finland average homework

Finland has one of the world's best education systems. Here's how it compares to the US

Coloured pencils are pictured in a wooden box at a nursery school in Eichenau near Munich June 18, 2012. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle (GERMANY - Tags: EDUCATION SOCIETY) - RTR33VKH

Finland is renowned for its approach to schooling. Image: REUTERS/Michaela Rehle

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Finland is an innovative country when it comes to education, and its innovation yields results.

It's consistently one of the highest performing developed countries on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an important tool for measuring education systems worldwide.

While Finland's ranking dropped to 12 in the most recent PISA ranking, it's still a lot higher than the US ranking of 36.

Here are some things Finland does differently — and arguably better — than the US when it comes to education:

1. Better standardized tests

Finnish students only take one standardized test during their entire primary and secondary schooling.

By contrast, the US, driven by No Child Left Behind and Common Core mandates, requires students in third through eighth grade to take annual standardized tests to track their performance. Critics claim constant testing doesn't make students any smarter but instead creates a "teaching to the test" environment in schools.

Karen Magee, the president of the largest teachers union in New York, went so far as to urge parents to boycott standardized tests recently.

The Finnish test, called the National Matriculation Examination, is taken at the end of high school and graded by teachers, not computers, as Pasi Sahlberg a professor and former director general at the Finland Ministry of Education, explained to the Washington Post in 2014. The test also doesn't shy away from controversial or complex topics.

Here are some typical questions, according to Sahlberg:

"In what sense are happiness, good life and well-being ethical concepts?"

"Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels predicted that a socialist revolution would first happen in countries like Great Britain. What made Marx and Engels claim that and why did a socialist revolution happen in Russia?"

Sahlberg added, in the Washington Post, "Students are regularly asked to show their ability to cope with issues related to evolution, losing a job, dieting, political issues, violence, war, ethics in sports, junk food, sex, drugs, and popular music. Such issues span across subject areas and often require multi-disciplinary knowledge and skills."

2. More time for play

Students in Finland spend relatively little time on homework, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). A 2014 study of 15-year-olds around the world by the OECD said that on average, Finnish students spend 2.8 hours a week on homework. This contrasts noticeably from the 6.1 hours American students spend per week.

Finns place a lot of value on free time and play. By law, teachers must give students a 15-minute break for every 45 minutes of instruction.

It's a different story in the US where kids typically get less than half an hour of recess every day .

This "deficit of play" for US students may lead to additional anxiety and other mental health issues, the psychologist and research professor Peter Gray has written.

3. College is free

In Finland, not only are bachelor degree programs completely free of tuition fees , so are master and doctoral programs. Students pursue higher education goals without the mountains of student loan debt that many American students face . And the same goes for foreign students. Tuition is free for any student accepted into a college or graduate program in Finland.

This contrasts greatly with the US, where the average student loan debt now approaches $30,000, according to the Institute for College Access and Success's 2014 report.

4. Elevated teaching profession

In Finland, teaching is one of the most revered professions with a relatively high barrier to entry.

Hours per year teachers required to spend teaching for 2012.

Only one in 10 students who apply to teacher education programs are admitted, according to the Center on International Education Benchmarkin g (CIEB) .

Teachers in Finland are treated like professors at universities, and they teach fewer hours during the day than US teachers, with more time devoted to lesson planning.

They also get paid slightly more in Finland. The average teacher in the US makes about $41,000 a year, compared to $43,000 in Finland, according to OECD data .

And while teachers in the US make less money than many other countries, the OECD found that they work the longest hours of all.

It's easy to understand why America's teachers — who are overworked and get relatively little respect — might not be as effective as teachers in Finland.

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Education System
Fins and Fun

Homework in Finland School

How many parents are bracing themselves for nightly battles to get their kids to finish their homework every year with the beginning of a school year? Thousands and thousands of them. Though not in Finland. The truth is that there is nearly no homework in the country with one of the top education systems in the world. Finnish people believe that besides homework, there are many more things that can improve child’s performance in school, such as having dinner with their families, exercising or getting a good night’s sleep.

Do We Need Homework?

There are different homework policies around the world. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) keeps track of such policies and compares the amount of homework of students from different countries. For example, an average high school student in the US has to spend about 6 hours a day doing homework, while in Finland, the amount of time spent on after school learning is about 3 hours a day. Nevertheless, these are exactly Finnish students who lead the world in global scores for math and science. It means that despite the belief that homework increases student performance, OECD graph shows the opposite. Though there are some exceptions such as education system in Japan, South Korea, and some other Asian countries. In fact, according to OECD, the more time students spend on homework, the worse they perform in school.

Finnish education approach shows the world that when it comes to homework, less is more. It is worth to mention that the world has caught onto this idea and, according to the latest OECD report, the average number of hours spent by students doing their homework decreased in nearly all countries around the world.

So what Finland knows about homework that the rest of the world does not? There is no simple answer, as the success of education system in Finland is provided by many factors, starting from poverty rates in the country to parental leave policies to the availability of preschools. Nevertheless, one of the greatest secrets of the success of education system in Finland is the way Finns teach their children.

How to Teach Like The Finns?

There are three main points that have to be mentioned when it comes to the success of education system in Finland.

First of all, Finns teach their children in a “playful” manner and allow them to enjoy their childhood. For example, did you know that in average, students in Finland only have three to four classes a day? Furthermore, there are several breaks and recesses (15-20 minutes) during a school day when children can play outside whatever the weather. According to statistics, children need physical activity in order to learn better. Also, less time in the classroom allows Finnish teachers to think, plan and create more effective lessons.

Secondly, Finns pay high respect to teachers. That is why one of the most sought after positions in Finland is the position of a primary school teacher. Only 10% of applicants to the teaching programs are accepted. In addition to a high competition, each primary school teacher in Finland must earn a Master’s degree that provides Finnish teachers with the same status as doctors or lawyers.

High standards applied to applicants for the university teaching programs assure parents of a high quality of teaching and allow teachers to innovate without bureaucracy or excessive regulation.

Thirdly, there is a lot of individual attention for each student. Classes in Finland are smaller than in the most of other countries and for the first six years of study, teachers get to know their students, their individual needs, and learning styles. If there are some weaker students, they are provided by extra assistance. Overall, Finnish education system promotes warmth, collaboration, encouragement, and assessment which means that teachers in this country are ready to do their best to help students but not to gain more control over them.

The combination of these three fundamentals is the key to success of any education system in the world and Finns are exactly those people who proved by way of example that less is more, especially when it comes to the amount of homework.

$System of education in Finland$

System of education in Finland

School System in Finland

Finland Education Reform

Fins and Fun: Distinctive Features of Education in Finland

10 Facts About Education in Finland

Don’t Let Faulty Plumbing Ruin your Child’s Lesson

Flagship of Distance Education

27 Surprising Finnish Education System Facts and Statistics

There has been a lot of press recently about how the education system in Finland is one of the best in the world and how they are using radical (compared with the UK and the US) ideas to help achieve their status as one of the best.

Anywhere you look the proof doesn’t seem to lie, yet how exactly is the Finnish Education system achieving such greatness? Their students outperform students in the US and the UK in most, if not all areas and their teachers enjoy a much better work life balance. Let’s take a dive into some of the things the Finnish are doing.

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) , a survey taken every three years by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) routinely releases data which shows that Americans and British students are seriously lagging behind in many educational performance assessments.

