Snorri: The results are shocking

Snorri Másson calls Iceland’s latest PISA results “shocking”. The deputy chair of the Althing’s General Affairs and Education Committee says the figures reveal a dramatic decline in Iceland’s position in international comparisons.

“Somehow, in an astonishing way, the Icelandic school system has fallen behind the rest of the world to an unprecedented extent in just a few years, with unforeseen and possibly grave consequences for the generations now growing up,” Másson told Morgunblaðið. He said previous governments had failed to act, while the current government had shown that education was not a serious priority.

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Somehow, in an astonishing way, the Icelandic school system has fallen behind the rest of the world to an unprecedented extent in just a few years, with unforeseen and possibly grave consequences for the generations now growing up.

Másson, who is also deputy chairman of the Centre Party, said the results were worse than he had expected. He criticized what he described as constant changes at the ministry and an unclear, unconvincing policy for the future. At times, he said, the situation had become almost farcical, but the education crisis had made it impossible to keep treating it as a joke.

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Although one did not expect positive news from the latest PISA survey, the results are still shocking, they are so bad.

He also criticized cuts of tens of millions of Icelandic króna in library payments to Icelandic writers, announced during a literacy crisis. In his view, the government was saving money in one area while wasting much larger sums on projects he considered less sensible.

Másson said smartphones were only part of the explanation. He also cited an unrealistic vision of inclusive schools, greater emphasis on schools’ broader social role rather than core skills, weak discipline in some places, reluctance to demand that students meet set standards and hesitation to measure their real level honestly. He added that an unprecedented number of children of foreign origin had placed pressure on a system not designed for it, affecting both immigrant children and other students. He called for a fundamental review and a return to the core principles of good schooling.

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An unrealistic vision of inclusive schools, ever greater emphasis on other educational roles for the school than those connected to the student’s basic skills in core subjects, lack of discipline in some places, greater emphasis on accommodating the student instead of requiring the student to meet set standards, reluctance to verify students’ actual position and deal honestly with those results.