PISA 2012: Swedish Schools in Decline

by Hans Mühlen 31 Dec 2013 Science and Society, Education Evaluations
Published in the "Nordic News" section of Nordita News issue 4, 2013

PISA, Program for International Student Assessment, is a triennial international survey commissioned by the OECD which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students in three key subjects: reading, mathematics and science. In PISA 2000 and 2003 Swedish 15-year-olds were ranked above the OECD average in all subjects, but over time Swedish results have dropped more than any other OECD country. In PISA 2012, the fifth PISA survey, 25 of 34 surveyed countries have a better result than Sweden in mathematics and science, and in reading 19 countries outrank Sweden, which is below the OECD average in all subjects.

The report has been widely discussed in Swedish media, with reactions ranging from calls to a complete emergency review of the Swedish school system, over blaming one's political opponents for the decline, to the Government's official position that there is nothing to worry about since reforms put in place last year will resolve any problems. One can expect education will be one of the hottest issues in the upcoming September 2014 elections.

Sources at OECD: PISA 2012 Results, PISA lessons. Read more: Swedish National Agency for Education press release (in Swedish).