The Finnish Education System

#1 Finnish children enter education at a later age than in many countries. They start school at age 7 and believe that “starting children in school before they’re naturally developmentally ready has no scientifically proven long-term advantage”.

#2 Prior to age 7, Finnish school children can attend day care/nursery school but they do not have formal education whilst there, Instead, they focus on creative play . “They need time to play and be physically active. It’s a time for creativity”. says Tiina Marjoniemi, head of Franzenia daycare center in Helsinki. The Guardian

#3 For every 45 minutes of learning, students enjoy 15 minutes of play.

#4 School is only compulsory for 11 years, meaning students can leave education at age 18. Everything after that is optional. This idea is thought to prepare Finnish students for the real world.

#5 Finish students are not measured at all for the first six years of their education.

#6 Students in Finland only have to sit for a centralized exam (National Matriculation Exam) at the age of 18-19 years old (after 12 years of school).

Finland School Hours

#7 Finnish students do the least number of class hours per week in the developed world, yet get the best results in the long term. The school day starts between 8-9am and is finished by 2pm.

Finland Education Ranking

#8 The schools in Finland are not ranked in any way, there are no comparisons made between schools, regions, teachers or even students. They believe that cooperation is the key to success, not competition.

#9 Finnish Teachers are some of the most qualified in the world. The requirements for becoming a teacher in Finland are set very high, only around the top 10% of applicants are successful and all of those have a masters degree (which incidentally is fully subsidised!).

#10 Finnish teachers have the same status as doctors and lawyers. ( I wish that was the case in the UK! )

#11 Finnish Teachers are not graded. This is probably a direct result of their rigorous selection process and because of this, in Finland, they don’t feel the need to constantly assess and grade their teachers. If a teacher isn’t performing satisfactorily, it is up to the schools principal/head to deal with it. Pasi Sahlberg, director of the Finnish Ministry of Education and writer of Finnish Lessons, said this about teachers’ accountability:

“There’s no word for accountability in Finnish… Accountability is something that is left when responsibility has been subtracted.”

#12 Schools are not inspected. School inspections were actually abolished in Finland in the early 1990s. They have the ideology that they can help direct and assist through support and funding. Again, they trust the professionalism of teachers and school leaders. Schools are encouraged to self-evaluate along.

#13 There are no selective schools or private schools. One of the reasons why there is no competition between Finnish schools is that all schools are funded through public funds. No competition = level playing field.

#14 All Finnish school children receive free school meals, all of them, all the way through school!. There has been a healthy hot lunch served to all students been since 1943 for the whole 9 years at school. ( Huffingtonpost.com )

#15 Finnish students all have access to support that is individually based on their specific needs from the start of their school career. They believe that every child has some special needs and therefore special education is for everyone.

#16 The Basics are the priority. Rather than focus on increasing test scores and dominating in math, science and English, the Finnish education system focus on creating a healthy and harmonious environment for students and learning. The ideology of the Finnish education system is that education should be an “ instrument to balance out social inequality “.

#17 Finnish students have the same teacher for up to 6 years of their school career. This is one of the pillars of their harmonious education environment ideology. It allows student/teacher relationships to grow year on year, allowing a much deeper level of trust and respect than only having one year.

Finland Education Curriculum

#18 Finnish Students have less homework than any other student on the planet. Even with fewer school hours, they are still getting everything they need to be done whilst at school. This, in turn, builds on a Finnish child’s ability to grow and learn into a happy and responsible adult.

#19 All classes are mixed ability. This is unpopular in a lot of education systems in the UK and the US (I know, my own school recently adopted this policy (Personally, I love it) and there can be a lot of teachers that don’t like it. However, some of the most successful education systems have mixed ability classes, so it does work!

#20 Finnish Students learn more languages. They learn Finnish from their first day at school. At age 9 they start learning their second language (which is usually English). By age 11 they start learning Swedish, which is Finland’s second language. Many students even start learning a fourth language when they are 13. They are only tested on their first two languages in the final exam at the end of high school.

#21 Teachers only generally spend 4 hours a day in the classroom and have 2 hours every week for professional development , thus reducing teacher stress.

#22 The Finnish national curriculum is a broadly based guideline, allowing teachers to use their own style and ideas in the classroom. This builds on the trust that the Finnish education system has in its teachers.

Finland Education Statistics

#23 93% of students graduate from high school. More than in the US.

#24 66% of high school students go on to further education (college or vocational courses).

#25 Finland spends about 30% less per student than the US, the UK, Japan and Germany. ( OECD Indicators )

#26 Just under 100% of 9th-grade students in Finland go on to high school. This figure includes most of the severely disabled children ( smithsonian.com )

#27 43% of those students in further education (16+) attend vocational school.

So there we have it, Finnish students and teachers are part of a great system. Having worked with several Finnish teachers, I can tell you that their ideology and these strategies work, very well!

2 thoughts on “27 Surprising Finnish Education System Facts and Statistics”

As a student in Finland I realized some of this information is outdated. #1 – It states that children start their education at the age of 7. This is no longer correct because they can start is at the ages of 5, 6 or 7. Typically they do at ages 6 or 7. #3 – It is very school based. some schools do not follow this and it depends a lot. A school can have 45 minute lessons and a 5 min break. #4 – Over resent years it has changed into 9 years of compulsory education (basic education) 2-4 years of upper secondary studies/vocational application. #6 – the matriculation examination is at the age of 18 (typically the last two years of upper secondary studies). Not all students do this because they choose to go to vocational school. #7 – It is again very school based because some schools follow periods (certain subjects for 6 weeks and then the timetable changes). Most schools and students most likely have days from 8am-3pm. It depends a lot what day it is. #16 – To apply to upper secondary school and vocational schools they calculate the average of math, English, Finnish, Swedish, history, civics, religion/ethics, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, health education. #17 – Pert of this is true. Best case scenario they do have the same teacher for six years, but most of the time teachers are only qualified to teach certain grade levels. #18 – The amount of homework totally depends on the teacher. It depends how much the teacher wants them to do. Most times homework is tasks that they did not get done on lessons or ones that deepen the meaning of the subject. #20 – there are a lot of confusing things about this. In most schools the child starts learning Finnish from first grade onwards. From grade 3 onwards they start learning English. From grade 5 onwards they can decide if the want another language (typically French, German or Spanish). From grade 6 onwards they start learning Swedish. In the matriculation examinations the test Finnish and a second home language so either Swedish or English. #21 – Subject teachers can have as many hours a day as the pupils. This all depends how many subjects they are qualified to teach.

According to the Bildung Review the Finnish educational system is failing. Not testing and focusing only on cooperation seems to have failed. I hope Finland will shift in the proper educational focus.

What Finland is really doing to improve its acclaimed schools

Finland has been paid outsized attention in the education world since its students scored the highest among dozens of countries around the globe on an international test some 20 years ago.

And while it is no longer No. 1 — as the education sector was hurt in the 2008 recession, and budget cuts led to larger class sizes and fewer staff in schools — it is still regarded as one of the more successful systems in the world.

In an effort to improve, the Finnish government began taking some steps in recent years, and some of that reform has made for worldwide headlines. But as it turns out, some of that coverage just isn’t true.

A few years ago, for example, a change in curriculum sparked stories that Finland was giving up teaching traditional subjects. Nope .

You can find stories on the Internet saying Finnish kids don’t get any homework. Nope.

