MIRACLE OF PISA – Behind the Finnish Success

The Miracle of PISA -Conference will be held in Helsinki
10.–12. September 2008.

The results of OECD’s PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) surveys have in recent years been very good for Finland. The latest PISA study of learning results among 15-year olds, with performances in science (published in 2007), gave excellent results for Finnish students, once again. Due to the wide international interest the, University of Helsinki will organise a conference on Finnish education and teacher training systems.

Target Group

The Conference is focused for the central stakeholders and organisations in education, for instance policy makers and school management (state and local authorities), principals, teachers, teacher trainers, researchers and teacher trainees.

Goals of the Conference

The Conference will give the participants a comprehensive insight into the Finnish education system, including teacher education, curriculum development and evaluation. These factors are in the focus when developing the Finnish School system.

Content

The main themes of the conference are

structure of the Finnish education system
governance and administration
curriculum processes (national core curricula / local and school based curricula)
teacher education, pre-service and in-service training
special education
national evaluation and evaluation of the learning results
future challenges
pedagogical solutions and innovations for learning environments

The conference will be composed of presentations of prominent Finnish experts, workshops and school visits.

Organising Committee

Chair Mr Kauko Hämäläinen, Director, University of Helsinki, Palmenia Centre for Continuing Education
Mr Jyrki Loima, Adjunct Professor, University of Helsinki, Viikki Teacher Training School
Mr Matti Meri, Professor, University of Helsinki
Ms Tuula Meres-Wuori, Planning Officer, University of Helsinki
Ms Minna-Maija Salomaa, Congress Manager, University of Helsinki, Palmenia UniConf
Ms Anja Loikkanen, Congress Secretary, University of Helsinki, Palmenia UniConf

PISA 2006 survey and results

The Miracle of PISA -Conference brochure (Pdf)

The Miracle of PISA -Conference brochure in Chinese (Pdf)