education system in finland essay

The Finnish education system

Early childhood education, pre-primary education, comprehensive education, upper secondary education, higher education, applying for education and training, other study opportunities, language training.

The education system includes early childhood education, preschool education, comprehensive education, upper secondary education and higher education. Adult education is intended for adults and it includes a multitude of alternatives from comprehensive to higher education.

In Finland, children are entitled to receive early childhood education before they reach school age. Early childhood education is organised in day care centres and family day care. Children may also participate in open early childhood education together with a parent, for example, at a playground. The goal is to support children’s development and well-being and to promote equality in learning. In early childhood education, children learn, for example, social, linguistic and manual skills and gain different types of information. Children also acquire skills that help them learn more.

A lot of playtime and outdoor activities are included. If the child’s native language is not Finnish or Swedish, he or she will receive support in learning Finnish or Swedish. The child may also receive special needs education, if necessary.

In Finland, municipalities organise early childhood education. It is tax funded and therefore more affordable to families. There is also private early childhood education available in Finland. Trained early childhood education teachers, social pedagogues and childcarers work with children.

Read more about early childhood education on the InfoFinland page Early childhood education .

In Finland, children must attend pre-primary education for one year before compulsory education begins. Pre-primary education usually starts during the year when the child turns six. Municipalities organise pre-primary education and it is free of charge for families. Pre-primary education is given by highly educated early childhood education teachers. Pre-primary education is usually organised from Monday to Friday, four hours a day during school hours. In addition to pre-primary education, the child can also attend early childhood education.

During the time that children are in pre-primary education, they learn skills that are useful in school, such as the alphabet. They are not, however, taught how to read. If the child’s native language is not Finnish or Swedish, he or she will receive support in learning Finnish or Swedish. A typical day in pre-primary education also includes playtime and outdoor activities.

Read more on the InfoFinland page Pre-primary education (Link leads to external service) .

In Finland, comprehensive education normally starts during the year when the child turns seven. All children residing in Finland permanently must attend comprehensive education. Comprehensive school comprises nine grades.

Finnish legislation guides comprehensive education. National curriculum bases and local curriculums are also in use.

Comprehensive education is organised by municipalities and is free of charge for families. There is at least 20 hours of tuition per week for first and second grades and more for higher grades.

All comprehensive school teachers in Finland have a Master’s degree. Comprehensive school class teachers, who teach grades 1–6, are specialised in pedagogy. Grade 7–9 teachers are specialised in the subjects they teach.

Teachers are at liberty to plan their tuition independently based on the national and local curricula. Recently, curricula have emphasised, for example, entities that cover several subjects, investigating daily phenomena and information and communications technology.

Children often have the same teacher for the first six years. The teacher gets to know the students well and is able to develop the tuition to suit their needs. One important goal is that the students learn how to think for themselves and assume responsibility over their own learning.

The teacher evaluates the students’ progress in school. In comprehensive education, all grades are given by the teacher. There are no national examinations as such. Instead, learning results are being monitored with sample-based evaluations. These are usually organised in the ninth grade.

If the child or young person has only recently moved to Finland, he or she may receive preparatory education for comprehensive education. Preparatory education usually takes one year. After it, the student may continue to study Finnish or Swedish as a second language, or an S2 language, if he or she needs support in learning the language.

Adult immigrants who have no comprehensive school leaving certificate from their native country may complete comprehensive school in general upper secondary schools for adults.

Read more about comprehensive education on the InfoFinland page Comprehensive education .

The most common options after comprehensive school are general upper secondary school and vocational education.

After comprehensive school, all young people have to study until they graduate from secondary education or reach the age of 18.

General upper secondary school

General upper secondary schools provide all-round education which does not lead to any profession. Mostly the same subjects are studied in general upper secondary schools as in comprehensive education, but the studies are more demanding and independent. At the end, students usually take the matriculation examination. General upper secondary school takes 2–4 years, depending on the student. After finishing, students are eligible to apply to universities, universities of applied sciences or general upper secondary school based vocational education.

Most general upper secondary schools provide education in Finnish or Swedish language. Larger cities have some general upper secondary schools that provide tuition in other languages, such as English or French.

Adults may take general upper secondary school studies in general upper secondary schools for adults. There, it is possible to either take separate courses or complete the entire general upper secondary school syllabus and take the matriculation examination. Tuition may include contact teaching, distance education, online education and independent studies.

Read more about general upper secondary school studies on the InfoFinland page General upper secondary school .

Vocational education

Vocational education and training is more practice-oriented than general upper secondary school education. Completing a vocational upper secondary qualification takes about three years. In addition, you can complete a further vocational qualification or a specialist vocational qualification during your working career. On-the-job learning is essential in vocational education and training. If students so choose, they can progress from vocational education and training to higher education.

Vocational qualification can also be obtained through apprenticeship training. In this case, students work in jobs within their own field, receive a salary that is at least in accordance with the collective agreement, or a reasonable salary if there are no collective agreements in the field. Students are allowed to complete their studies at the same time.

Read more on the InfoFinland page Vocational education and training .

Preparatory education for programmes leading to an upper secondary qualification (TUVA)

Good language skills are needed in secondary education. If the student’s native language is something other than Finnish or Swedish and his or her language skills are not yet at the level required for general upper secondary school studies or vocational education, he or she can apply to preparatory education for programmes leading to an upper secondary qualification (TUVA).

Read more on the InfoFinland page General upper secondary school and Vocational education and training .

After finishing your upper secondary studies, you can progress to higher education. In Finland, higher education is provided by universities and universities of applied sciences. Universities and educational institutes decide on student admission.

Studying in an institute of higher education may be free or subject to a charge. You will be charged tuition fees if you are not an EU or EEA citizen or a family member of an EU or EEA citizen and are studying towards a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in an English-language degree programme.

More information is available on the InfoFinland page Foreign students in Finland .

Universities of applied sciences

The education provided by universities of applied sciences is more practice-oriented than that offered by universities. Tuition also includes on-the-job learning. Completing a Bachelor’s degree in a university of applied sciences takes 3.5–4.5 years. If you also want to complete a Master’s degree, you must first acquire two years of work experience from the same field. Read more on the InfoFinland page  Universities of applied sciences .

Universities

University tuition is based on scientific research. Completing a Bachelor’s degree in a university takes about three years and Master’s degree about two more years. Universities organise English language tuition in some of their degree programmes. However, the teaching language of most degree programmes is either Finnish or Swedish.

Once you have completed a Master’s degree, you can apply for a right to complete further studies and earn a Licentiate’s or Doctoral degree.

Read more on the InfoFinland page Universities .

InfoFinland page Applying for education and training includes information on applying to upper secondary and higher education in Finland. If you are planning to study in Finland, more information is also available on the InfoFinland pages Foreign students in Finland .

In Finland, there are also many educational institutions offering persons of all ages studies which do not lead to a degree. Most of these studies are intended for adults. These liberal adult education institutes include adult education centres, summer universities, study centres and sports institutes.

The studies provide all-round education. You can study languages, arts, crafts and communications, for instance. Normally the student has to cover some of the expenses of the education.

However, in certain situations studying at these institutions may be free of charge. Education is non-chargeable if, for example, education in reading and writing and other language training have been approved as parts of your integration plan.

If you would like to study Finnish or Swedish, read more on the InfoFinland page Finnish and Swedish language .

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How the Finns do it

Here’s how Finnish teachers use cutting-edge school design to address learning challenges, and the lessons other countries can learn from them.

• By Janel Siemplenski Lefort
• Part of the series "Education Solutions"
• 21 December 2023

It’s been raining off and on all morning in Järvenpää , a small city north of Helsinki. The streets are wet and the sidewalks muddy, but the floors in Harjula School’s entrance are gleaming.

The entrance is filled with hooks and cubby holes where schoolchildren hang their coats and take off their shoes. Students and teachers walk around in stockinged feet or in “house shoes,” slippers to keep the muck out when the weather is bad.

Down the hall from the entry, the building opens up to a bright atrium with tables and chairs, which also serves as a cafeteria. Floor to ceiling windows let the light pour in even on a gloomy day and provide a view onto the outside play area, a huge pine tree (which is decorated at Christmas) and a neighbouring residential area, with brick houses and bright, almost fluorescent green lawns.

At the back of the atrium is a raised stage, blocked off by a retractable wall that opens to a larger, space used for big gatherings, sports events and theatre productions. Throughout the building, thick, accordion-style walls can be opened or closed to enable teachers and children to come together in big groups, or be whittled down into smaller, more intimate gatherings. It’s a kaleidoscope of spaces that twist and turn as needs change.

