1. Why Are Finland's Schools
Successful?
The country's achievements in education have other
nations, especially the United States, doing their
homework
By LynNell Hancock
Smithsonian Magazine | Subscribe
September 2011
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t 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.

2. 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

3. 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 compe-
tition. 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.”

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Education System in Finland
The welfare of Finnish society is built on education, culture and
knowledge. The flexible education system and basic educational security
make for equity and consistency in results.
The Finnish education system is composed of:
nine-year basic education (comprehensive school) for the whole age
group, preceded by one year of voluntary pre-primary education
upper secondary education, comprising general education and
vocational education and training (vocational qualifications and
further and specialist qualifications)
higher education, provided by universities and polytechnics
Learning pathway
In Finland, pre-primary education, basic education and upper secondary
education and training, complemented by early childhood education and
before- and after-school activities, form a coherent learning pathway that
supports children's growth, development and well-being.
The Finnish education system has no dead-ends. Learners can always
continue their studies on an upper level of education, whatever choices
they make in between. The practice of recognition of prior learning has
been developed in order to avoid unnecessary overlapping of studies.
Students' opportunities to progress from one level of education to the next
is safeguarded by legislation. Both general and vocational upper secondary
certificates provide eligibility for further studies.
Higher education is offered by universities and polytechnics. Both sectors
have their own profiles. Universities emphasise scientific research and

5. instruction. Polytechnics, also known as universities of applied sciences,
adopt a more practical approach.
Adult education is provided at all levels of education. Adults can study for a
general education certificate or for a vocational qualification, or modules
included in them, take other courses developing citizenship and work skills,
or pursue recreational studies.
Mainpage Education Education system
Educational Curriculum in FinlandDocument Transcript
1. The Curriculum in Finland Researcher: Mark Ryan A. Lastrilla I. Brief
Description With its high levels of educational achievement and attainment,
Finland is regarded as one of the world’s most literate societies. More than 98%
attend pre-school classes; 99 % complete compulsory basic education; and 94 %
of those who start the academic strand of upper secondary school graduate.
Completion rates in vocational upper secondary school also reach close to
90%(Statistics Finland, 2010; Välijärvi & Sahlberg, 2008). In Finland, education is
free at all levels from pre-primary to higher education. In pre-primary and basic
education the textbooks, daily meal and transportation for students living further
away from the school are free for the parents. At secondary level and in higher
education the students themselves or their parents purchase their own books. At
secondary level the students have the right to a free meal and in higher
education meals are subsidised by the state. Adult education is the only form of
education that may require payment. To ensure the opportunities to study for
everyone there is a well-developed system of study grants and loans. Financial
aid can be awarded for full-time study in an upper secondary school, vocational
institution, or institution of higher education. The current thinking in Finland is that
the potential of each pupil should be maximised. Therefore, educational guidance
is seen as essential. Guidance and counselling aims to support, help and guide
pupils and students so that they can all perform as well as possible in their
studies and be able to make correct and appropriate decisions concerning their
education and careers. Guidance and counselling is seen as the work of all
education personnel. Thus, teachers are required to treat the children and young
people as individuals and help them to proceed according to their own
capabilities. Learners should also experience success and joy of learning. Today
all pupils and students have the right to educational support. This support can be

6. remedial instruction or support for the pupil’s special needs. II. Educational aims
and objectives. • The main objective of Finnish education policy is to offer all
citizens equal opportunities to receive education, regardless of age, domicile,
financial situation, sex or mother tongue. Education is considered to be one of
the fundamental rights of all citizens. Firstly, provisions concerning fundamental
educational rights guarantee everyone (not just Finnish citizens) the right to free
basic education; the provisions also specify compulsory education. Secondly,
2. the public authorities are also obligated to guarantee everyone an equal
opportunity to obtain other education besides basic education according to their
abilities and special needs, and to develop them without being prevented by
economic hardship. • A major objective of Finnish education policy is to achieve
as high a level of education and competence as possible for the whole
population. One of the basic principles behind this has been to offer post-
compulsory education to whole age groups III. What are the areas being studied?
The core subjects taught to learners in the basic education syllabus are the
mother tongue and literature (Finnish or Swedish), the other official language,
one foreign language, environmental studies, health education, religion or ethics,
history, social studies, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geography,
physical education, music, art and crafts, and home economics. Guidance
counselling must also be provided for students. IV. What teaching methodologies
or strategies are used? In instruction, methods characteristic of the subject are to
be used, as are versatile working approaches that help support and guide the
pupil's learning. The function of the working approaches is to develop social,
learning, thinking, working, and problem- solving skills, and to foster active
participation. The approaches must further the development of skills with
information and communication technology. They must also provide opportunities
for the creative activity, experiences, and play characteristic of the age group in
question. The pupils' various learning styles and backgrounds, as well as the
developmental differences between boys and girls and among individuals
generally, must receive consideration. Alongside the traditional forms of teaching
– lectures, demonstrations and examinations based on lectures and literature –
instruction makes increasing use of other methods, such as essays, projects,
seminar and group work. The use of new information technologies in instruction
has also increased. The aim has been to increase students’ independent and
self-motivated study. There are various forms of project and teamwork and
studies have increasingly been transferred outside the institution. V. How are the
educational institution/organization being administered? The Finnish Parliament
decides on educational legislation and the general principles of education policy.
The government, the Ministry of Education, and the Finnish National Board of
Education are responsible for the implementation of this policy at the central
administration level. The government participates in the costs of schools by
paying the so-called statutory government transfer to the education provider. The