Even amid its difficulties, American author William Doyle, who lived there and sent his then-7-year-old son to a Finnish school, wrote in 2016 that they do a lot of things right:

What is Finland’s secret? A whole-child-centered, research-and-evidence based school system, run by highly professionalized teachers. These are global education best practices, not cultural quirks applicable only to Finland.

‘I have seen the school of tomorrow. It is here today, in Finland.’

Here is a piece looking at changes underway in Finnish schools by two people who know what is really going on. They are Pasi Sahlberg and Peter Johnson. Johnson is director of education of the Finnish city of Kokkola. Sahlberg is professor of education policy at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. He is one of the world’s leading experts on school reform and is the author of the best-selling “ Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn About Educational Change in Finland ?”

No, Finland isn’t ditching traditional school subjects. Here’s what’s really happening.

By Pasi Sahlberg and Peter Johnson

Finland has been in the spotlight of the education world since it appeared, against all odds, on the top of the rankings of an international test known as PISA , the Program for International Student Assessment, in the early 2000s. Tens of thousands visitors have traveled to the country to see how to improve their own schools. Hundreds of articles have been written to explain why Finnish education is so marvelous — or sometimes that it isn’t. Millions of tweets have been shared and read, often leading to debates about the real nature of Finland’s schools and about teaching and learning there.

We have learned a lot about why some education systems — such as Alberta, Ontario, Japan and Finland — perform better year after year than others in terms of quality and equity of student outcomes. We also understand now better why some other education systems — for example, England, Australia, the United States and Sweden — have not been able to improve their school systems regardless of politicians’ promises, large-scale reforms and truckloads of money spent on haphazard efforts to change schools during the past two decades.

Among these important lessons are:

Education systems and schools shouldn’t be managed like business corporations where tough competition, measurement-based accountability and performance-determined pay are common principles. Instead, successful education systems rely on collaboration, trust, and collegial responsibility in and between schools.
The teaching profession shouldn’t be perceived as a technical, temporary craft that anyone with a little guidance can do. Successful education systems rely on continuous professionalization of teaching and school leadership that requires advanced academic education, solid scientific and practical knowledge, and continuous on-the-job training.
The quality of education shouldn’t be judged by the level of literacy and numeracy test scores alone. Successful education systems are designed to emphasize whole-child development, equity of education outcomes, well being, and arts, music, drama and physical education as important elements of curriculum.

Besides these useful lessons about how and why education systems work as they do, there are misunderstandings, incorrect interpretations, myths and even deliberate lies about how to best improve education systems. Because Finland has been such a popular target of searching for the key to the betterment of education, there are also many stories about Finnish schools that are not true.

Part of the reason reporting and research often fail to paint bigger and more accurate picture of the actual situation is that most of the documents and resources that describe and define the Finnish education system are only available in Finnish and Swedish. Most foreign education observers and commentators are therefore unable to follow the conversations and debates taking place in the country.

For example, only very few of those who actively comment on education in Finland have ever read Finnish education law , the national core curriculum or any of thousands of curricula designed by municipalities and schools that explain and describe what schools ought to do and why.

The other reason many efforts to report about Finnish education remain incomplete — and sometimes incorrect — is that education is seen as an isolated island disconnected from other sectors and public policies. It is wrong to believe that what children learn or don’t learn in school could be explained by looking at only schools and what they do alone.

Most efforts to explain why Finland’s schools are better than others or why they do worse today than before fail to see these interdependencies in Finnish society that are essential in understanding education as an ecosystem.

Here are some of those common myths about Finnish schools.

First, in recent years there have been claims that the Finnish secret to educational greatness is that children don’t have homework.

Another commonly held belief is that Finnish authorities have decided to scrap subjects from school curriculum and replace them by interdisciplinary projects or themes.

And a more recent notion is that all schools in Finland are required to follow a national curriculum and implement the same teaching method called “phenomenon-based learning” (that is elsewhere known as “project-based learning”).

All of these are false.

In 2014, Finnish state authorities revised the national core curriculum (NCC) for basic education. The core curriculum provides a common direction and basis for renewing school education and instruction. Only a very few international commentators of Finnish school reform have read this central document. Unfortunately, not many parents in Finland are familiar with it, either. Still, many people seem to have strong opinions about the direction Finnish schools are moving — the wrong way, they say, without really understanding the roles and responsibilities of schools and teachers in their communities.

Before making any judgments about what is great or wrong in Finland, it is important to understand the fundamentals of Finnish school system. Here are some basics.

First, education providers, most districts in 311 municipalities, draw up local curricula and annual work plans on the basis of the NCC. Schools though actually take the lead in curriculum planning under the supervision of municipal authorities.

Second, the NCC is a fairly loose regulatory document in terms of what schools should teach, how they arrange their work and the desired outcomes. Schools have, therefore, a lot of flexibility and autonomy in curriculum design, and there may be significant variation in school curricula from one place to another.

Finally, because of this decentralized nature of authority in Finnish education system, schools in Finland can have different profiles and practical arrangements making the curriculum model unique in the world. It is incorrect to make any general conclusions based on what one or two schools do.

Current school reform in Finland aims at those same overall goals that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — which gives the PISA exams every three years to 15-year-olds in multiple countries — as well as governments and many students say are essential for them: to develop safe and collaborative school culture and to promote holistic approaches in teaching and learning. The NCC states that the specific aim at the school level is that children would:

understand the relationship and interdependencies between different learning contents;
be able to combine the knowledge and skills learned in different disciplines to form meaningful wholes; and
be able to apply knowledge and use it in collaborative learning settings.

All schools in Finland are required to revise their curricula according to this new framework. Some schools have taken only small steps from where they were before, while some others went on with much bolder plans. One of those is the Pontus School in Lappeenranta, a city in the eastern part of Finland.

The Pontus School is a new primary school and kindergarten for some 550 children from ages 1 to 12. It was built three years ago to support the pedagogy and spirit of the 2014 NCC. The Pontus School was in international news recently when the Finnish Broadcasting Company reported that parents have filed complaints over the “failure” of the new school.

But according to Lappeenranta education authorities, there have been only two complaints by parents, both being handled by Regional Authorities. That’s all. It is not enough to call that a failure.

What we can learn from Finland, again, is that it is important to make sure parents, children and media better understand the nature of school reforms underway.

“Some parents are not familiar with what schools are doing,” said Anu Liljestrom, superintendent of the education department in Lappeenranta. “We still have a lot of work to do to explain what, how and why teaching methods are different nowadays,” she said to a local newspaper. The Pontus School is a new school, and it decided to use the opportunity provided by new design to change pedagogy and learning.

Ultimately, it is wrong to think that reading, writing and arithmetic will disappear in Finnish classrooms.

For most of the school year, teaching in Finnish schools will continue to be based on subject-based curricula, including at the Pontus School.

What is new is that now all schools are required to design at least one week-long project for all students that is interdisciplinary and based on students’ interests. Some schools do that better more often than others, and some succeed sooner than others.

Yes, there are challenges in implementing the new ideas. We have seen many schools succeed at creating new opportunities for students to learn knowledge and skills they need in their lives.

It is too early to tell whether Finland’s current direction in education meets all expectations. What we know is that schools in Finland should take even bolder steps to meet the needs of the future as described in national goals and international strategies. Collaboration among schools, trust in teachers and visionary leadership are those building blocks that will make all that possible.