The innovatively designed school is the brainchild of Tarja Edry, the principal of Harjula School, and Jan Mikkonen, pedagogical facility development manager for Järvenpää. In many ways, Harjula’s design represents the next step in Finnish education, a country already known for cutting-edge, highly effective schooling. “We had a vision, together with Tarja, about what we planned to do,” Mikkonen says.

That vision was to deconstruct the traditional school, with its long hallways and closed classrooms, and rebuild it as a more open, more flexible space that could support different kinds of instruction, such as team teaching, where instructors work in groups or share classes, collaborative projects that encourage students to communicate and solve problems together and creative exercises that let children express their own personalities and talents.

Because all the rooms are multifunctional, teachers move from one area to another or share classrooms with another teacher. They no longer have dedicated classrooms. Edry hoped that changing the space would push teachers out of their comfort zones and force them to rethink how children learned.

The somewhat radical approach caused conflict, however. Some teachers left. “Those who didn’t want to stay started searching for another school, because they didn’t want to change their pedagogy,” she says. The old school building was more traditional, with classrooms for each teacher. The new building is “totally different,” she says. “Everybody had to get used to it.”

Education has always been a way to upgrade socially. But education isn’t so easily the way to jump up the social ladder anymore. Merja Narvo-Akkola – Chief of education services for Järvenpää

Finland’s educational system is among the best in the world, according to the  Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) . But the country is grappling with the same issues as everyone else – the shortened attention span of children raised in a digital world, learning losses accumulated during the pandemic, rising absenteeism and overburdened parents who struggle to set limits and, more importantly, spend time with their children. “Children are feeling a bit insecure,” Edry says. “We can see it. They really want to be with adults.”

Finland is up against other challenges as well. It is historically a homogeneous country, but that is changing. By 2030, immigrants are expected to account for 25% of school children in major cities like Espoo and Helsinki, and they are struggling to learn the language and to read at the same level as their peers . More generally, the gap between strong students and weaker ones has widened , and boys in particular are falling behind. Finland is even starting to see signs of childhood poverty, a new phenomenon in the country.

“Education has always been a way to upgrade socially,” says Merja Narvo-Akkola, chief of education services for Järvenpää. Finnish education is highly decentralised, and municipalities are responsible for planning, building and running schools. “But education isn’t so easily the way to jump up the social ladder anymore.”

• Read how Innovative financing for a Milan school is sparking change in education

Why buildings matter

When Principal Edry and educators like her try to rethink education infrastructure, they need support. Providing that support is central to the Constructing Education framework , a new approach to financing education infrastructure being promoted by the Council of Europe Development Bank and the European Investment Bank . EU members spend billions of euros on education infrastructure each year, and the money needs to be deployed in a way that best supports learning and prepares children for the future.

For example, the framework recommends providing funds to develop teachers’ competencies, helping them find the best ways to use the new, snazzy spaces, which hopefully avoids the pitfall of moving into an innovative building and teaching the same old way.

“I think what brought the Constructing Education framework about is the realisation that you are putting up so much money to invest in these very innovative buildings and then you see that the teaching staff is not ready to use it,” says Yael Duthilleul, who works on the Constructing Education framework for the Council of Europe Development Bank. “You think, ‘We’re wasting our investments.’ For us as financiers, it’s an issue because we’re mobilising money for these projects, but the impact that you expect, which is on students’ learning outcomes, is not guaranteed.”

The Constructing Education framework tries to address teachers’ professional development and coaching, planning sessions, consultations with parents and students – things that all take time and resources, which are almost never included in the total budget of new educational facilities.

“In Finland, we can’t put that into the investment budget. We have to find that money from somewhere else," says Narvo-Akkola, chief of education at Järvenpää. At Harjula school, Edry was forced to use funds from her general school budget to pay for teacher support before moving into the new building.

Under the framework, budgets for new school buildings would include funds for professional development, consultations with education experts and post-occupancy evaluation tools to better understand what kinds of spaces and approaches work best.

“Right now, financing education infrastructure is considered as a stand-alone investment,” says Silvia Guallar, an education economist at the European Investment Bank, who works on the Constructing Education framework. “Instead, such investments should follow a more comprehensive approach and include all the complementary activities, like consulting the education community and supporting teachers’ transition into the new spaces. That will enhance the impact the upgraded learning environment has on teaching pedagogies and student learning.”

Support for teachers is crucial when countries are trying to modernise rigid education systems. An ongoing reform of Finnish education, which began rolling out in 2016, includes a chapter on how to create environments conducive to learning. One central theme is that learning takes place everywhere, not just in the classroom. The reform also stresses the importance of team teaching, which frees teachers up to give students individual attention when necessary. These approaches, however, require pushing the boundaries of traditional school architecture, with walled-off classrooms and neat rows of desks.

One of the ideas behind the Finnish education reform is that learning takes place everywhere. At Harjula School, students practice their English while taking the stairs.

“Team teaching comes with the idea of flexibility of the space and sharing space, as well as making learning available everywhere. This has lots of implications for furniture,” says Duthilleul of the Council of Europe Development Bank. “If you want kids to learn everywhere, then the furniture should be like home. You should be comfortable so you can learn.”

Guallar and Duthilleul, along with a group of experts, are following the building or renovation of two schools in Espoo, two in Järvenpää (Harjula is one of them) and two in Italy to understand better how the innovative buildings are conceived and later used. The knowledge gained could be shared with local governments in other countries planning education infrastructure.

Some of the data gathered during the post-occupancy evaluation was made available at a Constructing Education event in Finland in mid-November. Järvenpää was not initially part of the project, but Narvo-Akkola got involved in the Constructing Education framework in her previous job as manager for district education in Espoo, which was funding education investments in part with loans from the European Investment Bank and Council of Europe Development Bank. She has continued to advise the project in her new role in Järvenpää.

The European Investment Bank financed more than €9 billion in education infrastructure from 2017 to 2022, 97% of which was spent within the European Union. It provided around €1 billion for education projects in Finland alone. For its part, the Council of Europe Development Bank financed about €4 billion for projects with an education component in the same period, out of which €410 million went to Finland.

It’s not necessarily about the amount of money that you spend, but also the efficiency with which you spend the money. It’s about targeting the right sectors in the right way. Nihan Koseleci Blanchy – Senior education economist at the European Investment Bank

Finland spends about 3.8% of its gross domestic product on primary and secondary education, which is in line with other wealthy countries like Belgium (4.2%), Germany (2.9%) or France (3.5%), according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development . “It’s not necessarily about the amount of money that you spend, but also the efficiency with which you spend the money,” says Nihan Koseleci Blanchy, a senior education economist at the European Investment Bank, who is responsible for the EU bank’s investments in Finland. “It’s about targeting the right sectors in the right way.”

Reinventing a school

Finland’s educational reform emphasises the skills children will need in a more digital, more integrated and fast-paced world. These are known as the 4Cs: communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity. Another key idea in the reform is individualised instruction, which lets children learn at their own pace. The ideas behind the reform are pushing educators to design more open and more flexible school buildings.

Planning for the new Harjula campus, which accommodates students from ages six to 12 in primary school and one to six in kindgergarten or day care, began about five years ago in consultation with teachers. The old campus was fairly traditional with classrooms connected by hallways. Edry and the teachers had to reimagine the space. “There was a fight about who wanted what, and not everybody wanted the same thing.” Edry laughs. “Of course, I decided.”

While Edry’s vision for the school alienated some teachers, it attracted others. Now she vets teachers applying for openings, asking candidates to read up on the school’s pedagogical approach before moving onto the interview. Education in Finland is highly decentralised. Schools adhere to a national curriculum, but teachers largely interpret how to present that curriculum and principals can choose the teachers they hire.

The whole spring was hard because we were opening the school for the first time, and we were stressed about it. We had to succeed. Tarja Edry – Principal, Harjulan School

The approach gives Edry an enormous amount of power to remake her school into a more open, more flexible institution that embraces new approaches like team teaching, which the school began implementing before the move but which it expanded radically in the new building. “I tell candidates that if you are still interested, then you can come to the interview and see if you really like it.”

The Herculean task of reinventing her school, however, took a toll on Edry. She and two assistants moved into the building in the spring of 2022. Wires jutted out of the walls. She spent three months with no internet and no telephone, even though she was still principal of the former school. “I couldn’t work,” she says. “The whole spring was hard because we were opening the school for the first time, and we were stressed about it. We had to succeed.”

She pressed on through the summer to prepare the new campus, and then suffered from a burnout in the fall when the pressure finally lifted. Exhausted, she took a six-week medical leave to recover. The Constructing Education framework aims to provide funds to give principals, teachers and city officials the extra support they need when conceiving, building and moving into new, innovative schools.

Mikkonen says that experience led Järvenpää to rethink how to better support principals during a big move. The city now puts an entire team of teachers, principals and other staff in place. “I’m sorry that Tarja had to experience that because we didn’t realise that moving in would be so hard,” he says, adding that the Harjula campus was the first big project for himself and Edry. “But now we have a system for how it should be done.”

