Learning strategies explaining differences in reading proficiency. Findings of Nordic and Baltic countries in PISA 2009

• Metacognitive learning strategies are strong predictors of reading proficiency.
• Differences between students in reading appear partly due to differences between schools.
• Learning strategies explain a lot at school level.
• Students in Baltic countries reported more traditional way of learning (memorization).

There are useful metacognitive learning strategies improving learning results significantly. Students can be trained to use them to achieve a higher level of proficiency in different academic domains, including reading. The current study was aimed to discover how student awareness and use of learning strategies explains differences in reading literacy test results, using PISA (the Program for International Student Assessment) 2009 data of three Nordic and three Baltic countries. The student level differences appeared partly due to the differences between schools, in the Baltic countries more than in the Nordic countries, which is considered a concern in the countries stating the equality of compulsory education. The student awareness of metacognitive learning strategies showed the highest explanatory power both at student and school levels. In the Baltic countries, students reported using traditional way of learning such as memorization more often, but it had no explanatory power.