competences measured by the PIACC scores. This study also included an analysis of the possible impact of traditional education – in which knowledge and non-cognitive skills (such as grit) were key goals – and more progressive, child-centred ideas focused more on school enjoyment both as an end and as a means for higher achievement. There is little doubt that Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden have implemented progressive practices to quite a large extent, while Finland in 2012 stands out as the country with the most traditional practices, despite increasingly official policy pushing in a progressive direction. Using PISA data from 2012, it seems that while pupil-centred methods induce more positive school experiences, they decrease pupils’ academic performance. This may have an impact on health, but the conclusions rest on aggregated national data. It is nevertheless an important hypothesis for further studies. One policy recommendation from this study is: ‘To decrease health disparities in the future, Nordic governments should consider altering their current education-policy trajectories in a more evidence-based direction.’160
Knowledge gaps and concerns •
The international large-scale assessments offer unique data for analysis of factors related to school achievement. Using more advanced analytical strategies would improve the knowledge state, but the quality of relevance of the content in the assessment needs to be discussed in detail.161
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The analytical procedure should involve advanced forms of statistical multi-level analysis, as the national comparisons on the aggregated level often disregard within-country variation.
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There are many longitudinal studies of children from birth onwards. Mostly these studies focus on health and child development. These could be linked to data of the children’s school situation and school achievement. This would lead to important improvement in the possibility to develop a more in-depth analysis of the drivers of inequality in school
Heller-Sahlgren, G. (2019). Summary. Educational policy for health equality: Lessons for the Nordic region. Stockholm: Nordic Welfare Centre, p. 9. https://nordicwelfare.org/wpcontent/uploads/2019/04/Education-Policy_HS_Webb_FINAL.pdf 161 Arnesen, A., Braeken, J., Ogden, T., & Melby-Lervåg, M. (2019) Assessing children’s social functioning and reading proficiency: A systematic review of the quality of educational assessment instruments used in Norwegian elementary schools. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 63(3), 465–490. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2017.1420685 160
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