7. role of the Ministry is to prepare strategic policy guidelines for education, to
prepare and share
3. budget and to prepare educational laws. The main responsibility of NBE is to
prepare and decide about the National Core Curriculum for the Comprehensive
School, for Upper Secondary General and Vocational Education and for Adult
Education. NBE is also responsible for the development of the Finnish education
system. Universities have autonomy and they are guided straight by the Ministry
of Education. The Basic Education Act (628/1998) and Basic Education Decree
(852/1998) and the Government Decree on the General National Objectives and
Distribution of Les-son Hours in Basic Education (1435/2001) govern basic
education. These regulations stipulate such matters as the core subjects taught
to all pupils, and the distribution of teaching hours between various subjects. VI.
Compare the curriculum with the Philippine basic education curriculum.
Comparison between Finland curriculum and Philippine Basic Education
Curriculum Table 1. Finland Philippines(2002 BEC) 1.Educational aims and
objectives 1.Offer all citizens equal opportunities to receive education, regardless
of age, domicile, financial situation, sex or mother tongue. 2.Achieve as high a
level of education and competence as possible for the whole population 1.To
provide knowledge and develop skills, attitudes, and values essential to personal
development and necessary for living in and contributing to a developing and
changing society. 2. Provide learning experiences which increase the child
awareness of and responsiveness to the changes in society; 3. Promote and
intensify knowledge, identification with and love for the nation and the people to
which s/he belongs; and 4. Promote work experiences, which develop orientation
to the world of work and prepare the learner to engage in honest and gainful
work. 2.The areas being Studied *Mother tongue and literature (Finnish or
Swedish) *The other official language *One foreign language *Environmental
studies *Health education *Religion or ethics, *History *Social studies
*Mathematics The CORE SUBJECTS:Filipino; English; Math; Science (Science
and Health for Elem.); Science and Technology for Secondary The Experiential
Area: Makabayan: Araling Panlipunan; MAPEH (Music, Arts, PE and health);
TLE; Edukasyon sa Pagpapahalaga (the practice
4. *Physics *Chemistry *Biology *Geography *Physical education *Music *Art and
crafts *Home economics environment for holistic learning to develop a healthy
personal and national self-identity‖. 3.Teaching methodologies used. *Traditional
forms of teaching -lectures -demonstrations -examinations based on lectures -
literature *Instruction makes increasing use of other methods, such as -essays -
projects -seminar -group work *Thematic Teaching *Content-Based Instruction
*Focusing Inquiry *Demonstration 4. How are the educational institution/
organization being administered. * The Finnish Parliament decides on
educational legislation and the general principles of education policy. The

