

Dr Jennifer Chung

Lecturer at IOE

More about Dr Jennifer Chung