In late August 2001, about three monts before the first international PISA results were published, members from the national PISA group in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden met in Sigtuna outside Stockholm to discuss the possibility of publishing a Nordic PISA report. The purpose of such a report would be to shed light on the Nordic results in PISA 2000 to see what similarities and differences there were within the Nordic countries and between the Nordic and other countries. Three editors were appointed, and author groups based on special fields of interests were formed. The following chapters are written by researchers who are all connected to the PISA project groups in Denmark, Finland, Norway or Sweden.

The editors hope that this book will be a source of interest and inspiration for teachers, teacher educators and policy makers, as well as for education researchers.

The book was published by the Department of Teacher Education and School Development, University of Oslo, Norway.