Tarja Edry, principal of Harjula School, stands between two classrooms separated by retractable walls, which enable teachers to combine groups of students.

Songs about a dream school

Today in Finland, educators are talking about how to create spaces that can be opened up, but also closed in when needed. For many schools, the solution has been flexible, yet thick and almost soundproof retractable walls. (At Harjula the walls let about 42 decibels of noise pass, about as much disruption as a quiet library). Linking two classrooms with a retractable wall allows teachers of two or more classes to come together and instruct a larger group of as many as 50 students.

Because teachers don’t have dedicated classrooms, children are constantly moving around the school, which is divided into three main areas: the Tundra, the Jungle and the Desert. The students chose the themes and the colours – blues and greys for the Tundra, greens for the Jungle and oranges and browns for the Desert.

Children were intricately involved in the school design. “They were drawing,” Edry says. “They were coming up with songs to tell me what they wanted.”

Every space is a chance to learn. The floor of one hallway features a square with differently coloured number blocks that add up to 100. In the same area, an oversized protractor counts degrees up to 180. Steps leading to the second floor are labelled with the days of the month in Finnish and English.

 “Before they go to the third grade, we want children to have learned really strong writing and mathematical skills,” Edry says. “Children can already start to fall behind in fourth or fifth grade. If we ensure that they are strong when they go into the third grade, it’s like giving them wings to the upper grades.”

Part of the Harjula School campus served as a hospital during World War II.

The campus is split into two main parts: a new building and a renovated brick structure that served as a hospital during World War II. Keeping young and older children at the same school campus is central to Finland’s comprehensive schools, which were created in 1970s and are credited, along with valued and highly trained teachers, with the country’s strong educational results. Harjula, which is part of the Constructing Education project, serves about 640 students, pre-schoolers and young children in day care. 

The new campus cost €23 million, which isn’t a particularly large budget for a school of its size. About €5 million went to renovating the 1930s brick building, and another €18 million to the new, more modern building. The new campus covers about 4 000 square meters, significantly less than the old school grounds.

Edry and Mikkonen squeezed out the money for the fancy furnishings and the German-made retractable walls by slashing the amount of space typically allocated per student – from 11 square meters to 7.

Cramming all the classes and activities into that space requires superhero organisation. Edry shows off a rectangular board with colour-coded tabs that represent each class and activity. Teachers and administrators spend two days before classes start in August scheduling every tiny detail of school life over the entire academic year. “It’s a job to plan it,” Mikkonen chuckles.

An organisational board illustrates the elaborate planning goes into assigning spaces to classes and activities at Harjula School.

The new building is about more than fun themes and sun-drenched spaces, though. It’s also designed to help teachers better deal with children who have social or behavioural problems, or suffer from anxiety, a growing problem since the pandemic.

For example, a small-conflict resolution room provides a space for children to gather after a fight and talk out their problems, often without an adult present. Outside the door is a suggestion box that students fill with their ideas on how to improve school life and social harmony.

Large conference rooms scattered throughout each section of the school allow for meetings between parents, teachers and administrators. “Around one child, there can be 10 people who work to solve the problem,” Edry says.

“Some of these children have such a broken home,” she says. “And they are broken by their experience. They have a chance to change their lives if we intervene early.”

The diamond motto   

Karhusuo school is perched atop a hill in a heavily wooded suburb outside Espoo. Principal Mimmu Hellsten’s office overlooks the trees and nearby homes, which glow in the autumn light. “I think there is scientific proof that it's good for mental health to see woods and forest,” she muses.

Karhusuo is Finnish for bear, and the school’s name refers to a bear’s den. Its motto is “strong as a bear, soft as a teddy.” But the school is increasingly identifying with a different image.

Finnish Hellsten holds up a piece of paper with a drawing of a blue diamond. The Finnish words Opin (I learn)/ kasvan (I grow)/ kehityn (I develop) are written across the top. The kinds of environments that children learn in are displayed on the outer edges of the illustration: social, physical, mental and digital. Around the diamond are phrases describing how children are motivated to learn: I can do good/I am accepted/ I am emotionally involved/I get to influence and participate/I can succeed

The diamond is displayed around the school on posters. Hellsten says educators chose the diamond image because diamonds “mean something very important, very valuable. It also takes time and energy to make a diamond.”

A diamond poster displayed at Karhusuo School.

School administrators go through the diamond philosophy with teachers and school assistants every August when children return to class, explaining the concepts to new arrivals and refreshing them with existing staff. Teachers also discuss the ideas with students in their classes.

“These are the goals we have for every child,” Hellsten says. “That they have the feeling, ‘Okay, I can succeed. This is not too hard for me. I can participate. My voice is heard.’ ”

Getting group dynamics right is tough, considering that educators like Hellsten, Edry and the teachers at their schools say children no longer know how to act in a group setting. Part of the problem is that parents are unwilling to discipline children who misbehave at school. “Parents trust what the children say so blindly,” Hellsten says. “They don’t have so much time for their children, so they want the time they spend with their children to be happy.”

The lack of limitations creates problems when children are in groups. They don’t know how to cede space and attention to other children. Children’s social skills also suffered during the pandemic. Finnish schools only closed for three months, but educators see the scars. “It was terrible,” Hellsten says.

And mobile phones? They are a scourge. Children spend too much time on mobile devices, which can affect their sleep and ability to concentrate. “For example, reading a book, reading a chapter – it's way too long. It’s way too boring for them,” says Salla Ruohomäki, a chemistry and home economics teacher who has been teaching for almost 20 years. “And it’s, like, two pages.”

Educators are particularly concerned about the growing gap between the results of children who are succeeding at school and those who are struggling. Most Finnish children used to fall somewhere in the middle, and that strong middle group was largely responsible for the country’s excellent PISA scores, educators say. Those scores have slipped in recent years, and like many European countries, they took a particular beating in the newly released 2022 PISA results .

“The ones who should be in the middle don’t see the point of doing the hard work to improve,” says Arto Niva, a chemistry and physics teacher. “They’re like, well, maybe I could get this grade, but it would take a lot of work. I’m not that interested.”

From left, Karhusuo teachers Sofia Repo, Arto Niva and Salla Ruohomäki.

Worried about these issues, Hellsten and other teachers read up on motivational theories, which led to creating the diamond motto. One of the things that emerged was that people were motivated by the idea of contributing positively to a group. She tried to use that approach on another thorny issue ­– boys’ underperformance in reading, math and science, according to PISA results.

The problem perplexed Hellsten. “I asked myself, ‘What are we doing wrong? Why aren’t boys doing well?’ When we look at politics and the business world, most of the leaders are men.”

To bring boys into the fold, Karhusuo School decided to organise a football tournament with eight teams representing the different grades. The boys got involved, planning the teams and matches, and students were playing a game that afternoon. “I think we have succeeded in making boys feel they can do good for the whole school,” Hellsten says.

These are the goals we have for every child. That they have the feeling, ‘Okay, I can succeed. This is not too hard for me. I can participate. My voice is heard.' Mimmu Hellsten – Principal, Karhusuo School

Modern spaces for modern problems

Hellsten and the teachers had the issues facing education in mind when they planned the school campus, which includes a modern wooden structure built for the primary school about five years ago and brick building for grades seven through nine that constructed three years ago. The school is part of the Constructing Education project.

Karhusuo has many similar features to the Harjula campus. Spaces are easily modified. A retractable wall links a light-filled auditorium to a bigger sports gym. A smattering of smaller rooms allow teachers to work with two or three students at a time, and special classrooms are dedicated to classes of eight autistic children, with their two teachers and four assistants. Finland integrates children with difficulties like autism into its comprehensive schools. The campus even includes a bomb shelter, which is mandatory in Finnish schools.

The sprawling campus accommodates about 350 children in primary school and just over 200 in lower secondary school. Like Harjula, children pad around in their stockinged feet or slippers.

Mimmu Hellsten, principal of Karhusuo School, in front of a moveable poem. Two of the lines read “during lessons, pupils are running away” and “children’s brains are freezing.”

Hellsten and a group of four teachers were involved in the design and planning of the building. “It wasn’t obligatory, but I wanted a chance to say what I wanted, and a chance to hear also from architects – why this can't be done or why this choice isn’t right,” Hellsten says. “It was very important for me to understand also how this building works and why these choices have been made.”

The architects held workshops with children to discuss their dream school. One of the things that came out of those meetings was children’s desire to have smaller spaces where they could study or simply isolate themselves from the larger group. The architect adjusted the school design to create those spaces. “This helps with anxiety,” Hellsten says, “They have some time to get away from the group.”