8. government, the Ministry of Education, and the Finnish National Board of
Education are responsible for the implementation of this policy at the central
administration level. The government participates in the costs of schools by
paying the so-called statutory government transfer to the education provider. The
role of the Ministry is to prepare strategic policy guidelines for education, to
prepare and share budget and to prepare educational laws. The main
responsibility of NBE is to prepare and decide about the National Core
Curriculum for the Comprehensive School, for Upper Secondary General and
*Administrative structures of curriculum development Development of the basic
education level curriculum is the responsibility of the Central Office Bureau of
Elementary and Secondary Education, Curriculum Development Divisions. This
bureau defines the learning competencies for the different subject areas;
conceptualizes the structure of the curriculum; formulates national curricular
policies. These functions are exercised in consultation with other agencies and
sectors of society (e.g. industry, socio-civic groups, teacher-training institutions,
professional organizations, school administrators, parents, students, etc.). The
subject offerings, credit points, and time allotments for the different subject areas
are also determined at the national level. In this sense, a national curriculum
exists in the Philippines. However, while curriculum implementation
5. Vocational Education and for Adult Education. NBE is also responsible for the
development of the Finnish education system. Universities have autonomy and
they are guided straight by the Ministry of Education. guidelines are issued at the
national level, the actual implementation is left to schoolteachers. They
determine the resources to be used; teaching and assessment strategies and
other processes. Furthermore, schools have the option to modify the national
curriculum (e.g. content, sequence and teaching strategies) in order to ensure
that the curriculum responds to local concerns. References: Books; Cf.
Bilbao,et.al., Curriculum Development. Lorimar: QC. 2008 PDF; Aho, E.,
Pitkänen, K. & Sahlberg, P. (2006). Policy development and reform principles of
basic and secondary education in Finland since 1968. Washington, DC: World
Bank. Ditapat, Maria, Pelagia, Mariñas, Bella O., Philippines Curriculum
Development. FINLAND Regional Preparatory Workshop on Inclusive Education
Eastern and South Eastern Europe, Sinaia, Romania, 14 – 16 June 2007 OAJ
(2008). Teacher education in Finland. Helsinki: The trade union of education in
Finland. Sahlberg, P. (2007). Education policies for raising student learning: The
Finnish approach. Journal of Education Policy, 22(2), 147-171. Finnish
Curriculum System Tähkä, Tiina, Vitikka, Erja, Curriculum Unit, Finnish National
Board of Education Websites; Statistics Finland (2010). Education. Retrieved
September 4, 2010 from http://www.stat.fi/til/kou_en.html.
www.studyinfinland.fi/destination_finland/education_system/secondary_educatio
n

9. Finland Successful School reform
What we can learn from Finland’s successful
school reform
Finland came from behind to become the world leader in student achievement.
Their
strategy is the opposite of what we’re doing in America.
To imagine how that might be done, one can look at nations that started with very
little and
purposefully built highly productive and equitable systems, sometimes almost
from scratch, in
the space of only two to three decades.
Strong educational system
As an example, I am going to briefly describe how Finland built a strong
educational system,
nearly from the ground up. Finland was not succeeding educationally in the
1970s, when the
United States was the unquestioned education leader in the world. Yet this
country created a
productive teaching and learning system by expanding access while investing
purposefully in
ambitious educational goals using strategic approaches to build teaching
capacity.
Teaching and learning system
I use the term ―teaching and learning system‖ advisedly to describe a set of
elements that, when

10. well designed and connected, reliably support all students in their learning.
These elements
ensure that students routinely encounter well-prepared teachers who are working
in concert
around a thoughtful, high-quality curriculum, supported by appropriate materials
and
assessments—and that these elements of the system help students, teachers,
leaders, and the
system as a whole continue to learn and improve. Although no system from afar
can be
transported wholesale into another context, there is much to learn from the
experiences of those
who have addressed problems we also encounter.
The Finnish Success Story
Finland has been a poster child for school improvement since it rapidly climbed
to the top of the
international rankings after it emerged from the Soviet Union’s shadow. Once
poorly ranked
educationally, with a turgid bureaucratic system that produced low-quality
education and large
inequalities, it now ranks first among all the OECD nations (Organization for
Economic
Cooperation and Development—roughly, the so-called ―developed‖ nations) on
the PISA
(Program for International Student Assessments), an international test for 15-
year-olds in

11. language, math, and science literacy. The country also boasts a highly equitable
distribution of
achievement, even for its growing share of immigrant students.
Strategies for Reform
Because of these trends, many people have turned to Finland for clues to
educational
transformation. As one analyst notes: "Most visitors to Finland discover elegant
school buildings filled with calm children and highly
educated teachers. They also recognize the large autonomy that schools enjoy,
little interference
by the central education administration in schools’ everyday lives, systematic
methods to address
problems in the lives of students, and targeted professional help for those in
need." (Sahlbert,
2009, p. 7)
Leaders in Finland attribute the gains to their intensive investments in teacher
education—all
teachers receive three years of high-quality graduate level preparation
completely at state
expense—plus a major overhaul of the curriculum and assessment system
designed to ensure
access to a ―thinking curriculum‖ for all students. A recent analysis of the Finnish
system
summarized its core principles as follows:
Resources for those who need them most.
High standards and supports for special needs.

