Finland’s success in PISA—a worldwide study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) of 15-year-old students’ aptitudes in mathematics, science, and reading—was a surprise to Finns.

In 2006, it was the best performing country. Even though the results have declined, Finland still ranks among the top countries.

Finland is an example of a country that has not followed many of the global education reform principles. There is no standardized tests or school inspections but the education system leans on “intelligent” accountability.

This means that while there are national quality standards for learning and teaching in the form of national core curriculum and laws and regulations, there are no rankings of the schools based on test results. However, self-evaluation of schools and education providers exists and are regularly applied. The Finnish education policy values more quality and less control and competition. — blog.wb.org/blogs