For years, Finnish schools were the model other countries studied and copied, but the latest Pisa results tell a very different story.
Finnish 15-year-olds are scoring lower in all three subjects the international assessment measures: reading, math and science. And Finland has lost its superstar status to its neighbour across the Gulf of Finland, Estonia.
This time on All Points North, we ask what's going wrong in Finnish classrooms.
We hear from Richard Cousins, principal of Kulosaari Secondary School in Helsinki, and Aicha Manai, an international mother of two.
"It came as such a shock," said Cousins, "Finland's position in the rankings, and the fact that our neighbours across the water have improved so significantly. I think it's time for Finland to look at Estonia."
Manai thinks complacency is part of the problem. "Estonia is hungry, and we're not," she added. "We're somehow satisfied with what's happening right now, and that's why we're not aiming higher."
You can watch the full episode from the video at the top of the page or on our YouTube channel.
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Zena Iovino produced and presented this episode of All Points North. The sound and video engineer was Tuomas Vauhkonen, and the production assistant was Hannah Anderson.
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