The Hechinger Report

Covering Innovation & Inequality in Education

OPINION: How Finland broke every rule — and created a top school system

William Doyle

William... More by William Doyle

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Enjoyed reading William Doyle’s piece on school education in Finland. Am independently developing a flexible, interdisciplinary, interactive, and affordable learning model for K-12 education in India that integrates concept learning, hands- on activities, and life skills. Look forward to read more on new thinking in learning and education!

> But it has identified, often by studying historical educational research and practices that originated in the United States, many fundamental childhood education insights that can inspire, and be tested and adapted by, any other nation.

Can you elaborate on this? Did Finland learn from specific research that originated from the USA or studies from the USA? If so, which ones?

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Study: Homework Matters More in Certain Countries

Homework is reinforcing the achievement gap between the rich and the poor, say authors of a new study.

Homework Matters, Depending on Your Country

Some top achieving countries, like Singapore, assign their students lots of homework. But Finland, for example, succeeds without much homework. On average, Finnish students do only about three hours of homework a week, yet in 2012 they scored sixth highest in the world in reading and 12th highest in math on the OECD’s international test, known as PISA or Programme for International Student Assessment.

But now, five years after the earlier homework study, OECD researchers have drilled down deeper into homework patterns, and they’re finding that homework does play an important role in student achievement within each country . Specifically, they found that homework hours vary by socioeconomic status. Higher income 15-year-olds tend to do more homework than lower income 15-year-olds in almost all of the 38 countries studied by the OECD*. Furthermore, the kids who are doing more homework also tend to get higher test scores. So the authors conclude that homework is reinforcing the achievement gap between the rich and the poor.

Hours of Homework 15 year olds do each week

Chart created by Jill Barshay | Hechinger Report; data from OECD

It’s not just that poor kids are more likely to skip their homework, or don’t have a quiet place at home to complete it. It’s also the case that schools serving poor kids often don’t assign as much homework as schools for the rich, especially private schools, explained Francesca Borgonovi, one of the authors of the study, titled “ Does Homework Perpetuate Inequities in Education? ”

“When you look within countries at students who are learning in the same educational system and they do more homework, then those students do much better,” said Borgonovi. “There is an advantage for putting extra hours in homework.”

A stark example of this rich-poor homework gap is in Singapore. Students in the top quarter of the socio-economic spectrum spend about 11 hours on homework a week, 3 hours more than low-income students in the bottom quarter of the socio-economic spectrum. Each extra hour of homework was associated with 18 more points on the PISA math exam. So three hours adds up to more than 50 points. That’s huge. To put that in perspective, if you added 50 points to the average U.S. math score, we’d be a top 10 nation instead of number 36.

A key factor is what Borgonovi said about “learning in the same educational system.” Some school systems are designed to rely on homework, perhaps using independent study as a substitute for what could otherwise be learned in school. “If you are prepared to change the system, that’s great,” said Borgonovi. “But until you do so, if the system is based on homework, then you should do more of it.”

“Does Homework Perpetuate Inequities in Education?” OECD

Students in Shanghai, a region in China that now leads the world in PISA test scores, do a whopping 14 hours of homework a week, on average. Wealthier students there do 16 hours. Poorer students do just under 11 hours. Interestingly, however, there was no association between the extra homework hours that the wealthier Shanghai kids put in and their PISA test scores. Perhaps that’s because there are diminishing marginal returns to homework after 11 hours of it!

Indeed, most countries around the world have been reducing the amount of homework assigned. Back in 2003, the average time spent on homework worldwide was about six hours a week. In 2012 that shrank to about five hours.

But the United States has been bucking this trend. The typical 15-year-old here does six hours a week, virtually unchanged from a decade ago and possibly rising. Wealthier students typically do eight hours of homework a week, about three hours more than low income students. But unlike in most countries, where more homework is associated with higher PISA test scores, that’s not the case here.

“For the United States, we don’t have homework reinforcing inequality,” Borgonovi said.

Another team of researchers, Ozkan Eren and Daniel J. Henderson, found mixed results for how effective homework is in the United States, in a 2011 study, “ Are we wasting our children’s time by giving them more homework? “ published in the Economics of Education Review. For math, there were huge benefits for the 25,000 eighth graders they studied. But not for English, science or history. And the math boost was much stronger for white students than for blacks. In other words, when a typical black student did more homework, his math test scores didn’t go up as much.

That’s perhaps a clue that even if you could magically get low-income children in other countries to do as much homework as their high-income peers, as the OECD researchers are suggesting, you might not raise their PISA test scores very much.

Indeed, Borgonovi isn’t really advocating for more homework. She says that high quality teachers and instruction are much more important to student outcomes than homework is. To be sure, some amount of homework is good, Borgonovi said, to teach kids how to plan ahead, set goals and work independently. But more than four hours of homework a week, she said, isn’t very beneficial.

“It would be better to redesign the system to have less homework,” said Borgonovi. “But that is hard to do.”

* The OECD looked at socio-economic status and not income exclusively. So the child of a university professor, for example, might still be in the high income category even if his parents don’t make very much money.

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Tags: education , K-12 education , students , Finland , Singapore

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What US Schools Can Learn From Finland’s Approach to Education

Four strategies for creating a positive school culture that focuses on the whole student and fosters long-term, holistic well-being.

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By Vanessa Wilkins & Emily Corrigan Nov. 6, 2019

What happens when a country decides that one of its most precious natural resources is its children? Finland’s educational system provides a clue. New scores on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test are set for release in December 2019 and will draw the attention of education leaders as a measure of which countries best educate their children. American students ranked 31st on the most recent iteration of the exam, which tests 15-year-olds around the world on multiple subjects. Finland, on the other hand, has won international acclaim since it first topped PISA’s charts in 2000. Not only did it remain there several rankings in a row, but also its students displayed remarkably low variability across schools ( 8 percent versus 30 percent OECD-wide ) and within schools. In other words, even Finland’s below-average schools still prepare students to succeed in their personal and professional lives.

How Finland has achieved these results makes it particularly relevant for US reformers. Rather than focusing efforts on new schools, programs, and technology, it has taken a sustainable approach that leverages education infrastructure and spending similar to that of the United States. In 2016, the Finnish National Education Agency reported that Finland spent the equivalent of about $10,000 per student on basic education— less than the US average and about half of what top-spending states dole out. Furthermore, Finland’s success cannot be attributed solely to societal differences. As Columbia University’s Samuel Abrams has noted , Finland’s scores have surpassed those of other Nordic countries despite similar levels of child welfare, social support, and homogeneity. Improvements within the last few decades are products of sound policy and practices.

Finland has approached education reform as a strategy to leverage the country’s scarce natural resources. As one Finn put it, “We have only our forests and our people.” Accordingly, its approach has been holistic, student-centered, and focused on teachers as the main driver of quality. It has defined education as a way to “support pupils’ growth into humanity and into ethically responsible membership of society and to provide them with knowledge and skills needed in life.” Culturally, this manifests in a focus on student well-being in all of its facets. American education reform, on the other hand, has focused on increasing standards and accountability measures ever since the 1983 Nation at Risk report identified failing schools as a primary threat to American economic dominance.

On the surface, Finnish schools don’t look very different from the traditional American model. Students, grouped by age, visit a brick-and-mortar building and learn from a teacher in a classroom for a defined period of time. Yet underlying the Finnish system are fundamental differences in policy that produce better outcomes for students. Ironically, many of these effective practices stem from American research and thought leadership, at least according to Finnish education expert Pasi Sahlberg . Finland can therefore provide a helpful blueprint to implement what we already know works within the schools we have now, while American innovators continue to experiment with new models for the future.

