5. Does the Evidence Count?

In Chapter 5, we analyse in detail features of education systems in top-performing countries, low-performing countries and those that have improved over time. We find that a very strong narrative has been built around the success of Finland and the shock experienced by Germany in the first PISA cycle. This narrative basically supports comprehensive systems, school autonomy and trust in teachers. We question why no clear narrative has been created from looking at the real top performers: countries in East Asia where levels of school autonomy tend to be low, where some countries such as Singapore have early tracking and prioritise high teaching standards and a rigorous teaching profession. We argue that borrowing education policy from egalitarian societies (such as Finland) and importing it to countries with high levels of inequity (such as Latin American countries) leads to the worst outcomes in terms of equity. Finally, we find no evidence that countries experiencing the ‘PISA shock’ have improved their education systems.