Episode
The Finland myth, East Asia’s rise, and what makes education systems work with Montserrat Gomendio (Ep 68)
- Podcast
- Chalk & Talk
- Published
- Apr 3, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 4131
- Processing state
not_requested
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/chalk-talk-6066907/episodes/the-finland-myth-east-asia-s-rise-and-what-makes-education-systems-work-with-montserrat-gomendio-ep-68/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/chalk-talk-6066907/the-finland-myth-east-asia-s-rise-and-what-makes-education-systems-work-with-montserrat-gomendio-ep-68.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
In this episode, Anna is joined by Dr. Montserrat (Montse) Gomendio, a former Secretary of State for Education in Spain. Montse is also a former Deputy Director of Education for the OECD, the international organization that administers the PISA test. Drawing on global data, including from PISA, Montse explains why some education systems consistently perform well while others struggle to improve. Montse discusses the three key drivers of effective education systems: teacher quality, a knowledge-rich curriculum, and strong assessments aligned with that curriculum. Anna and Montse discuss what large-scale international assessments like PISA can (and can’t) tell us. The conversation also explores why education reform is so difficult to implement, what high-performing systems right like those in East Asia and Estonia get right, and whether Finland’s reputation as a model system is supported by evidence. This is a fascinating conversation that will appeal to educators, policymakers, and anyone interested in what actually drives improvement in education systems. This episode is also available in video at www.youtube.com/@chalktalk-stokke MONTSERRAT GOMENDIO’S BOOK (OPEN ACCESS) Dire Straits-Education Reforms: Ideology, Vested Interests and Evidence: https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0332 SHORT COURSE La Trobe Short Course: Evidence-informed Mathematics Teaching – An Introduction https://shortcourses.latrobe.edu.au/evidence-informed-mathematics-teaching ResearchED Calgary ResearchED Calgary registration: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/researched-calgary-tickets-1984343272144 TIMESTAMPS [00:00:22] Introduction [00:04:55] The role of Deputy Director of Education at the OCED [00:06:21] What is the purpose of PISA? [00:07:29] How is PISA different from TIMSS or PI…