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Why do Finland’s schools get the best results?

By Tom Burridge
BBC World News America, Helsinki

Last year more than 100 foreign delegations and governments visited Helsinki, hoping to learn the secret of their schools’ success.

In 2006, Finland’s pupils scored the highest average results in science and reading in the whole of the developed world. In the OECD’s exams for 15 year-olds, known as PISA, they also came second in maths, beaten only by teenagers in South Korea.

This isn’t a one-off: in previous PISA tests Finland also came out top.

The Finnish philosophy with education is that everyone has something to contribute and those who struggle in certain subjects should not be left behind.

A tactic used in virtually every lesson is the provision of an additional teacher who helps those who struggle in a particular subject. But the pupils are all kept in the same classroom, regardless of their ability in that particular subject.

Finland’s Education Minister, Henna Virkkunen is proud of her country’s record but her next goal is to target the brightest pupils.

”The Finnish system supports very much those pupils who have learning difficulties but we have to pay more attention also to those pupils who are very talented. Now we have started a pilot project about how to support those pupils who are very gifted in certain areas.”

Late learners

According to the OECD, Finnish children spend the fewest number of hours in the classroom in the developed world.

This reflects another important theme of Finnish education.

Primary and secondary schooling is combined, so the pupils don’t have to change schools at age 13. They avoid a potentially disruptive transition from one school to another.

Teacher Marjaana Arovaara-Heikkinen believes keeping the same pupils in her classroom for several years also makes her job a lot easier.

”I’m like growing up with my children, I see the problems they have when they are small. And now after five years, I still see and know what has happened in their youth, what are the best things they can do. I tell them I’m like their school mother.”

Children in Finland only start main school at age seven. The idea is that before then they learn best when they’re playing and by the time they finally get to school they are keen to start learning.

Less is more

Finnish parents obviously claim some credit for the impressive school results. There is a culture of reading with the kids at home and families have regular contact with their children’s teachers.

Teaching is a prestigious career in Finland. Teachers are highly valued and teaching standards are high.

The educational system’s success in Finland seems to be part cultural. Pupils study in a relaxed and informal atmosphere.

Finland also has low levels of immigration. So when pupils start school the majority have Finnish as their native language, eliminating an obstacle that other societies often face.

The system’s success is built on the idea of less can be more. There is an emphasis on relaxed schools, free from political prescriptions. This combination, they believe, means that no child is left behind.

23 Replies to “Why do Finland’s schools get the best results?”

  4. undertaker888 :
    Ours is also world class…. In churning out young racists. this is the monotone phrase. ‘balik negara asal’…hehe, what moron.

    With morons like the Kulai headmistress and the moronic inaction of the government, well… we are indeed a class of our own. No educational system in this world can beat our very own. By the way, is Islam still our official religion? Islam is definitely against racism, so why are many Muslims in Malaysia such racists?

  7. in a classroom:

    siti: orang cina datang dari cina. orang india dari india.
    ali: melayu datang dari mana, cikgu?
    siti:…ah..emm..melayusia la.
    ali: mamak dari mana cikgu?
    siti: …ah…emmm…dari mamaksia la
    ali: orang asli, cikgu?
    siti: …emm…mungkin kunming la..eh wa! eh wa..banyak soalan ini. cepat hafal ni…”Balik negara asal”…..”Balik negara asal”.

    ah chong: cikgu, say sekarang di negara asal.

    mutu: saya juga cikgu. mungkin cikgu perlu halau ‘illegal imigren’ dari negara jiran, cikgu.

  9. The whole point is we are way better than finland. Cant anyone here see? But we have angkasawan! Has finland any?

    Oooh boy.

    Cintanegara shall we tell jib to pass a new law empowering umno to chuck these unpatiotic idiots out into open sea?

    Huh, unconstitutional? Sharks. And what the f… No two third majority? Yak chiu man. Yak chiu man.

  10. a finn in a classroom somewhere in johor:

    kimi: Chehh gu, what is E=MC2?
    siti: tunggu…ehh..wait..i call mohidin ha. wait.
    siti: tuan, orang putih tanya apa tu E=MC2.
    moh: E=MC2? tunggu. aku check kat koh tsu koon.
    moh: ah koon. apa itu E=MC2?
    Koon: ohh…itu formula minyak pelincir kereta petronas.
    moh: ok..siti..dengar sini…ini formula minyak pelincir terunggul dari petronas. boleh lihat kat Formula 1.
    siti: ooiii, sungguh terror mohidin..hihi.
    siti: kimi, this is the best slippery oil formula
    from petronas..ye.
    kimi: are you sure?
    siti: hei..u dont believe, u go back your country la.

  11. An UMNO politician, will probably reply that a comparison between the education system in Malaysia and Finland is unfair. It is like comparing apples to oranges.

    Malaysia is in a class of its own and no comparison can every be made.

  12. Actually it is the content in the syllabi that matters. Remember the Swedish schoolgirl who saw the waves retreating from the shore in Penang’s beaches and quickly saved her parents by warning them of an approaching tsunami because she has studied that phenomena in her geography books. The stupid bolehlanders have never studied that and so were drowned when the waves come crashing back.

  14. k1980, actually our poor school kids were too busy working out their school projects in which they were expected to research and report on at least 2dozen woooow good deeds of dr mamak or something like that.

    My girl now in secondary school had to do something similar on jibby the jib jib jib. She has been vomitting since the start of the project. Dont know why.

  15. research and report on the good deeds of jibby?

    You can get a lot of hints from that lil’ red book “The Thoughts of Chairman Mao”. Just change some of the quotations eg “Power comes from the barrel of a gun” to “Power comes from the explosion of a c4 grenade”. Guarantee she will get A+++++ for that project.

  16. dagen :
    My girl now in secondary school had to do something similar on jibby the jib jib jib. She has been vomitting since the start of the project. Dont know why.

    Very odd. Your daughter might be coming down with the flu. Certainly nothing to do with her school project.

    I am remember having to write essays about how awesome and superior our culture was compared to the west. And how degenerate the western culture was. At that time, I too got the stomach flu. It was so bad, I even became delirious, and started thinking odd thoughts, such as how wrong these essay were, how egotistical and propaganda laced they were.

    But it is an important part of your daughter’s education. You never know when knowing all the good deeds of Jibby will save her life.

  17. k1980 :
    “Power comes from the explosion of a c4 grenade”. Guarantee she will get A+++++ for that project.

    I think that will get a A-. The real quote should be “Power comes from the mouth of Rosmah.” That will give you an A+++++++

  19. Ask angkasawan if he has a NOKIA. In many western countries, the education approach has been humanistic. In Malaysia, if I am nice to you, you will be humanistic to me. If you do not like me, you will be behaviouristic to me. Cognitive wise, it is almost zero.

  20. Malaysian students have to learn Maths and Science in 3 languages namely mother tongues,Bahasa Melayu and English.From infamous 5 billions PPSMI of mahatir to newly introduced MBMMBI by muhyiddin where millions of school children have been made guinea pigs.Then come another inspiration of these pathetic policy makers of wanting to abolish both UPSR and PMR.Such flip-flopping polices have make education system failed to produce skill human capitals needed by the country as calimed by NEAC lately.

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