ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 looks at policy and practice in Australia, England, New Zealand and the United States, each of which has declined in international tests of student achievement this century, and contrasts them with policy in Finland, which has maintained its position near the top, although slipping a little in recent times, and in Canada, which also occupies the high ground. The evidence supports the argument of Sahlberg (2011) that three of the first four nations have been ‘infected’ by the excesses of what he described as the GERM, with New Zealand thus far largely avoiding the ‘infection’ but being at the crossroads.