Consultants helped teachers and administrators figure out best how to configure the spaces and to prepare the move, which reduced the stress and upheaval. They also educated them on group dynamics and motivational theories.

But once again, the money for consultants and teacher coaching and training came out of Hellsten’s school budget.

Students in the library after school.

Teachers at Karhusuo praise the environment that Hellsten has created, and they say the positive culture helps them cope with the enormous pressure they are under. But Hellsten and Harjula’s Edry pushed forward their schools largely because they had a vision and the tenacity to see it through. Not all schools have such dedicated leaders. The Constructing Education framework wants to support innovation more generally, by rethinking how buildings are conceived and by ensuring all school principals and teachers receive the support they need to exploit the potential of new spaces and improve learning.

Finns believe in the power of education to create a more stable and cohesive society. While Karhusuo is a middle-class or even upper-middle class neighbourhood, one-third of the school’s students come from lower-income areas. Finland also has few private schools – most people pass through the public system.

“We’re a small country. I think our power is this free education,” Hellsten says. “We have put our money into ensuring that our children are doing well, and feeling well and learning well, so that they can use their capabilities and find their strengths.”

“But that takes time and money,” she says. “Even though education costs a lot, it comes back in the future. And if you save money now, then it costs a lot more in the future.”

About the author

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The European Investment Bank helps people and companies across the globe. As an editor at the bank, I tell its story.

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Finland’s Education System: The Journey to Success

Jaime saavedra, hanna alasuutari, marcela gutierrez bernal.

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Finland’s Famous Education System

Unvarnished Insights into Finnish Schooling

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• Martin Thrupp   ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2702-6281 0 ,
• Piia Seppänen   ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0156-6412 1 ,
• Jaakko Kauko   ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0538-6806 2 ,
• Sonja Kosunen   ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8093-7052 3

Division of Education, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

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Department of Education, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

Faculty of education and culture, tampere university, tampere, finland, faculty of educational sciences, university of helsinki, helsinki, finland.

• Presents an unprecedented insider-outsider perspective on Finnish education
• Analyses common myths and misconceptions about Finnish education
• Covers a wide range of Finnish education topics and related critical perspectives
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Introduction

An Introduction to Discursive Perspectives on Education Policy and Implementation

5.1 A Footnote to Plato: Interpreting the History of Secondary Education in Mid-Twentieth-Century England

• Finnish Education System
• Finnish Policies and Education
• Finnish Education
• Social Justice and Education
• Political Structures and Education
• Policy Developments and Education
• Social Class and Education
• Gender Inequalities and Education
• Ethnic Diversity and Education
• Urban Studies and Education
• Policy Sociology and Education
• Finnish Schooling
• Bourdieu and Education
• Foucault and Education

Table of contents (28 chapters)

Front matter.

• Martin Thrupp, Piia Seppänen, Jaakko Kauko, Sonja Kosunen

Politics, Policy, Teachers and Edu-business

Municipal governance of comprehensive education: the emergence of local universalisms.

• Mira Kalalahti, Janne Varjo

Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture in the Light of Its Working Groups

• Jarmo Kallunki, Jaakko Kauko, Oren Pizmony-Levy

A Progressive Force in Finnish Schooling?: Finland’s Education Union, OAJ, and Its Influence on School-Level Education Policy

• Nina Nivanaho, Martin Thrupp

Finnish Quality Evaluation Discourse: Swimming Against the Global Tide?

• Hannele Pitkänen

Ecological Sustainability and Steering of Finnish Comprehensive Schools

• Niina Mykrä

Unmentioned Challenges of Finnish Teacher Education: Decontextualisation, Scientification and the Rhetoric of the Research-Based Agenda

• Janne Säntti, Mikko Puustinen, Petteri Hansen

Teachers’ Expectations and Expectations of Teachers: Understanding Teachers’ Societal Role

• Sara Juvonen, Auli Toom

Businessing Around Comprehensive Schooling

• Piia Seppänen, Iida Kiesi, Sonia Lempinen, Nina Nivanaho

Co-operation of Edu-business and Public Schooling: Is the Governance of Education in Finland Shifting from the Public Sector to Networks?

Equity, inequality and the challenges of diversity, language and inclusion, “three bedrooms and a nice school”—residential choices, school choices and vicious circles of segregation in the education landscape of finnish cities.

• Venla Bernelius, Sonja Kosunen

Pupil Selection and Enrolment in Comprehensive Schools in Urban Finland

• Piia Seppänen, Terhi Pasu, Sonja Kosunen

Everyday Life in Schools in Disadvantaged Areas

• Marja Peltola, Heidi Huilla, Tiina Luoma, Riikka Oittinen

Divided Cities—Divided Schools? School Segregation and the Role of Needs-Based Resource Allocation in Finland

• Isabel Ramos Lobato, Venla Bernelius

The Significance of Socioeconomic Background for the Educational Dispositions and Aspirations of Finnish School Leavers

• Tero Järvinen, Jenni Tikkanen, Piia af Ursin

Controversies and Challenges in the History of Gender Discourses in Education in Finland

• Elina Lahelma

Rainbow Paradise? Sexualities and Gender Diversity in Finnish Schools

• Jukka Lehtonen

Editors and Affiliations

Martin Thrupp

Piia Seppänen

Jaakko Kauko

Sonja Kosunen

About the editors

Martin Thrupp has been Professor of Education at the University of Waikato in New Zealand since 2006. Prior to that, he held posts at King’s College London and the Institute of Education, University of London. Thrupp has also worked in Finnish education circles since 2016, including visits to Finland in all four seasons. His research interests are in education policy, with a particular focus on school reform as it plays out in different local and national settings. He has authored a number of books, including 'The Search for Better Educational Standards: A Cautionary Tale' (Springer, 2018), and has also co-edited collections about New Zealand's education system published in 2010 and 2019.

Piia Seppänen is Professor of Education, especially on comparative education and education policy at the University of Turku in Finland where she also works as Vice-Dean for research in its Faculty of Education. Her research with research groups at the Centre for Research on Lifelong Learning and Education (CELE) focuses on pupil selection, urban social segregation, and classed practices within comprehensive schooling. Seppänen also studies commodification in public education systems and its connections to the global education industry.

Jaakko Kauko is Professor of Education Policy at the Faculty of Education and Culture, Tampere University, Finland. His research focuses on the fields of education policy and comparative education, and he has recently been researching transnational knowledge networks in higher education. Kauko is co-author of Dynamics in Education Politics: Understanding and Explaining the Finnish Case  with Hannu Simola, Janne Varjo, Mira Kalalahti, and Fritjof Sahlström (Routledge, 2017), and co-editor of Successful Public Policy in the Nordic Countries: Cases, Lessons, Challenges with Caroline de la Porte, Guðný Björk Eydal, Daniel Nohrstedt, Paul ‘t Hart, and Bent Sofus Tranøy (Oxford University Press, 2022).

Bibliographic Information

Book Title : Finland’s Famous Education System

Book Subtitle : Unvarnished Insights into Finnish Schooling

Editors : Martin Thrupp, Piia Seppänen, Jaakko Kauko, Sonja Kosunen

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8241-5

Publisher : Springer Singapore

eBook Packages : Education , Education (R0)

Copyright Information : The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2023

Hardcover ISBN : 978-981-19-8240-8 Published: 02 March 2023

Softcover ISBN : 978-981-19-8243-9 Published: 02 March 2023

eBook ISBN : 978-981-19-8241-5 Published: 01 March 2023

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XVIII, 466

Number of Illustrations : 8 b/w illustrations, 3 illustrations in colour

Topics : Educational Policy and Politics , Sociology of Education , Teaching and Teacher Education , Urban Studies/Sociology , Public Policy

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Finland’s children-centric school system: a global model for success

Finland’s educational approach, characterized by progressive reforms, offers a compelling model for other countries. With its delayed introduction of compulsory education and a strong focus on learning rather than standardized testing, Finland prioritizes student well-being . These lessons provide valuable guidance for nations aiming to improve their schooling systems , emphasizing innovation, and children’s rights as essential elements for academic achievement and personal growth.

The history of education in Finland

Finnish schools are renowned worldwide for their success, despite the fact Finland made education compulsory relatively late, in 1921. This change was particularly crucial in the past for rural areas where school attendance was limited. In the 1960s, the country’s learning system was reformed to meet the need for vocational workers who were to rebuild the country after World War II. This reform led to a new curriculum that adopted a fresh approach, encompassing both technical and academic studies (European Commission, 2023).

It was only in 2012 that the compulsory education was extended to 18 years, making upper secondary training free for all students, further enhancing children’s rights and access to education (European Commission, 2023). The success of the reforms became evident in 2000 when the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results showed that Finnish youth were the best readers globally. In subsequent years, they also excelled in math and science, consistently ranking among the top countries (Hancock L, 2011).

