Vulnerability and Educational Equity – PISA 2018 in Finnish and German Media Discourses

Abstract

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) was launched in 1997, and the first testing was done in 2000. The aim was to globally compare what students learn and can do. In 2000, 32 countries participated. In 2018, the number of participating education systems1 had more than doubled to 78. Compared to the other OECD countries, performance of students both in Germany and in Finland was clearly above average in all three areas (mathematics, natural sciences, reading) in 2018. In Germany, the long-term trends did not look as bright. After Germany performed quite poorly in the first PISA survey in 2000, the country managed to achieve much better results during the following rounds, both in comparison to other countries and in overall results. In 2018, for the first time, the average performance of students was going down again. Finland has ranked higher than Germany in all areas, being in the top group among the OECD countries. However, the average performance has been going down since the especially high score in the first study in 2000.