3). Moreover, "they have been among the best in all the domains in each PISA cycle; although the number of participating countries and economies has increased over the years from 34 to 74" (p.4). He explains that these results came as a surprise, since the Finnish educational system invests a normal amount of money in comparison with other counties; besides, they have less homework, almost no evaluations, and less hours of lessons than other countries, such as England or the United States. The author speculates that "the successful performance of Finnish students seems to be attributable to a web of interrelated factors"; most of those are related with "comprehensive pedagogy, students' own interests and leisure activities, the structure of the education system, teacher education, school practices and Finnish culture" (p. 3).
However, the Finnish students´ outstanding performance in PISA cannot be explained only by school related factors. As Sadler stated in 1979, "in studying foreign systems of education, we should not forget that the things outside the schools matter even more than the things inside the schools and govern and interpret the things inside" (p.5). Finland´s success is a function of the network of five special characteristics and strengths external to the school environment that enable their students to reach such results in PISA studies. First of all, Finland´s educational policy puts its focus on equity and well-being. This idea of schooling emerged in the late1960s, when "a new social policy climate was diffusing the values of equality and social justice throughout Finnish society" (Sahlberg, 2012, p.3). As a consequence, schools are expected to focus on the whole child; this means, not only to teach and make students learn, but also to take care of the student´s well-being and healthy development. This is why they have health services, psychological counselling and student guidance.
