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Teachers' Perspectives on Finnish School Education pp 19–47Cite as

Finland’s Success

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Abstract

This chapter details the school education story of Finland; it uses outcomes mainly from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to set Finland as the world’s top school performer. In the narrowest of hallways of research with all their scientific pretensions, it is important to mention that not even the Finnish agree on the reasons for their success, but many factors can be cited as influential for success. The chapter then describes very briefly the education system, since many publications have done that before. Instead of going to the more academic review of the literature about Finnish success as was done in Chap. 1, this chapter delves into more specific and often-cited reasons behind this success, mainly from the point of view of governmental experts and some principals. Among those topics, the chapter describes the following: curriculum, age of entrance to schools, comprehensive education, open school opportunities, reading and libraries, free school lunch, educational and pedagogical leadership, and welfare state and fairness.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Programme for International Student Assessment. This is a program for measuring the educational performance of students between 15 years, 3 months and 16 years, 2 months of age in areas or fields associated with reading, mathematics, and science. The PISA test is applied in OECD member countries and other partner countries. The list of participating countries changes for each round, depending on countries requesting their inclusion. The PISA test is applied in random samples every three years in the same areas or fields, but in each application there are more questions or items in one of the three areas or fields. In 2000 the area of concentration was reading; in 2003, mathematics; and in 2006, science. In 2009, a new series of PISA tests was initiated with a concentration on reading. An additional area, problem-solving, was tested in 2003, but has not been included in another other round since then.

  2. 2.

    Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

  3. 3.

    PISA 2000 was repeated in 2002, given to an additional dozen countries. While the OECD offers integrated PISA 2000–2002 results in ranking lists, the fact that this small group of countries was added to the PISA 2000 test makes a comparison of the results less valid, because the test was not applied in all of the 43 participating countries under standardized conditions. One could argue that the countries in which the PISA test was applied in 2002 had the advantage of knowing the conditions and contents of the test applied originally in 2000.

  4. 4.

    Communication by email, May 19, 2009.

  5. 5.

    OECD 2007c, pp. 291 and 293; 2008a, pp. 42–44, 65, 68, and 331.

  6. 6.

    OECD 2008a, p. 237.

  7. 7.

    OECD 2008a, p. 218.

  8. 8.

    OECD 2008a, p. 262.

  9. 9.

    For interested readers, I would suggest consulting the following official Finland websites: http://www.minedu.fi/OPM/Koulutus/koulutusjaerjestelmae/?lang=en; http://finland.fi/Public/default.aspx?contentid=162939&nodeid=41807&culture=en-US; http://www.oph.fi/english/education/overview_of_the_education_system; as well as the following websites of international organizations, agencies, and services: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/mwikis/eurydice/index.php/Finland:Overview http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/WDE/2010/pdf-versions/Finland.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Finland; and http://www.edu.fi/english/SubPage.asp?path=500.4699.

  10. 10.

    Statistics Finland 2008a, p. 387.

  11. 11.

    Statistics Finland 2008b.

  12. 12.

    Statistics Finland 2009b.

  13. 13.

    Figures for 2008 and 2009 include preschool students and schools, and an additional optional year (tenth grade) of middle education.

  14. 14.

    Statistics Finland 2007, p. 389.

  15. 15.

    The word “curriculum” will be used to express what legislation in Mexico refers to as study plans and programs.

  16. 16.

    http://www.oph.fi/english/frontpage.asp?path=447 (March 17, 2009). Also known as FNBE, its acronym in English, and CNEF, its acronym in Spanish.

  17. 17.

    As of May 1, 2010, the name of this Ministry changed from Ministry of Education, to Ministry of Education and Culture: http://www.minedu.fi/OPM/?lang=en (May 6, 2010).

  18. 18.

    Opetus-ja kulttuuriministeriö: http://www.minedu.fi/OPM/?lang=fi (May 6, 2010).

  19. 19.

    Adult education is divided into two areas: one, with a practical or liberal focus concentrating on the everyday needs of adults, and the other, with a vocational focus and more formal programs.

  20. 20.

    Prof. Jouni Välijärvi’s comment on an earlier draft of the book.

  21. 21.

    The curriculum can also be consulted at: http://www.oph.fi/english/sources_of_information/core_curricula_and_qualification_requirements/basic_education (March 10, 2012).

  22. 22.

    Prof. Jouni Välijärvi’s comment on an earlier draft of the book.

  23. 23.

    Trant 1999, pp. 28–31, and Vuorinen and Mäkinen 1999, pp. 160–187.

  24. 24.

    http://www.helsinki.fi/luma/english/ (July 23, 2009).

  25. 25.

    Ahtee et al. 2007a, pp. 269–270, b, pp. 99–106; Havu-Nuutinen and Ahtee 2007, p. 235; and Linnakylä et al. 2010.

  26. 26.

    http://www.turku.fi/public/default.aspx?contentid=67049 (March 18, 2009).

  27. 27.

    Information on the various rounds of the TIMSS test can be found at: http://timss.bc.edu/index.html (May 27, 2009).

  28. 28.

    Information on the IEA can be found at: http://www.iea.nl/brief_history_of_iea.html (May 27, 2009).

  29. 29.

    Print edition, page A9; translation by Maarit Rossi during the interview on September 2, 2008.

  30. 30.

    http://www.stat.fi/index_en.html.

  31. 31.

    http://www.stat.fi/tup/suoluk/suoluk_kulttuuri_en.html#libraries (April 29, 2010).

  32. 32.

    http://www.stat.fi/tup/suoluk/suoluk_vaesto_en.html (April 29, 2010).

  33. 33.

    http://www.conapo.gob.mx/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=125&Itemid=203 (April 29, 2010).

  34. 34.

    http://www.stat.fi/tup/suoluk/suoluk_kulttuuri_en.html#libraries (April 29, 2010).

  35. 35.

    http://www3.inegi.org.mx/sistemas/temas/default.aspx?s=est&c=21702 (April 29, 2010).

  36. 36.

    http://findikaattori.fi/en/85 (April 29, 2010).

  37. 37.

    The Spanish version of this public document can be consulted at this Finnish Ministry of Education webpage: http://www.minedu.fi/export/sites/default/OPM/Julkaisut/2009/liitteet/opm34.pdf?lang=en (April 29, 2010).

  38. 38.

    More information is available on the webpage for the National Institute of Public Health, at: http://www.ktl.fi/portal/english/public_health_monitoring___promotion/monitoring___interventions/nutrition_in_finland/catering_and_meal_patterns (May 21, 2008).

  39. 39.

    To see menu examples in the Helsinki school district, consult: http://www.hel.fi/hki/opev/en/What_s+new/School+menus (January 25, 2010).

  40. 40.

    More information regarding Finland’s school meals, as well as the culture of food in this fascinating country and the history of school meals, can be found at: Finnish National Board of Education, 2008.

  41. 41.

    https://www.jyu.fi/edu/laitokset/rehtori/en (February 3, 2010).

  42. 42.

    A political leader in Finland for over 30 years, first as prime minister from 1950 to 1956 and then as president from 1956 to 1982.

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  1. Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University, New York, New York, USA

    Eduardo Andere M.

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Andere M., E. (2014). Finland’s Success. In: Teachers' Perspectives on Finnish School Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02824-8_2

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