Key principles and components of the Finnish model

The new program aimed to get back to the fundamentals of learning. Their goal wasn’t just about achieving top grades or intensifying competition. Instead, they wanted to create a fairer school environment. Since the 1980s, Finnish educators have emphasized principles such as reducing social inequality through schooling, providing psychological counseling, and offering personalized guidance for students, among others (Calagrossi M, 2018).

The Finnish education system prioritizes learning over testing. Unlike in many countries, there are no regular national exams. Instead, teachers assess students based on curriculum objectives. The only nationwide test, called the matriculation examination, happens at the end of high school. This exam serves to determine admission to advanced studies (Council for Creative Education, n.d.)

Finland funds most of its school training publicly, meaning there are no tuition fees at any level of education . Even in the early years of schooling, things like school materials, meals, and transportation are free. In high school, students pay for their books and transport. There is also a good system of study grants and loans available to support students in high school and college (Council for Creative Education, n.d.)

Teachers in Finland undergo a demanding, research-based five-year master’s program that is highly competitive, with only a small number of applicants being accepted. What sets Finnish educators apart is their autonomy in selecting teaching methods, a departure from the norms in many other countries where external requirements like standardized testing and government control are prevalent. This approach aims to nurture teachers who can make informed decisions and consistently enhance their teaching techniques. Consequently, the school teachers enjoy a high level of respect (Crouch D, 2015).

Positive educational outcomes for children

Finland prioritizes children’s mental well-being by implementing a nationwide anti-bullying policy in schools. This policy is rigorously enforced to ensure a safe learning environment. The country is committed to addressing inequality, as it is often connected to bullying and mental health problems. The Finnish school system challenges the idea that children from disadvantaged backgrounds will be less successful. Instead, it strives to provide all students with an equal opportunity to excel, regardless of their background (Poon Y. X, 2020).

The curriculum is designed to engage children and foster their interest in the world around them. Instead of dividing class time into subjects, Finnish students learn by exploring around them, making learning more relevant (Poon Y. X, 2020). Additionally, the curriculum promotes greater pupil participation, encourages students to take responsibility for their learning, and emphasizes competencies such as critical thinking and cultural awareness (Finnish National Agency for Education, n.d).

Subjects are modernized to reflect contemporary society and daily life management. The curriculum also guides the development of a school culture that promotes learning, interaction, and welfare while introducing multidisciplinary learning modules and diverse assessment methods. Overall, it aims to provide a comprehensive education that nurtures engagement, adaptability, and a positive learning environment for children (Finnish National Agency for Education, n.d.).

Finnish strong emphasis on children’s well-being aligns with the principles of children’s rights . This holistic approach encourages students to take charge of their learning journey. It also ensures that every child has an equal opportunity to excel academically and personally, making Finland a prime example of education that champions children’s welfare .

Lessons from Finland for global education

Finland ‘s school system can teach others important lessons. For instance, students here have shorter school days, no homework, and they focus more on learning. Teachers also pursue higher qualifications, which helps students do better in school. On the other hand, In the United States , there’s more focus on government tests, especially in math and reading. But other subjects like history and art aren’t given as much importance. To improve, the US can learn from the Finnish approach, which values learning over testing (Matias S, 2019).

Similarly, the United Kingdom’s education system could also adopt valuable lessons from Finland where teachers foster a higher quality of learning, instead of relying on mandatory tests. Regrettably, teachers in the UK have less freedom to shape their curriculum and methods, which in turn hinders innovation and collaboration. Lastly, in Finland , children start formal schooling at age 7, allowing for more play and better social development, unlike in the UK , where formal education begins at age 5 (Career Teachers, 2018).

Humanium remains dedicated to safeguarding children’s fundamental rights, such as their right to education and protection . That is why we believe that countries worldwide can draw valuable lessons from the Finnish system, which prioritizes play , autonomy, and equal opportunities for children’s development . 

At Humanium, we support lifelong learning initiatives that contribute to a brighter future for children. If you wish to support our cause, please consider donating , volunteering , or becoming a member . Together, we can advocate for a more equitable and child-centered approach to education .

Written by Lidija Misic

Bibliography:

Calagrossi Mike (2018), 10 reasons why Finland’s education system is the best in the world. Retrieved from World Economic Forum at https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/09/10-reasons-why-finlands-education-system-is-the-best-in-the-world . Accessed on October 7, 2023.

Career Teachers (2018), What the UK education system can learn from Finland:

Finland has one of the most successful education systems on Earth but what makes it so successful? Retrieved from Career Teachers at https://www.careerteachers.co.uk/career-advice/blog/what-the-uk-education-system-can-learn-from-finland . Accessed on October 7, 2023.

Council for Creative Education (n.d.), Introduction to Finland Education. Retrieved from CCE at https://www.ccefinland.org/finedu . Accessed on October 7, 2023.

Crouch David (2015), Highly trained, respected and free: why Finland’s teachers are different. Retrieved from The Guardian at https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jun/17/highly-trained-respected-and-free-why-finlands-teachers-are-different . Accessed on October 7, 2023.

European Commission (2023), Political, social and economic background and trends. Retrieved from European Commission at https://eurydice.eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-education-systems/finland/historical-development . Accessed on October 7, 2023.

Finnish National Agency for Education (n.d.), National core curriculum for basic education. Retrieved from Finnish National Agency for Education at https://www.oph.fi/en/education-and-qualifications/national-core-curriculum-basic-education . Accessed on October 7, 2023.

Hancock LynNell (2011), Why Are Finland’s Schools Successful? Retrieved from Smithsonian Magazine at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-are-finlands-schools-successful-49859555/ . Accessed on October 7, 2023.

Matias Selma (2019), Comparison of the U.S. and Finland’s Educational Systems on

Students’ Academic Achievement. Retrieved from Digital Commons at https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1684&context=caps_thes_all . Accessed on October 7, 2023.

Poon Yun Xuan (2020), How Finland designed its schools around well-being. Retrieved from GovInsider at https://govinsider.asia/intl-en/article/anna-korpi-how-finland-designed-its-schools-around-childrens-mental-health . Accessed on October 7, 2023.

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The Finnish Education Mystery

DOI link for The Finnish Education Mystery

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Finnish education has been a focus of global interest since its first PISA success in 2001. After years of superficial celebration, astonishment and educational tourism, the focus has recently shifted to what is possibly the most interesting element of this Finnish success story: that Finnish schools have been effectively applying methods that go against the flow of global education policy with no testing, no inspection, no hard evaluation, no detailed national curriculum, no accountability and no hard competition. From a historical and sociological perspective the Finnish case is not merely a linear success story, but is part of a controversial and paradoxical struggle towards Utopia: towards egalitarian schooling.

Bringing together a collection of essays by Hannu Simola and his colleagues, this book analyses the key dimensions of schooling in Finland to provide a critical, analytical and uncompromising picture of the Finnish education system. Going beyond the story of success, the book reveals the complexities of educational change, but also identifies opportunities and alternatives for smart political action in complex and trans-national societies.

Including a selection of key chapters on Finnish education policy and governance, teacher education and classroom cultures, the book will be of interest to researchers, academics and postgraduate students in comparative education, teacher education, educational policy and educational reform.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction, part i | 66  pages, education policy-making and governance, chapter i 1 | 24  pages, firmly bolted into the air, chapter i 2 | 21  pages, abdication of the education state, chapter i 3 | 19  pages, quality assurance and evaluation in finnish compulsory schooling, part ii | 67  pages, teachers and their education, chapter ii 4 | 26  pages, educational science, the state and teachers, chapter ii 5 | 20  pages, the birth of the modern finnish teacher, chapter ii 6 | 19  pages, didactic closure, part iii | 69  pages, schooling practices, chapter iii 7 | 24  pages, from exclusion to self-selection, chapter iii 8 | 17  pages, ‘it's progress but …', chapter iii 9 | 26  pages, changes in nordic teaching practices, part iv | 68  pages, understanding the finnish pisa miracle, chapter iv 10 | 17  pages, the finnish miracle of pisa, chapter iv 11 | 28  pages, against the flow, chapter iv 12 | 21  pages, education politics and contingency, chapter | 10  pages.

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Why Are Finland’s Schools Successful?

The country’s achievements in education have other nations, especially the United States, doing their homework

LynNell Hancock

Photographs by Stuart Conway

It was the end of term at Kirkkojarvi Comprehensive School in Espoo, a sprawling suburb west of Helsinki, when Kari Louhivuori, a veteran teacher and the school’s principal, decided to try something extreme—by Finnish standards. One of his sixth-grade students, a Kosovo-Albanian boy, had drifted far off the learning grid, resisting his teacher’s best efforts. The school’s team of special educators—including a social worker, a nurse and a psychologist—convinced Louhivuori that laziness was not to blame. So he decided to hold the boy back a year, a measure so rare in Finland it’s practically obsolete.

