How Focusing on Equity Led to Higher Student Achievement in Finland

• In Event: 63.056 - Is the Invisible Hand a Magic Wand? Privatization Versus Public Investments in National Educational Systems

Abstract

Beginning in 1970, Finland redesigned its education system with the overarching goal of creating a more highly-educated and equitable society, making strong investments in public education quality, as well as child health and welfare, including early childhood supports, for all children in all communities. Finnish leaders also typically cite their intentional social investment in training teachers to become education professionals as one of the driving forces behind their high achievement. As a result, and to the surprise of the international community, Finland’s scores on international achievement tests such as PISA has outpaced their peers in the OECD, with high performance levels that continue through more recent iterations. The international education research community has endeavored to uncover Finland’s keys to success.

This presentation builds on work from Finnish educators that describes the salient drivers of their system. In particular, they have focused on skills like critical thinking through learner-centered pedagogy and quality education by investing in the development of effective teachers, with the result of becoming a high achieving nation. Equally, Finland has resisted using the prevailing model of standardizing curricula to fit to international tests, even though they continue to have high levels of performance on these tests.

The Finland presenter will identify a myriad of indictors that comprise the main categories of analysis. In particular, Finnish has almost no private education, so financing of education is a matter of dispersal across public schools. Teachers have a high degree of autonomy in the classroom that reflects the trust given to them by the government based on their advanced levels of preparation. Therefore, Finland does not employ a national curriculum, but has standards that function essentially as regulations for the delivery of education. The Finnish system also uses a hybrid approach of centralized agreement about what students should learn and decentralized management of how they should develop their competencies.

More broadly, Finland’s innovations fall into three main categories. First, Finland focuses on equity in education as opposed to the competitive “Race to the Top” approach found in the U.S., for example. Second, Finland invests heavily in its teacher labor force as mentioned above, preparing them well and granting them professional autonomy. Finally, Finland has learned from other countries, including the models of John Dewey and innovations such as cooperative learning, problem-based teaching and portfolio assessment.

This presentation will provide the details and data that undergird and demonstrate the Finnish approach and identify how these features contribute to its overall success. The authors will also discuss the implications for Finland’s model of success for other countries in the study, especially Sweden and the U.S., as well as others around the world.

Author

• Pasi Sahlberg, Harvard University