The case of Finland provides a contrasting approach to the use of education in support of development, one focused on broad-based, decentralized decision making and collaborative
knowledge creation. Finland has approximately 65,000 teachers and 900,000 primary and secondary students (UNESCO, 2004). According to UNDP (2005) figures, the government
spends 6.4% of its GDP on education, about 12.7% of all government expenditures. Finnish
students scored second to (but not statistically different from) students in Hong Kong, among
40 countries participating in the mathematics portion of the Program for International Student
Assessment, or PISA (OECD, 2004c). (Singapore did not participate in the recent PISA nor did Finland participate in the recent TIMSS.) The country scored first among nations on the science and reading portions of this test of 15-year-olds. Finland also scored first in a special
assessment of students’ problem solving skills that measured students’ ability to analyze problem situations, apply knowledge to solve problems, and evaluate, justify and communicate results (OECD, 2004d).