Q: What is the purpose of public education? Public education guarantees every child good basic education and equal opportunities to further learning. Public education also equalizes the differences that income inequalities and other socioeconomic characteristics create to different learners. In brief, public education is basic human right and basic service to all children and their families. One of the key factors behind Finland’s…
read moreEducational research and data are often used in a selective manner in policy-making and education reform designs. Some employ PISA data to shame and blame public education systems but not in educational change architecture to overcome the designated problems. For example, in the United States, some education reformers use PISA rankings to make their point that the U.S. public school system is falling behind the others and at the…
read moreIn FINNISH LESSONS: What can the world learn from educational change in Finland? I conclude that rather than introducing sequential educational revolutions, Finnish education policy has been built upon periodic change and systemic leadership led by commonly accepted values and shared social vision that resonate closely with contemporary ideas of sustainable educational change. Importantly, the main features for developing a equitable,…
read moreFinland’s stellar results for the first cycle of pisa in 2000 and for each subsequent cycles of the triennial international test have dramatically altered domestic, as well as international opinion. Educators at home and abroad have been forced to assess what Finland does differently. What may come as a surprise is that Finland has neither engaged in researching its own, unique reform measures, nor generated change-knowledge…
read moreWhen people are asked what they associate with Finland, most still say: “Nokia.” According to Finnish diplomats next comes “Education.” In the end of 2011 Nokia still is the leading mobile communication company, with about one third share of all mobile phones sold in the world. The global reputation of Finnish education, in turn, draws primarily from peruskoulu, a 9-year comprehensive school model launched in 1972 that…
read moreGlobal benchmarking of education systems has radically changed the geography of educational change in the world. Ten years ago, the epicenter of high educational performance and innovation was the Anglo-Saxon part of the world: United Kingdom, Australia, United States, New Zealand and Canada. Many of these countries then believed that their education system is among the best in world. Now several Asian countries and Finland are…
read moreThe popularity of international student assessments, especially the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), allows us to compare national education systems in ways that were not possible before. These comparisons are made by looking at the national averages of 15-year-old students’ standardized test scores in reading, mathematics and science. Many countries are increasingly obsessed by such rankings. These league…
read moreMany are fascinated by the fact that Finland has been able to transform its educational system from something elitist, unknown, and inefficient into a paragon of good learning, equity and efficiency. Foreign visitors have been particularly surprised to find out that Finland doesn’t employ any corporate-style education reforms or allow private money to pay for education of its children. Many wonder how teaching has become the…
read moreAs a frequent visitor to your country and an admirer of its cultural richness, I was delighted to read of your recent appointment as minister of education. In your previous job, you often voiced your concerns about the state of your country’s education system. I have also read your writings where you call into question old ways of thinking about education and are highly critical of how education policy has been put into practice…
read moreSurprisingly, educational change in Finland has been studied more by foreigners than by the Finns themselves. Analysis by Andy Hargreaves, Dennis Shirley, Linda Darling-Hammond, Sam Abrams, Diane Ravitch, Tony Wagner and several international journalists have helped us to understand the nature of whole system reform in Finland. These scholars emphasize the importance of making the entire system work well, not just it’s ‘output…
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