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In November 2018, our organization, Future School Lab , organized an expert-led tour of Finnish schools and meetings with education leaders as part of HundrED’s Education Innovation Summit . When we reflected on the experience, we came away with four main reforms any US state or school could implement to make sustainable improvements within the current system.

1. Articulate a Target Profile for Graduates That Informs Education Policy

Finnish education is based on a clearly stated vision of target abilities, rather than prescriptive, content-based curriculum. In 2016, following a co-creation process that included public input and 30 working groups, the Finnish government defined seven transversal skills and knowledge areas important to students’ success in life:

Thinking and learning to learn
Cultural competence, interaction, and self-expression
Taking care of oneself and managing daily life
Multi-literacy
Information and communications technology competence
Working life competence and entrepreneurship
Participation, involvement, and building a sustainable future

These competencies are aspirational rather than fixed benchmarks; they define a relevant vision of how all students can function in society, rather than specific content knowledge. Local municipalities and schools adapt this curriculum to their context and classrooms, and since there are no national achievement tests, the Finnish National Agency for Education can focus on effectively integrating this shared vision into curriculum and school policy, rather than on accountability.

In the United States, some schools, districts, and even a few states are beginning to reorient education toward the development of a more-holistic set of skills, similar to Finland. The Mastery Transcript Consortium , founded by a group of elite private schools with increasing public school membership, for example, is cocreating a digital transcript that reflects each student’s skills, strengths, and interests far beyond the course completion version schools use today. And to help schools looking to articulate a more-holistic vision for their graduates and engage communities in a visioning process, Transcend Education (with which the authors are affiliated) has created a database that provides research-based measures to evaluate learning outcomes for social-emotional skills like empathy and sense of purpose.

2. Recruit Talented Teachers, Train Them Well, Then Give Them Autonomy

Finland attributes its success in education to getting the right people to become teachers, developing them into effective instructors, and putting systems and supports in place to ensure that all children benefit from excellent instruction. Teacher training programs are competitive (admitting about 1 in 10 students) and rigorous. The profession is highly regarded despite average pay as compared to other OECD countries, and according to the Finnish National Agency for Education , 90 percent of teachers report being satisfied with their job.

These high marks are due in part to the trust and autonomy Finnish teachers have. Local governance elevates their voices in policymaking. School boards must, by law, include teachers alongside parents, classified staff, and students. Freed from teaching to the test, teachers can focus on project-based learning (called “phenomenon-based learning” in Finland), and other, deeper learning approaches that we know work for students but that American teachers sometimes avoid for fear of sacrificing content standards.

Finnish teachers also have more time. Because school days are shorter and teachers spend fewer hours in classroom instruction— about 55 percent of US teachers’ annual hours —they devote more time to preparing lessons, collaborating with colleagues to create engaging projects, and meeting with parents and kids.

In the United States, on the other hand, districts struggle to recruit and retain qualified teachers. Recent teacher walkouts reflect frustration over more than pay and insufficient school funding. Seventy-one percent of teachers in a 2015/2016 survey reported a lack of influence over what they teach, 50 percent said they lacked support and encouragement from administration, and 62 percent didn’t experience a great deal of cooperation among colleagues.

To develop a larger pool of qualified teachers, schools can make use of alternative pathways to certification by recruiting high-potential teachers with skills and lived experiences that are relevant to students. For example, Roosevelt High School in Portland, Oregon, recruited award-winning journalist S. Renee Mitchell through a professional track that leveraged her career experience but required college courses to learn classroom skills. Mitchell quickly became an important role model and impactful educator. She entered the school, one of Oregon’s most diverse, as its only black teacher, and created the nationally recognized I Am M.O.R.E. program to elevate the voices of students who have experienced trauma. In the longer term, policy makers need to create and fully fund career pathway programs for promising teachers from all backgrounds. Beyond recruitment, we need to invest in ongoing training and support systems, and give teachers time and autonomy to collaborate and integrate new methods and ideas.

3. Give Students Rights and Agency Over Their Own Learning

In Finland, the 1998 Basic Education Act entitles students to pre-primary education, a safe learning environment, and instruction that includes guidance counseling and learning support. In our experience, teachers and administrators routinely referenced children’s rights to explain shorter days, healthier lunches, less homework, and 15 minutes of physical activity for every 45 minutes of class. Legislation based explicitly on students’ rights not only informs practices, but also supports underlying expectations of how education should work. This model places students at the center, creating a decision-making framework that prioritizes their learning and interests over pleasing parents or reporting high test scores. It also justifies giving students more of a say in the policies that affect them. After all, who better to advocate for student interests than students themselves? As a result, students in Finland have real responsibility, including authority over parent-teacher meetings and positions on school boards, and teachers expect students to be the primary agents in their own educational journeys.

In the United States, a missing parent permission slip can exclude a child from the best field trip of the year or an important learning opportunity in class. Such policies reflect the expectation that students should receive the education given to them, rather than take a proactive role in it. Perhaps one way to engage students and encourage them to take ownership of their own education and school experience is to quite literally give them ownership. Some districts, such as Los Angeles, have already introduced ballot measures that would lower the legal voting age to 16 for school board elections. Others have given students voting positions on school boards and site councils. In Maryland, student board members have advocated for their young constituents by introducing resolutions to dismantle student ranking systems and diversify schools by redrawing boundaries. Absent legislative changes, individual schools can develop student ownership by giving students voice and choice in how they learn. The Achievement Gap Institute at Harvard University’s “ The Influence of Teaching ” provides a useful study of teaching practices that drive student agency.

4. Align Schools and Social Support Services

In Finland, education legislation guarantees free pupil welfare, meaning it integrates health care referred to in the Public Health Act, and mental and social services referred to in the Child Welfare Act. This legislation forms the basis for Student Welfare Committees comprised of principals, special education teachers, nurses, psychologists, social workers, and counselors. Committees meet regularly to discuss individual students and staff, and to create personalized support plans. These may include emotional or academic support services or intensive supplemental support, which benefits 10 percent of Finnish students. While a similar 14 percent of students receive special education services in the United States, what’s unique in Finland is the integration of health and welfare into the school day for both students and staff. School psychologists and social workers on the Welfare Committees meet with students individually and then make referrals to outside services as needed. During school, all students and staff eat free, healthy meals prepared on site, and active, outdoor play and social breaks throughout the day are the norm.

Many schools and programs in the United States, such as Communities in Schools , have already created successful local partnerships with social service providers. However, the onus is on schools to find and partner with community resources and creatively meet students’ needs. Funders and policy makers should support the coordination and development of wrap-around services to take the burden off of schools, and foster community and family engagement, which we know helps students succeed.

A Path Forward for All Kids

Educators and policy makers interested in adapting Finnish approaches to the American context must be mindful to create culturally competent learning environments that serve all children. Finnish policies are intended to promote equity by balancing socio-economic diversity across school boundaries, providing native language services to immigrants, and reducing barriers to nutritious food, health, and social services that contribute to disparities in the United States. However, student rights in Finland prevent the disaggregation of data to determine whether these inclusive measures truly do result in better outcomes for immigrants and historically underserved populations. Any effort to improve educational outcomes must include data-driven equity practices and community-led solutions.