12. Qualified teachers.
Evaluation of education.
Balancing decentralization and centralization. (Laukkanen, 2008, p. 319)
The process of change has been almost the reverse of policies in the United
States. Over the past
40 years, Finland has shifted from a highly centralized system emphasizing
external testing to a
more localized system in which highly trained teachers design curriculum around
the very lean
national standards. This new system is implemented through equitable funding
and extensive
preparation for all teachers. The logic of the system is that investments in the
capacity of local
teachers and schools to meet the needs of all students, coupled with thoughtful
guidance about
goals, can unleash the benefits of local creativity in the cause of common,
equitable outcomes.
Meanwhile, the United States has been imposing more external testing—often
exacerbating
differential access to curriculum—while creating more inequitable conditions in
local schools.
Resources for children and schools, in the form of both overall funding and the
presence of
trained, experienced teachers, have become more disparate in many states, thus
undermining the
capacity of schools to meet the outcomes that are ostensibly sought. Sahlberg
notes that Finland
has taken a very different path. He observes:

13. "The Finns have worked systematically over 35 years to make sure that
competent professionals
who can craft the best learning conditions for all students are in all schools,
rather than thinking
that standardized instruction and related testing can be brought in at the last
minute to improve
student learning and turn around failing schools." (Sahlberg, 2009, p. 22)
Sahlberg identifies a set of global reforms, undertaken especially in the Anglo-
Saxon countries,
that Finland has not adopted, including standardization of curriculum enforced by
frequent
external tests; narrowing of the curriculum to basic skills in reading and
mathematics; reduced
use of innovative teaching strategies; adoption of educational ideas from external
sources, rather
than development of local internal capacity for innovation and problem-solving;
and adoption of
high-stakes accountability policies, featuring rewards and sanctions for students,
teachers, and
schools. By contrast, he suggests:
This article is about the Sielun Veljet album. For the country, see Finland.
Suomi-Finland

14. Studio album by Sielun Veljet
Released 1988
Genre Alternative rock
Length 39:52
Label Poko Rekords
Producer Riku Mattila
Sielun Veljet chronology
Shit-Hot
(1987)
Suomi-Finland
(1988)
Softwood Music
Under Slow
Pillars
(1989)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating

15. Soundi [1]
Suomi-Finland is the sixth studio album of the Finnish rock band Sielun Veljet. It was
released in 1988 between two English language albums, Shit-Hot and Softwood Music
Under Slow Pillars. Suomi-Finland has a more acoustic sound than earlier Sielun Veljet
material, anticipating the psychedelic, all-acoustic Softwood Music Under Slow Pillars.[2]
"Volvot ulvoo kuun savuun" has been covered by industrial metal band Turmion Kätilöt

16. AMITA, JENELYN A.
FINLAND
Educational system in Finland the Finnish society is built on education, culture and
knowledge. There are composed of: 1st
. nine year basic educations. 2nd
. upper
secondary education, comprising general education and vocational education and
training (vocational qualifications and further and specialist qualifications) 3rd
. higher
education, provided by universities and polytechnics. So in the basic education and
upper secondary education and training complemented by early childhood education
and before and after the school activities form a coherent learning pathway that
supports children growth, development and well-being. And it has no dead ends.
Learners can always continue their studies on upper level of education whatever
choices they make in between. And the learner developed in order to avoid
unnecessary overlapping of studies. And both sectors have their own profile.
Universities emphasise scientific research and instruction. Polytechnics also known as
universities applied more on practical approach. Have also an adult education provide
at all levels of education. Adults can study for a general education certificate for a
vocational qualification and take other courses developing citizenship and work, skills,
or pursue recreational studies. And it is called as the learning curve because it has five
things that education leaders should remember. The 1st
. is that spending lots of money
on schools and teachers does not always mean students will learn. 2nd
. is that "good
teachers are essential to high-quality education". The report said teachers should be
"treated as the valuable professionals they are, not as technicians in a huge,
educational machine". 3rd
. and 4th
. Are that a country’s culture must have a strong
focus on the importance of education, and parents having key parts to play. Finally,
countries need to "educate for the future, not just the present."