Finland has vastly improved in reading, math and science literacy over the past decade in large part because its teachers are trusted to do whatever it takes to turn young lives around. This 13-year-old, Besart Kabashi, received something akin to royal tutoring.

“I took Besart on that year as my private student,” Louhivuori told me in his office, which boasted a Beatles “Yellow Submarine” poster on the wall and an electric guitar in the closet. When Besart was not studying science, geography and math, he was parked next to Louhivuori’s desk at the front of his class of 9- and 10-year- olds, cracking open books from a tall stack, slowly reading one, then another, then devouring them by the dozens. By the end of the year, the son of Kosovo war refugees had conquered his adopted country’s vowel-rich language and arrived at the realization that he could, in fact, learn .

Years later, a 20-year-old Besart showed up at Kirkkojarvi’s Christmas party with a bottle of Cognac and a big grin. “You helped me,” he told his former teacher. Besart had opened his own car repair firm and a cleaning company. “No big fuss,” Louhivuori told me. “This is what we do every day, prepare kids for life.”

This tale of a single rescued child hints at some of the reasons for the tiny Nordic nation’s staggering record of education success, a phenomenon that has inspired, baffled and even irked many of America’s parents and educators. Finnish schooling became an unlikely hot topic after the 2010 documentary film Waiting for “Superman” contrasted it with America’s troubled public schools.

“Whatever it takes” is an attitude that drives not just Kirkkojarvi’s 30 teachers, but most of Finland’s 62,000 educators in 3,500 schools from Lapland to Turku—professionals selected from the top 10 percent of the nation’s graduates to earn a required master’s degree in education. Many schools are small enough so that teachers know every student. If one method fails, teachers consult with colleagues to try something else. They seem to relish the challenges. Nearly 30 percent of Finland’s children receive some kind of special help during their first nine years of school. The school where Louhivuori teaches served 240 first through ninth graders last year; and in contrast with Finland’s reputation for ethnic homogeneity, more than half of its 150 elementary-level students are immigrants—from Somalia, Iraq, Russia, Bangladesh, Estonia and Ethiopia, among other nations. “Children from wealthy families with lots of education can be taught by stupid teachers,” Louhivuori said, smiling. “We try to catch the weak students. It’s deep in our thinking.”

The transformation of the Finns’ education system began some 40 years ago as the key propellent of the country’s economic recovery plan. Educators had little idea it was so successful until 2000, when the first results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a standardized test given to 15-year-olds in more than 40 global venues, revealed Finnish youth to be the best young readers in the world. Three years later, they led in math. By 2006, Finland was first out of 57 countries (and a few cities) in science. In the 2009 PISA scores released last year, the nation came in second in science, third in reading and sixth in math among nearly half a million students worldwide. “I’m still surprised,” said Arjariita Heikkinen, principal of a Helsinki comprehensive school. “I didn’t realize we were that good.”

In the United States, which has muddled along in the middle for the past decade, government officials have attempted to introduce marketplace competition into public schools. In recent years, a group of Wall Street financiers and philanthropists such as Bill Gates have put money behind private-sector ideas, such as vouchers, data-driven curriculum and charter schools, which have doubled in number in the past decade. President Obama, too, has apparently bet on compe­tition. His Race to the Top initiative invites states to compete for federal dollars using tests and other methods to measure teachers, a philosophy that would not fly in Finland. “I think, in fact, teachers would tear off their shirts,” said Timo Heikkinen, a Helsinki principal with 24 years of teaching experience. “If you only measure the statistics, you miss the human aspect.”

There are no mandated standardized tests in Finland, apart from one exam at the end of students’ senior year in high school. There are no rankings, no comparisons or competition between students, schools or regions. Finland’s schools are publicly funded. The people in the government agencies running them, from national officials to local authorities, are educators, not business people, military leaders or career politicians. Every school has the same national goals and draws from the same pool of university-trained educators. The result is that a Finnish child has a good shot at getting the same quality education no matter whether he or she lives in a rural village or a university town. The differences between weakest and strongest students are the smallest in the world, according to the most recent survey by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). “Equality is the most important word in Finnish education. All political parties on the right and left agree on this,” said Olli Luukkainen, president of Finland’s powerful teachers union.

Ninety-three percent of Finns graduate from academic or vocational high schools, 17.5 percentage points higher than the United States, and 66 percent go on to higher education, the highest rate in the European Union. Yet Finland spends about 30 percent less per student than the United States.

Still, there is a distinct absence of chest-thumping among the famously reticent Finns. They are eager to celebrate their recent world hockey championship, but PISA scores, not so much. “We prepare children to learn how to learn, not how to take a test,” said Pasi Sahlberg, a former math and physics teacher who is now in Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture. “We are not much interested in PISA. It’s not what we are about.”

Maija Rintola stood before her chattering class of twenty-three 7- and 8-year-olds one late April day in Kirkkojarven Koulu. A tangle of multicolored threads topped her copper hair like a painted wig. The 20-year teacher was trying out her look for Vappu, the day teachers and children come to school in riotous costumes to celebrate May Day. The morning sun poured through the slate and lemon linen shades onto containers of Easter grass growing on the wooden sills. Rintola smiled and held up her open hand at a slant—her time-tested “silent giraffe,” which signaled the kids to be quiet. Little hats, coats, shoes stowed in their cubbies, the children wiggled next to their desks in their stocking feet, waiting for a turn to tell their tale from the playground. They had just returned from their regular 15 minutes of playtime outdoors between lessons. “Play is important at this age,” Rintola would later say. “We value play.”

With their wiggles unwound, the students took from their desks little bags of buttons, beans and laminated cards numbered 1 through 20. A teacher’s aide passed around yellow strips representing units of ten. At a smart board at the front of the room, Rintola ushered the class through the principles of base ten. One girl wore cat ears on her head, for no apparent reason. Another kept a stuffed mouse on her desk to remind her of home. Rintola roamed the room helping each child grasp the concepts. Those who finished early played an advanced “nut puzzle” game. After 40 minutes it was time for a hot lunch in the cathedral-like cafeteria.

Teachers in Finland spend fewer hours at school each day and spend less time in classrooms than American teachers. Teachers use the extra time to build curriculums and assess their students. Children spend far more time playing outside, even in the depths of winter. Homework is minimal. Compulsory schooling does not begin until age 7. “We have no hurry,” said Louhivuori. “Children learn better when they are ready. Why stress them out?”

It’s almost unheard of for a child to show up hungry or homeless. Finland provides three years of maternity leave and subsidized day care to parents, and preschool for all 5-year-olds, where the emphasis is on play and socializing. In addition, the state subsidizes parents, paying them around 150 euros per month for every child until he or she turns 17. Ninety-seven percent of 6-year-olds attend public preschool, where children begin some academics. Schools provide food, medical care, counseling and taxi service if needed. Stu­dent health care is free.

Even so, Rintola said her children arrived last August miles apart in reading and language levels. By April, nearly every child in the class was reading, and most were writing. Boys had been coaxed into literature with books like Kapteeni Kalsarin (“Captain Underpants”). The school’s special education teacher teamed up with Rintola to teach five children with a variety of behavioral and learning problems. The national goal for the past five years has been to mainstream all children. The only time Rintola’s children are pulled out is for Finnish as a Second Language classes, taught by a teacher with 30 years’ experience and graduate school training.

There are exceptions, though, however rare. One first-grade girl was not in Rintola’s class. The wispy 7-year-old had recently arrived from Thailand speaking not a word of Finnish. She was studying math down the hall in a special “preparing class” taught by an expert in multicultural learning. It is designed to help children keep up with their subjects while they conquer the language. Kirkkojarvi’s teachers have learned to deal with their unusually large number of immigrant students. The city of Espoo helps them out with an extra 82,000 euros a year in “positive discrimination” funds to pay for things like special resource teachers, counselors and six special needs classes.

Rintola will teach the same children next year and possibly the next five years, depending on the needs of the school. “It’s a good system. I can make strong connections with the children,” said Rintola, who was handpicked by Louhivuori 20 years ago. “I understand who they are.” Besides Finnish, math and science, the first graders take music, art, sports, religion and textile handcrafts. English begins in third grade, Swedish in fourth. By fifth grade the children have added biology, geography, history, physics and chemistry.

Not until sixth grade will kids have the option to sit for a district-wide exam, and then only if the classroom teacher agrees to participate. Most do, out of curiosity. Results are not publicized. Finnish educators have a hard time understanding the United States’ fascination with standardized tests. “Americans like all these bars and graphs and colored charts,” Louhivuori teased, as he rummaged through his closet looking for past years’ results. “Looks like we did better than average two years ago,” he said after he found the reports. “It’s nonsense. We know much more about the children than these tests can tell us.”