Finally, reforms to our current system must coincide with new solutions for excellence and equity. In the United States, collaboration between public and private sectors, and a cultural emphasis on leadership and entrepreneurship have led to the creation of completely new school models in small pockets across the country. The best of these models may help determine the future of education and better prepare kids for the demands of a rapidly changing workforce. However, until we can test and scale them, they are only a drop in the ocean of the American school system. We need to simultaneously make improvements within our current system to better serve all students.

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Why Are Finland’s Schools Successful?

The country’s achievements in education have other nations, especially the United States, doing their homework

LynNell Hancock

Photographs by Stuart Conway

It 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.

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 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 competition. 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.”

There are no mandated standardized tests in Finland, apart from one exam at the end of students’ senior year in high school. There are no rankings, no comparisons or competition between students, schools or regions. Finland’s schools are publicly funded. The people in the government agencies running them, from national officials to local authorities, are educators, not business people, military leaders or career politicians. Every school has the same national goals and draws from the same pool of university-trained educators. The result is that a Finnish child has a good shot at getting the same quality education no matter whether he or she lives in a rural village or a university town. The differences between weakest and strongest students are the smallest in the world, according to the most recent survey by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). “Equality is the most important word in Finnish education. All political parties on the right and left agree on this,” said Olli Luukkainen, president of Finland’s powerful teachers union.

Ninety-three percent of Finns graduate from academic or vocational high schools, 17.5 percentage points higher than the United States, and 66 percent go on to higher education, the highest rate in the European Union. Yet Finland spends about 30 percent less per student than the United States.

Still, there is a distinct absence of chest-thumping among the famously reticent Finns. They are eager to celebrate their recent world hockey championship, but PISA scores, not so much. “We prepare children to learn how to learn, not how to take a test,” said Pasi Sahlberg, a former math and physics teacher who is now in Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture. “We are not much interested in PISA. It’s not what we are about.”

Maija Rintola stood before her chattering class of twenty-three 7- and 8-year-olds one late April day in Kirkkojarven Koulu. A tangle of multicolored threads topped her copper hair like a painted wig. The 20-year teacher was trying out her look for Vappu, the day teachers and children come to school in riotous costumes to celebrate May Day. The morning sun poured through the slate and lemon linen shades onto containers of Easter grass growing on the wooden sills. Rintola smiled and held up her open hand at a slant—her time-tested “silent giraffe,” which signaled the kids to be quiet. Little hats, coats, shoes stowed in their cubbies, the children wiggled next to their desks in their stocking feet, waiting for a turn to tell their tale from the playground. They had just returned from their regular 15 minutes of playtime outdoors between lessons. “Play is important at this age,” Rintola would later say. “We value play.”

With their wiggles unwound, the students took from their desks little bags of buttons, beans and laminated cards numbered 1 through 20. A teacher’s aide passed around yellow strips representing units of ten. At a smart board at the front of the room, Rintola ushered the class through the principles of base ten. One girl wore cat ears on her head, for no apparent reason. Another kept a stuffed mouse on her desk to remind her of home. Rintola roamed the room helping each child grasp the concepts. Those who finished early played an advanced “nut puzzle” game. After 40 minutes it was time for a hot lunch in the cathedral-like cafeteria.

Teachers in Finland spend fewer hours at school each day and spend less time in classrooms than American teachers. Teachers use the extra time to build curriculums and assess their students. Children spend far more time playing outside, even in the depths of winter. Homework is minimal. Compulsory schooling does not begin until age 7. “We have no hurry,” said Louhivuori. “Children learn better when they are ready. Why stress them out?”

It’s almost unheard of for a child to show up hungry or homeless. Finland provides three years of maternity leave and subsidized day care to parents, and preschool for all 5-year-olds, where the emphasis is on play and socializing. In addition, the state subsidizes parents, paying them around 150 euros per month for every child until he or she turns 17. Ninety-seven percent of 6-year-olds attend public preschool, where children begin some academics. Schools provide food, medical care, counseling and taxi service if needed. Student health care is free.

Even so, Rintola said her children arrived last August miles apart in reading and language levels. By April, nearly every child in the class was reading, and most were writing. Boys had been coaxed into literature with books like Kapteeni Kalsarin (“Captain Underpants”). The school’s special education teacher teamed up with Rintola to teach five children with a variety of behavioral and learning problems. The national goal for the past five years has been to mainstream all children. The only time Rintola’s children are pulled out is for Finnish as a Second Language classes, taught by a teacher with 30 years’ experience and graduate school training.

There are exceptions, though, however rare. One first-grade girl was not in Rintola’s class. The wispy 7-year-old had recently arrived from Thailand speaking not a word of Finnish. She was studying math down the hall in a special “preparing class” taught by an expert in multicultural learning. It is designed to help children keep up with their subjects while they conquer the language. Kirkkojarvi’s teachers have learned to deal with their unusually large number of immigrant students. The city of Espoo helps them out with an extra 82,000 euros a year in “positive discrimination” funds to pay for things like special resource teachers, counselors and six special needs classes.

Rintola will teach the same children next year and possibly the next five years, depending on the needs of the school. “It’s a good system. I can make strong connections with the children,” said Rintola, who was handpicked by Louhivuori 20 years ago. “I understand who they are.” Besides Finnish, math and science, the first graders take music, art, sports, religion and textile handcrafts. English begins in third grade, Swedish in fourth. By fifth grade the children have added biology, geography, history, physics and chemistry.

Not until sixth grade will kids have the option to sit for a district-wide exam, and then only if the classroom teacher agrees to participate. Most do, out of curiosity. Results are not publicized. Finnish educators have a hard time understanding the United States’ fascination with standardized tests. “Americans like all these bars and graphs and colored charts,” Louhivuori teased, as he rummaged through his closet looking for past years’ results. “Looks like we did better than average two years ago,” he said after he found the reports. “It’s nonsense. We know much more about the children than these tests can tell us.”

I had come to Kirkkojarvi to see how the Finnish approach works with students who are not stereotypically blond, blue-eyed and Lutheran. But I wondered if Kirkkojarvi’s success against the odds might be a fluke. Some of the more vocal conservative reformers in America have grown weary of the “We-Love-Finland crowd” or so-called Finnish Envy. They argue that the United States has little to learn from a country of only 5.4 million people—4 percent of them foreign born. Yet the Finns seem to be onto something. Neighboring Norway, a country of similar size, embraces education policies similar to those in the United States. It employs standardized exams and teachers without master’s degrees. And like America, Norway’s PISA scores have been stalled in the middle ranges for the better part of a decade.

To get a second sampling, I headed east from Espoo to Helsinki and a rough neighborhood called Siilitie, Finnish for “Hedgehog Road” and known for having the oldest low-income housing project in Finland. The 50-year-old boxy school building sat in a wooded area, around the corner from a subway stop flanked by gas stations and convenience stores. Half of its 200 first- through ninth-grade students have learning disabilities. All but the most severely impaired are mixed with the general education children, in keeping with Finnish policies.

A class of first graders scampered among nearby pine and birch trees, each holding a stack of the teacher’s homemade laminated “outdoor math” cards. “Find a stick as big as your foot,” one read. “Gather 50 rocks and acorns and lay them out in groups of ten,” read another. Working in teams, the 7- and 8-year-olds raced to see how quickly they could carry out their tasks. Aleksi Gustafsson, whose master’s degree is from Helsinki University, developed the exercise after attending one of the many workshops available free to teachers. “I did research on how useful this is for kids,” he said. “It’s fun for the children to work outside. They really learn with it.”

