Changing schools and educational institutions is, of course, a difficult task. Moreover, countries that have
attempted reforms of schools have often found that the results in terms of student achievement are relatively
modest. At the same time, the results from countries achieving high and equitable learning outcomes in
PISA – like Finland in Europe, Canada in North America or Japan and Korea in East Asia – or from those
that have seen rapid improvements in the quality of schooling (like Poland) underline that doing better is
possible. Concluding that change is “too difficult” would imply foregoing enormous gains to the well-being
of OECD nations.