I had come to Kirkkojarvi to see how the Finnish approach works with students who are not stereotypically blond, blue-eyed and Lutheran. But I wondered if Kirkkojarvi’s success against the odds might be a fluke. Some of the more vocal conservative reformers in America have grown weary of the “We-Love-Finland crowd” or so-called Finnish Envy. They argue that the United States has little to learn from a country of only 5.4 million people—4 percent of them foreign born. Yet the Finns seem to be onto something. Neighboring Norway, a country of similar size, embraces education policies similar to those in the United States. It employs standardized exams and teachers without master’s degrees. And like America, Norway’s PISA scores have been stalled in the middle ranges for the better part of a decade.

To get a second sampling, I headed east from Espoo to Helsinki and a rough neighborhood called Siilitie, Finnish for “Hedgehog Road” and known for having the oldest low-income housing project in Finland. The 50-year-old boxy school building sat in a wooded area, around the corner from a subway stop flanked by gas stations and convenience stores. Half of its 200 first- through ninth-grade students have learning disabilities. All but the most severely impaired are mixed with the general education children, in keeping with Finnish policies.

A class of first graders scampered among nearby pine and birch trees, each holding a stack of the teacher’s homemade laminated “outdoor math” cards. “Find a stick as big as your foot,” one read. “Gather 50 rocks and acorns and lay them out in groups of ten,” read another. Working in teams, the 7- and 8-year-olds raced to see how quickly they could carry out their tasks. Aleksi Gustafsson, whose master’s degree is from Helsinki University, developed the exercise after attending one of the many workshops available free to teachers. “I did research on how useful this is for kids,” he said. “It’s fun for the children to work outside. They really learn with it.”

Gustafsson’s sister, Nana Germeroth, teaches a class of mostly learning-impaired children; Gustafsson’s students have no learning or behavioral issues. The two combined most of their classes this year to mix their ideas and abilities along with the children’s varying levels. “We know each other really well,” said Germeroth, who is ten years older. “I know what Aleksi is thinking.”

The school receives 47,000 euros a year in positive discrimination money to hire aides and special education teachers, who are paid slightly higher salaries than classroom teachers because of their required sixth year of university training and the demands of their jobs. There is one teacher (or assistant) in Siilitie for every seven students.

In another classroom, two special education teachers had come up with a different kind of team teaching. Last year, Kaisa Summa, a teacher with five years’ experience, was having trouble keeping a gaggle of first-grade boys under control. She had looked longingly into Paivi Kangasvieri’s quiet second-grade room next door, wondering what secrets the 25-year-veteran colleague could share. Each had students of wide-ranging abilities and special needs. Summa asked Kangasvieri if they might combine gymnastics classes in hopes good behavior might be contagious. It worked. This year, the two decided to merge for 16 hours a week. “We complement each other,” said Kangasvieri, who describes herself as a calm and firm “father” to Summa’s warm mothering. “It is cooperative teaching at its best,” she says.

Every so often, principal Arjariita Heikkinen told me, the Helsinki district tries to close the school because the surrounding area has fewer and fewer children, only to have people in the community rise up to save it. After all, nearly 100 percent of the school’s ninth graders go on to high schools. Even many of the most severely disabled will find a place in Finland’s expanded system of vocational high schools, which are attended by 43 percent of Finnish high-school students, who prepare to work in restaurants, hospitals, construction sites and offices. “We help situate them in the right high school,” said then deputy principal Anne Roselius. “We are interested in what will become of them in life.”

Finland’s schools were not always a wonder. Until the late 1960s, Finns were still emerging from the cocoon of Soviet influence. Most children left public school after six years. (The rest went to private schools, academic grammar schools or folk schools, which tended to be less rigorous.) Only the privileged or lucky got a quality education.

The landscape changed when Finland began trying to remold its bloody, fractured past into a unified future. For hundreds of years, these fiercely independent people had been wedged between two rival powers—the Swedish monarchy to the west and the Russian czar to the east. Neither Scandinavian nor Baltic, Finns were proud of their Nordic roots and a unique language only they could love (or pronounce). In 1809, Finland was ceded to Russia by the Swedes, who had ruled its people some 600 years. The czar created the Grand Duchy of Finland, a quasi-state with constitutional ties to the empire. He moved the capital from Turku, near Stockholm, to Helsinki, closer to St. Petersburg. After the czar fell to the Bolsheviks in 1917, Finland declared its independence, pitching the country into civil war. Three more wars between 1939 and 1945—two with the Soviets, one with Germany—left the country scarred by bitter divisions and a punishing debt owed to the Russians. “Still we managed to keep our freedom,” said Pasi Sahlberg, a director general in the Ministry of Education and Culture.

In 1963, the Finnish Parliament made the bold decision to choose public education as its best shot at economic recovery. “I call this the Big Dream of Finnish education,” said Sahlberg, whose upcoming book,  Finnish Lessons , is scheduled for release in October. “It was simply the idea that every child would have a very good public school. If we want to be competitive, we need to educate everybody. It all came out of a need to survive."

Practically speaking—and Finns are nothing if not practical—the decision meant that goal would not be allowed to dissipate into rhetoric. Lawmakers landed on a deceptively simple plan that formed the foundation for everything to come. Public schools would be organized into one system of comprehensive schools, or  peruskoulu , for ages 7 through 16. Teachers from all over the nation contributed to a national curriculum that provided guidelines, not prescriptions. Besides Finnish and Swedish (the country’s second official language), children would learn a third language (English is a favorite) usually beginning at age 9. Resources were distributed equally. As the comprehensive schools improved, so did the upper secondary schools (grades 10 through 12). The second critical decision came in 1979, when reformers required that every teacher earn a fifth-year master’s degree in theory and practice at one of eight state universities—at state expense. From then on, teachers were effectively granted equal status with doctors and lawyers. Applicants began flooding teaching programs, not because the salaries were so high but because autonomy and respect made the job attractive. In 2010, some 6,600 applicants vied for 660 primary school training slots, according to Sahlberg. By the mid-1980s, a final set of initiatives shook the classrooms free from the last vestiges of top-down regulation. Control over policies shifted to town councils. The national curriculum was distilled into broad guidelines. National math goals for grades one through nine, for example, were reduced to a neat ten pages. Sifting and sorting children into so-called ability groupings was eliminated. All children—clever or less so—were to be taught in the same classrooms, with lots of special teacher help available to make sure no child really would be left behind. The inspectorate closed its doors in the early ’90s, turning accountability and inspection over to teachers and principals. “We have our own motivation to succeed because we love the work,” said Louhivuori. “Our incentives come from inside.”

To be sure, it was only in the past decade that Finland’s international science scores rose. In fact, the country’s earliest efforts could be called somewhat Stalinistic. The first national curriculum, developed in the early ’70s, weighed in at 700 stultifying pages. Timo Heikkinen, who began teaching in Finland’s public schools in 1980 and is now principal of Kallahti Comprehensive School in eastern Helsinki, remembers when most of his high-school teachers sat at their desks dictating to the open notebooks of compliant children.

And there are still challenges. Finland’s crippling financial collapse in the early ’90s brought fresh economic challenges to this “confident and assertive Eurostate,” as David Kirby calls it in  A Concise History of Finland . At the same time, immigrants poured into the country, clustering in low-income housing projects and placing added strain on schools. A recent report by the Academy of Finland warned that some schools in the country’s large cities were becoming more skewed by race and class as affluent, white Finns choose schools with fewer poor, immigrant populations.

A few years ago, Kallahti principal Timo Heikkinen began noticing that, increasingly, affluent Finnish parents, perhaps worried about the rising number of Somali children at Kallahti, began sending their children to one of two other schools nearby. In response, Heikkinen and his teachers designed new environmental science courses that take advantage of the school’s proximity to the forest. And a new biology lab with 3-D technology allows older students to observe blood flowing inside the human body.

It has yet to catch on, Heikkinen admits. Then he added: “But we are always looking for ways to improve.”

In other words, whatever it takes.

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LynNell Hancock | READ MORE

LynNell Hancock writes about education and teaches at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

Stuart Conway | READ MORE

Stuart Conway is a photographer based in southeast England.

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OECD Education Policy Perspectives

Education policy outlook in finland.

The OECD Directorate for Education and Skills helps countries compare their education policies and experiences, and learn from each other through large scale assessment and surveys and comparative policy analysis. This policy papers series presents analysis for policy makers, practitioners and researchers on a wide range of policy issues covered at OECD: from pre-primary to higher education, from policy design to implementation, from student performance and well-being, to teacher training and practices, to school resources.