Gustafsson’s sister, Nana Germeroth, teaches a class of mostly learning-impaired children; Gustafsson’s students have no learning or behavioral issues. The two combined most of their classes this year to mix their ideas and abilities along with the children’s varying levels. “We know each other really well,” said Germeroth, who is ten years older. “I know what Aleksi is thinking.”

The school receives 47,000 euros a year in positive discrimination money to hire aides and special education teachers, who are paid slightly higher salaries than classroom teachers because of their required sixth year of university training and the demands of their jobs. There is one teacher (or assistant) in Siilitie for every seven students.

In another classroom, two special education teachers had come up with a different kind of team teaching. Last year, Kaisa Summa, a teacher with five years’ experience, was having trouble keeping a gaggle of first-grade boys under control. She had looked longingly into Paivi Kangasvieri’s quiet second-grade room next door, wondering what secrets the 25-year-veteran colleague could share. Each had students of wide-ranging abilities and special needs. Summa asked Kangasvieri if they might combine gymnastics classes in hopes good behavior might be contagious. It worked. This year, the two decided to merge for 16 hours a week. “We complement each other,” said Kangasvieri, who describes herself as a calm and firm “father” to Summa’s warm mothering. “It is cooperative teaching at its best,” she says.

Every so often, principal Arjariita Heikkinen told me, the Helsinki district tries to close the school because the surrounding area has fewer and fewer children, only to have people in the community rise up to save it. After all, nearly 100 percent of the school’s ninth graders go on to high schools. Even many of the most severely disabled will find a place in Finland’s expanded system of vocational high schools, which are attended by 43 percent of Finnish high-school students, who prepare to work in restaurants, hospitals, construction sites and offices. “We help situate them in the right high school,” said then deputy principal Anne Roselius. “We are interested in what will become of them in life.”

Finland’s schools were not always a wonder. Until the late 1960s, Finns were still emerging from the cocoon of Soviet influence. Most children left public school after six years. (The rest went to private schools, academic grammar schools or folk schools, which tended to be less rigorous.) Only the privileged or lucky got a quality education.

The landscape changed when Finland began trying to remold its bloody, fractured past into a unified future. For hundreds of years, these fiercely independent people had been wedged between two rival powers—the Swedish monarchy to the west and the Russian czar to the east. Neither Scandinavian nor Baltic, Finns were proud of their Nordic roots and a unique language only they could love (or pronounce). In 1809, Finland was ceded to Russia by the Swedes, who had ruled its people some 600 years. The czar created the Grand Duchy of Finland, a quasi-state with constitutional ties to the empire. He moved the capital from Turku, near Stockholm, to Helsinki, closer to St. Petersburg. After the czar fell to the Bolsheviks in 1917, Finland declared its independence, pitching the country into civil war. Three more wars between 1939 and 1945—two with the Soviets, one with Germany—left the country scarred by bitter divisions and a punishing debt owed to the Russians. “Still we managed to keep our freedom,” said Pasi Sahlberg, a director general in the Ministry of Education and Culture.

In 1963, the Finnish Parliament made the bold decision to choose public education as its best shot at economic recovery. “I call this the Big Dream of Finnish education,” said Sahlberg, whose upcoming book, Finnish Lessons , is scheduled for release in October. “It was simply the idea that every child would have a very good public school. If we want to be competitive, we need to educate everybody. It all came out of a need to survive."

Practically speaking—and Finns are nothing if not practical—the decision meant that goal would not be allowed to dissipate into rhetoric. Lawmakers landed on a deceptively simple plan that formed the foundation for everything to come. Public schools would be organized into one system of comprehensive schools, or peruskoulu , for ages 7 through 16. Teachers from all over the nation contributed to a national curriculum that provided guidelines, not prescriptions. Besides Finnish and Swedish (the country’s second official language), children would learn a third language (English is a favorite) usually beginning at age 9. Resources were distributed equally. As the comprehensive schools improved, so did the upper secondary schools (grades 10 through 12). The second critical decision came in 1979, when reformers required that every teacher earn a fifth-year master’s degree in theory and practice at one of eight state universities—at state expense. From then on, teachers were effectively granted equal status with doctors and lawyers. Applicants began flooding teaching programs, not because the salaries were so high but because autonomy and respect made the job attractive. In 2010, some 6,600 applicants vied for 660 primary school training slots, according to Sahlberg. By the mid-1980s, a final set of initiatives shook the classrooms free from the last vestiges of top-down regulation. Control over policies shifted to town councils. The national curriculum was distilled into broad guidelines. National math goals for grades one through nine, for example, were reduced to a neat ten pages. Sifting and sorting children into so-called ability groupings was eliminated. All children—clever or less so—were to be taught in the same classrooms, with lots of special teacher help available to make sure no child really would be left behind. The inspectorate closed its doors in the early ’90s, turning accountability and inspection over to teachers and principals. “We have our own motivation to succeed because we love the work,” said Louhivuori. “Our incentives come from inside.”

To be sure, it was only in the past decade that Finland’s international science scores rose. In fact, the country’s earliest efforts could be called somewhat Stalinistic. The first national curriculum, developed in the early ’70s, weighed in at 700 stultifying pages. Timo Heikkinen, who began teaching in Finland’s public schools in 1980 and is now principal of Kallahti Comprehensive School in eastern Helsinki, remembers when most of his high-school teachers sat at their desks dictating to the open notebooks of compliant children.

And there are still challenges. Finland’s crippling financial collapse in the early ’90s brought fresh economic challenges to this “confident and assertive Eurostate,” as David Kirby calls it in A Concise History of Finland . At the same time, immigrants poured into the country, clustering in low-income housing projects and placing added strain on schools. A recent report by the Academy of Finland warned that some schools in the country’s large cities were becoming more skewed by race and class as affluent, white Finns choose schools with fewer poor, immigrant populations.

A few years ago, Kallahti principal Timo Heikkinen began noticing that, increasingly, affluent Finnish parents, perhaps worried about the rising number of Somali children at Kallahti, began sending their children to one of two other schools nearby. In response, Heikkinen and his teachers designed new environmental science courses that take advantage of the school’s proximity to the forest. And a new biology lab with 3-D technology allows older students to observe blood flowing inside the human body.

It has yet to catch on, Heikkinen admits. Then he added: “But we are always looking for ways to improve.”

In other words, whatever it takes.

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LynNell Hancock writes about education and teaches at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

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Stuart Conway is a photographer based in southeast England.

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No Tests, No Homework! Here's How Finland Has Emerged As A Global Example Of Quality, Inclusive Education

Others/world, 15 may 2022 3:40 am gmt, editor : shiva chaudhary | .

Shiva Chaudhary

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A post-graduate in Journalism and Mass Communication with relevant skills, specialising in content editing & writing. I believe in the precise dissemination of information based on facts to the public.

Creatives : Shiva Chaudhary

Student-oriented approach to education in finland has been recognised as the most well-developed educational system in the world and ranks third in education worldwide..

"A quality education grants us the ability to fight the war on ignorance and poverty," - Charles Rangel

The uniqueness of the Finnish education model is encapsulated in its values of neither giving homework to students every day nor conducting regular tests and exams. Instead, it is listening to what the kids want and treating them as independent thinkers of society.

In Finland, the aim is to let students be happy and respect themselves and others.

