It is probably true. But still our professionals are equally good or, in some fields, even better. It's almost like the US. They don't rank particularly well in this sort of tests, but its universities are among the best in the world. I believe in Israel is the same. Look at the inventions, patents, theories that Israeli scientist, engineerings,economist, researchers, come up with every year. Not everything is bad. But if it can get better, lets do it.

Are you kidding? In the 1940's Finland fought a war against Russia, because Russia invaded it's territory adjacent to St. Petersburg. Incidentally, they lost the war and had to deal with many refugees (Karelians) coming into the country. In spite of this, they kept their country and were able to build a modern, robust country that is now in the EU. In a word, resilience. They still do have a border with Russia and they still do keep tabs on it. Just in case.

Many finns like me hope every best for Israel. We have blue&white flaf with our relion symbols in them in common for example. I was bit suprised quit poor success of Israel in this PISA comparison. Israel made patented inventions quit a lot and jews are over presended as Nobel price winners. I am no familiar with education system of Israel, but I think main reason for good performance of Finland is investing in slow learners maybe more than in other countries. This is in line with our quit high equality of society. We don't have any special schools for "better folk" but all pupils go to the nearest school. I dont think that the salary of teachers is any explanation as such. But almost all teacers has university degree, and it must been seen on salary too.

Its not true about class size. We can have up to 42 kids in a class. A school can't start another class until they get the 43rd. That is the law. My kids had 36-38 in elementary school.

There are studies that show that native English speakers read 20% quicker in their native language than Hebrew speakers do in theirs. Zionism has done it only half way. Like Atataturk in Turkey, we should promote latinization of Hebrew. Hebrew letters should be kept for religious practices and for an academic interest, but not for everyday activities.

The cell phone was invented in Finland, but we have had it surgically implanted into our genetic fiber. Good think, too, given the vast distances and extreme winters in Israel (giggles).

If you break down the scores by population, e.g. Arab Sephardi Ashkenazi Haredi I'm sure you will see a very different picture - and come to a different conclusion

And it is good to remember that reading some languages might be even faster than English, as even English has quite large difference between writing system and pronunciation. Finnish and many other languages have almost 1 to 1 mapping between letters and phonemes - and that means that when you hear some new Finnish word, you know immediately how to write it and when you read new word, you know immediately how to pronounce it. If there is some modernization of Hebrew writing, I recommend using 1 to 1 mapping without many exceptions instead of looking example from English which has quite many exceptions and where the mapping between phonemes and letters is unneccesarily complex.

I read an article about the obligatory requirement for all Finnish teachers to have a masters degree. Like in Japan, teachers have an elevated social status even though their salaries may not be that high. Like the island nation of Japan, the Finns also feel a bit isolated and "different" from their Scandinavian neighbors. Their cohesiveness and sense of self-preservation counts high in their goal of guaranteeing their survival.

This is well known fact, healthy food-->good (healthly) thinking/acting--> better results in studying. Here in Finland our government pays our everyday meals in schools, and the food is, of course, healthy. So, what do the Israeli kids eat in the school?

Very simple and important talkback. Well said!

According to this article, elementary school teachers earn 2,6 times as much in Finland, and high school teachers 2,9 times as much as in Israel. Yet total spend on education is about the same as in Israel, after taking into account a lower per capita GDP in Israel. So if overall education costs are similar in Finalnd, that means that the much lower Israeli teachers salaries are eaten up by a the Israeli management apparatus, i.e. a bloated education bureaucracy of inspectors, planners and a coterie of politicians. The conclusion then should be clear. Hire good teachers, pay them well, rely on these superior people and get rid of the bloated management layer.

Belgium ranks fifth. Our teachers of math in high school all have a masters degree and a no-nonsense mentality. Our system is selective: those who are fit and interested follow math and have 8 hours of math a week. The others follow 'easier' classes. It's that simple.

Finish society is largely homogeneous, Isreal (like the US) has a large body of immigrants. While there are many advantages to having immigrant populations, inexpensive schooling is not one of those benefits. Students in the US may come to school without strong English skills, in Israel without strong Hebrew skills. Without the strong base in language skills, a few students can be a drag on an entire classroom. Is it worthwhile to educate those students? I believe that the economics are quite clear in either country, educating people is clearly in the economic and social interests of the society, but doing so in a way that they don't slow down other students is critical. I believe that those students with non native language skill should be given additional instruction throughout the year until they can catch up. Although this would add additional expense, I theorize that it would pay off for both the students and society.

I know a lot of great young Israelis who fear following a teaching career simply because of the ridiculous pay and uncivilized work environment - disrespectful students, condescending school principals, rude parents. Education is not a priority for the government yet. Until then, private tutoring is expanding social gaps, which wil eventually lead to more crime and less academic achievements. Give Bibi a wake-up call is all we need to do...

Anita, we have to remember that Finland is good in the way PISA defines what is good. Good is the situation where as many as possible learn reasonable skills. If the succcess was measured in another way - like the skills of the best performing 10% - there would most likely be other nations on top than Finland. But Finland decided some 40 years ago, that it is best that as many as possible learn reasonable skills - and the whole education system is built for achieving this goal. The secret is in administration - the school system has been developed to a very high level. It is carefully planned and many wise decisions have been made. The school system is not so good by accident. It is pretty much the same as the other well known Finnish product, Nokia mobile phone. It did not just emerge from nowhere, it was designed. Obviously any other nation can build a school system just as good for their needs - our students are not any better, the educational system is. Therefore, you need geat young Israelis in the administration to run and develop the system, to improve the machine so that teching career also starts looking more attractive. And it takes time. Obviously the system cannot finally be any better than the teachers that actually do the work. The work environment will be made civilized by civilized teachers - in Finland one great attraction is the 2,5 month summer holiday for teachers, envied by even the top lawyers or doctors. It is not just money, it is also the quality of life and how you value it yourself. I suggested my teenagers to become teachers, and was surpriced how positively they think of teaching, even when they hate school just like any young person does.