The Curse of Success:

The impact of the OECD PISA Study on the discourses of teachers’ profession

in Finland

Marjaana Lampinen^a and Pertti Alasuutari^b

Abstract

It is often assumed that although OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) has no formal jurisdiction over its member countries, it has been however quite successful due to its peer review practices in affecting the direction Western economies were to take in their development. The forms of governance to be adopted and the political practices to be brought into play in an individual member country are always however, an outcome of intricate processes where the suggestions presented by the OECD on one hand and the views and interpretations of various national actors on the other hand concur with each other thus giving birth to new forms of knowledge and thus, to new practices to be adopted in an individual member country. OECD PISA Study (Programme for International Student Assessment) has been a much-cited international learning assessment measuring young people’s capacity to use their knowledge and skills in order to meet future’s challenges in variably globalizing societies. Finland has scored to the top in PISA 2000 and PISA 2003 assessments unlike several other Western societies where the national results achieved in the study have created much debate and critical discussion. On the official level Finland’s success is explained by the high level and efficient national comprehensive education, especially by the successfulness of the reforms conducted in the Finnish comprehensive education and by the high autonomy of Finnish teachers. In this research article our attempt was to scrutinize, how the Trade Union of Education in Finland, and in more particular, its official organ, Opettaja-lehti, as a representative of teachers’ occupational group in Finland has responded to the national PISA success. The starting point for the study was that at the time of the publication of the national PISA results various national and international studies had evidenced that the Finnish teachers are on average very unsatisfied with their general working conditions and the overall valuation of their profession. With this particular case study our aim was to show how Opettaja-lehti is through its interpretations of the national PISA results contributing to the process where the mentalities and practices concerning the national comprehensive schooling take their shape in Finland.

The analysis of the editorials showed that Opettaja-lehti was well disposed towards the national PISA results. However, unlike the national PISA reports Opettaja-lehti aimed at explaining the national success for the most part by the high expertise of Finnish teachers and their education. In addition, Opettaja-lehti led up to prove the discrepancy between the high scores in the PISA assessments and the inadequate resources in the national comprehensive schooling, the deteriorating national school network and the low general valuation of education in Finland. Hence, we argue that if the premises used for the arguments in Opettaja-lehti will be accepted as strong and respectable also on the national political decision-making level, Opettaja-lehti may have succeeded in both, influencing the political mentalities and practices to be adopted concerning the national comprehensive schooling, but also in confirming teachers’ professional standing in Finland.

Keywords: OECD; global governance; PISA Study; comprehensive schooling; teachers’ profession; discursive change

^a M.A. Marjaana Lampinen, Research Institute for Social Sciences, University of Tampere, Auttilankulma, Room 205, FIN-33014 University of Tampere. Email: marjaana.lampinen@uta.fi

^b Prof. Pertti Alasuutari, Research Institute for Social Sciences, University of Tampere, Kanslerinrinne 1, FIN-33014 University of Tampere. Email: pertti.alasuutari@uta.fi