• ISSN: 22260943 (online)
• https://doi.org/10.1787/5cc2d673-en
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This country policy profile on education in Finland is part of the Education Policy Outlook series. Building on the first policy profile for Finland (2013), it offers a concise analysis of where the education system stands today in terms of strengths, challenges and ongoing policy efforts, and how this compares to other systems. The profile brings together over a decade’s worth of policy analysis by the Education Policy Outlook, as well as the latest OECD data, relevant thematic and country-specific work and other international and national evidence. It also offers analysis of the Finnish education system’s initial responses to the COVID-19 crisis and provides insight into approaches to building greater responsiveness and resilience for the future

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Author(s) OECD

07 Dec 2020

Analysis of Finnish Education System to question the reasons behind Finnish success in PISA

• December 2018

• Artvin Coruh Universitesi

• Middle East Technical University

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Message from BOT Chair John Preyer, Search Committee Chair Cristy Page on Lee H. Roberts

During his time as interim chancellor, he set a vision for the University rooted in its core mission to serve the state of North Carolina, educate the next generation of leaders and conduct life-changing research.

Dear Carolina Community,   

We are excited to share the news that the UNC Board of Governors has elected Lee H. Roberts as University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s 13th chancellor. The entire Carolina community is invited to watch Chancellor Roberts’ acceptance speech at 2 p.m. today via a livestream . 

Over the past six months, the Chancellor Search Advisory Committee heard from a wide range of constituents about the characteristics they wanted in their next leader. The themes that prevailed included a deep passion and love for the University, a drive to excel in everything Carolina does and a profound commitment to serving our state. The committee took all the feedback seriously and incorporated it into the job posting as well as the attributes we looked for in potential candidates.   

After completing our interviews, we passed a slate of finalists on to UNC System President Peter Hans. What stood out to us about Chancellor Roberts was the fact that during his time as the interim chancellor he set a vision for the University rooted in its core mission to serve the state of North Carolina, educate the next generation of leaders and conduct life-changing research. Now that he has been elected, we look forward to working with him as he continues to guide our University with humility, empathy and determination.  

Chancellor Roberts is an advocate for higher education and for the state of North Carolina. Prior to serving as interim chancellor, he served as a member of the UNC Board of Governors and as the chair of its budget committee. He has held positions on the State Board of Community Colleges, North Carolina’s Banking Commission and the Board of Visitors at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, where for the last five years he taught public budgeting to graduate students. Chancellor Roberts has also served as a board member at the Golden LEAF Foundation, which invests in educational and economic opportunities for North Carolina’s rural communities. He served as state budget director under Gov. Pat McCrory from 2014 to 2016, and he was the co-founder and managing partner of SharpVue Capital, a North Carolina investment firm that specializes in stewarding institutional funds and growing local economies.  

We want to thank our colleagues on the search advisory committee for their time and effort during the recruitment process. We also thank the dedicated constituents – students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and community members – who offered input about what they wanted in our next chancellor. The feedback gleaned through several listening sessions, informal conversations and an online survey and nomination form that garnered 3,100 responses offered valuable insights in helping to identify our next leader.  

Please join us in congratulating Chancellor Roberts and welcoming him officially as Carolina’s 13th chancellor.  

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Chief Academic Officer, UNC Health

“I truly believe there is no better job in the world than leading Carolina and building on its remarkable legacy of excellence,” Roberts says in this video to campus. 

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How to cite ChatGPT

Use discount code STYLEBLOG15 for 15% off APA Style print products with free shipping in the United States.

We, the APA Style team, are not robots. We can all pass a CAPTCHA test , and we know our roles in a Turing test . And, like so many nonrobot human beings this year, we’ve spent a fair amount of time reading, learning, and thinking about issues related to large language models, artificial intelligence (AI), AI-generated text, and specifically ChatGPT . We’ve also been gathering opinions and feedback about the use and citation of ChatGPT. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and shared ideas, opinions, research, and feedback.

In this post, I discuss situations where students and researchers use ChatGPT to create text and to facilitate their research, not to write the full text of their paper or manuscript. We know instructors have differing opinions about how or even whether students should use ChatGPT, and we’ll be continuing to collect feedback about instructor and student questions. As always, defer to instructor guidelines when writing student papers. For more about guidelines and policies about student and author use of ChatGPT, see the last section of this post.

Quoting or reproducing the text created by ChatGPT in your paper

If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research, describe how you used the tool in your Method section or in a comparable section of your paper. For literature reviews or other types of essays or response or reaction papers, you might describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used and then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response.

Unfortunately, the results of a ChatGPT “chat” are not retrievable by other readers, and although nonretrievable data or quotations in APA Style papers are usually cited as personal communications , with ChatGPT-generated text there is no person communicating. Quoting ChatGPT’s text from a chat session is therefore more like sharing an algorithm’s output; thus, credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation.

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

You may also put the full text of long responses from ChatGPT in an appendix of your paper or in online supplemental materials, so readers have access to the exact text that was generated. It is particularly important to document the exact text created because ChatGPT will generate a unique response in each chat session, even if given the same prompt. If you create appendices or supplemental materials, remember that each should be called out at least once in the body of your APA Style paper.

When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Creating a reference to ChatGPT or other AI models and software

The in-text citations and references above are adapted from the reference template for software in Section 10.10 of the Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020, Chapter 10). Although here we focus on ChatGPT, because these guidelines are based on the software template, they can be adapted to note the use of other large language models (e.g., Bard), algorithms, and similar software.

The reference and in-text citations for ChatGPT are formatted as follows:

• Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2023)
• Narrative citation: OpenAI (2023)

Let’s break that reference down and look at the four elements (author, date, title, and source):

Author: The author of the model is OpenAI.

Date: The date is the year of the version you used. Following the template in Section 10.10, you need to include only the year, not the exact date. The version number provides the specific date information a reader might need.

Title: The name of the model is “ChatGPT,” so that serves as the title and is italicized in your reference, as shown in the template. Although OpenAI labels unique iterations (i.e., ChatGPT-3, ChatGPT-4), they are using “ChatGPT” as the general name of the model, with updates identified with version numbers.

The version number is included after the title in parentheses. The format for the version number in ChatGPT references includes the date because that is how OpenAI is labeling the versions. Different large language models or software might use different version numbering; use the version number in the format the author or publisher provides, which may be a numbering system (e.g., Version 2.0) or other methods.

Bracketed text is used in references for additional descriptions when they are needed to help a reader understand what’s being cited. References for a number of common sources, such as journal articles and books, do not include bracketed descriptions, but things outside of the typical peer-reviewed system often do. In the case of a reference for ChatGPT, provide the descriptor “Large language model” in square brackets. OpenAI describes ChatGPT-4 as a “large multimodal model,” so that description may be provided instead if you are using ChatGPT-4. Later versions and software or models from other companies may need different descriptions, based on how the publishers describe the model. The goal of the bracketed text is to briefly describe the kind of model to your reader.

Source: When the publisher name and the author name are the same, do not repeat the publisher name in the source element of the reference, and move directly to the URL. This is the case for ChatGPT. The URL for ChatGPT is https://chat.openai.com/chat . For other models or products for which you may create a reference, use the URL that links as directly as possible to the source (i.e., the page where you can access the model, not the publisher’s homepage).

Other questions about citing ChatGPT

You may have noticed the confidence with which ChatGPT described the ideas of brain lateralization and how the brain operates, without citing any sources. I asked for a list of sources to support those claims and ChatGPT provided five references—four of which I was able to find online. The fifth does not seem to be a real article; the digital object identifier given for that reference belongs to a different article, and I was not able to find any article with the authors, date, title, and source details that ChatGPT provided. Authors using ChatGPT or similar AI tools for research should consider making this scrutiny of the primary sources a standard process. If the sources are real, accurate, and relevant, it may be better to read those original sources to learn from that research and paraphrase or quote from those articles, as applicable, than to use the model’s interpretation of them.

We’ve also received a number of other questions about ChatGPT. Should students be allowed to use it? What guidelines should instructors create for students using AI? Does using AI-generated text constitute plagiarism? Should authors who use ChatGPT credit ChatGPT or OpenAI in their byline? What are the copyright implications ?

On these questions, researchers, editors, instructors, and others are actively debating and creating parameters and guidelines. Many of you have sent us feedback, and we encourage you to continue to do so in the comments below. We will also study the policies and procedures being established by instructors, publishers, and academic institutions, with a goal of creating guidelines that reflect the many real-world applications of AI-generated text.

For questions about manuscript byline credit, plagiarism, and related ChatGPT and AI topics, the APA Style team is seeking the recommendations of APA Journals editors. APA Style guidelines based on those recommendations will be posted on this blog and on the APA Style site later this year.

Update: APA Journals has published policies on the use of generative AI in scholarly materials .

We, the APA Style team humans, appreciate your patience as we navigate these unique challenges and new ways of thinking about how authors, researchers, and students learn, write, and work with new technologies.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

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