Goodbye Standardised Exams

There is absolutely no program of nationwide standard testing, such as in India or the U.S, where those exams are the decisive points of one's admission to higher education like Board Examinations or Common Entrance Tests.

In an event organised by Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat remarked, "It is because they teach their children to face life struggles and not score in an examination," reported The Print .

Students in Finland are graded based on individual performance and evaluation criteria decided by their teachers themselves. Overall progress is tracked by their government's Ministry of Education, where they sample groups of students across schools in Finland.

Value-Based Education

They are primarily focused on making school a safe and equal space as children learn from the environment.

All Finland schools have offered since the 1980s free school meals, access to healthcare, a focus on mental health through psychological counselling for everyone and guidance sessions for each student to understand their wants and needs.

Education in Finland is not about marks or ranks but about creating an atmosphere of social equality, harmony and happiness for the students to ease learning experiences.

Most of the students spend half an hour at home after school to work on their studies. They mostly get everything done in the duration of the school timings as they only have a few classes every day. They are given several 15 -20 minutes breaks to eat, do recreational activities, relax, and do other work. There is no regiment in school or a rigid timetable, thus, causing less stress as given in the World Economic Forum .

Everyone Is Equal - Cooperate, Not Compete

The schools do not put pressure on ranking students, schools, or competitions, and they believe that a real winner doesn't compete; they help others come up to their level to make everyone on par.

Even though individualism is promoted during evaluation based on every student's needs, collectivity and fostering cooperation among students and teachers are deemed crucial.

While most schools worldwide believe in Charles Darwin's survival of the fittest, Finland follows the opposite but still comes out at the top.

Student-Oriented Model

The school teachers believe in a simple thumb rule; students are children who need to be happy when they attend school to learn and give their best. Focus is put upon teaching students to be critical thinkers of what they know, engage in society, and decide for themselves what they want.

In various schools, playgrounds are created by children's input as the architect talks to the children about what they want or what they feel like playing before setting up the playground.

Compared To The Indian Education Model

Firstly, Finnish children enrol in schools at the age of six rather than in India, where the school age is usually three or four years old. Their childhood is free from constricting education or forced work, and they are given free rein over how they socialise and participate in society.

Secondly, all schools in Finland are free of tuition fees as there are no private schools. Thus, education is not treated as a business. Even tuition outside schools is not allowed or needed, leaving no scope for commodifying education, unlike in India, where multiple coaching centres and private schools require exorbitant fees.

Thirdly, the school hours in Finland do not start early morning at 6 am, or 7 am as done in India. Finland schools begin from 9.30 am as research in World Economic Forum has indicated that schools starting at an early age is detrimental to their health and maturation. The school ends by mostly 2 pm.

Lastly, there is no homework or surprise test given to students in Finland. Teachers believe that the time wasted on assignments can be used to perform hobbies, art, sports, or cooking. This can teach life lessons and have a therapeutic stress-relieving effect on children. Indian schools tend to give a lot of homework to prove their commitment to studying and constantly revise what they learn in school.

Delhi Govt's Focus On Education

The Delhi model of education transformed under the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) tenure in the capital. In line with the Finnish model, Delhi government schools have adopted 'Happiness Classes' to ensure students' mental wellness through courses on mindfulness, problem-solving, social and emotional relationships, etc., from 1st to 8th classes.

Delhi government also introduced 'Entrepreneurial Mindset Classes' in 2019 to instil business and critical thinking skills among students of 9th to 12th classes. The practical approach in this class is indicated in the 'Business Blasters', a competition started by the Delhi government to encourage students to come up with start-up ideas and students were provided with ₹1000. Approximately 51,000 students participated in the first edition of the competition, according to Citizen Matters .

Through these endeavours, India is steadily investing in creating human resources that can get employment and generate employment for themselves.

India is at its demographic dividend stage; more than half of its population is within the working-age group of 14 to 60 years. Education is an essential factor in utilising this considerable advantage to grow economically and socially. Finland's education model is how India can strive closer to its goal and progress as a nation.

Also Read: Connaissance! Delhi Board of School Education Pens MoU To Add French In Government Schools

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20+ Cool Things to Know about the Finnish Education System

Finland’s education system fascinates most people interested in the best approaches to learning. Our schools are known for high-quality teaching and inclusive learning environments and aim to offer each student the same opportunities to succeed, whatever their background.

In this article, I will explore some of the features that have set the Finnish education system apart and what is so cool about it that people worldwide want to study it.

Table of Contents

What makes Finland’s education system successful?

What is the finnish approach to early childhood education, what is the finnish approach to education in comprehensive school, how long is the school day in finland, what is the typical school day like in finland, do finnish students really have little to no homework, what is the role of standardized testing in finnish education, how are students assessed in finland’s education system, what subjects are taught in finnish schools, what are the differences between finnish and american education systems, how do finnish schools accommodate students with special needs, is education free in finland, how are finnish schools funded, how much do finnish teachers get paid, teacher training in finland, what is the dropout rate in finland’s education system, what is the literacy rate in finland, why is finland’s education system considered one of the best in the world.

The idea that Finland’s education system outperforms many others in the world comes from excellent outcomes like success in the international PISA test.

In previous years, Finnish pupils and students have done remarkably well in these tests despite the lack of standardized testing in Finnish schools. At the same time, they enjoy more freedom and less homework than many of their counterparts.

This has been a subject of a lot of debate. Is the success because of well-trained and motivated teachers who are valued? Is it because of the national curriculum?

According to the World Economic Forum, Finland’s education system is the best in the world , at least partly because of

No standardized testing
Teacher training and requirements
Making the basics a priority
Starting age

You can dive deep into the topic as there are a number of books available and countless expert opinions you can explore. But these things are something most Finns can agree are good about the Finnish system.

One of the things many Finns remember from their early school years and kindergarten is playing outside.

Serious school work starts relatively late in Finland, and early childhood education (ECEC) focuses on the right to play, learn, and participate.

Children usually start their first school year at the age 7. They then continue to attend comprehensive school between the ages 7-16 through classes 1-9.

All municipalities in Finland offer preschool education, which consists of at least 700 hours of learning skills in creativity, language, and other areas that will help at school. There are no specific subjects or tests but different competence areas. 4 hours of preschool education a day is provided for free at kindergartens for every 5- and 6-year-old.

Learning at this level differs greatly from countries where school starts at ages 4-5. For example, in the UK, 6-year-olds take part in national curriculum assessments, while Finnish children don’t generally take part in national tests during comprehensive school.

In Finland, all children must receive comprehensive education, and this consists of years 1 to 9 of comprehensive school.

Recent changes now require students to also attend school until they either complete their secondary education like upper secondary school or vocational training in a vocational college, or turn 18, which ever comes first.

The vast majority of schools in Finland, including around 80 private schools, follow the national core curriculum. Pupils attend a local school in their assigned catchment area, and “school shopping” is harder and less common than in some other countries.

The purpose of basic education is “to enable pupils to evolve into humane and ethically responsible members of society as well as to provide them with the knowledge and skills needed in life”, according to the ministry of education and culture . Comprehensive school covers a total of 20 subjects, and learning some languages is also compulsory.

How does Finland’s education system compare to other countries?

In general, the Finnish education system stands out because of

Master’s level teacher training
More chances to play and take breaks
Shorter school days and less homework
No fees, free meals and free books

There are also downsides. Since students learn in the same groups regardless of being talented in a subject, some find there are no opportunities to make fast progress. It is often possible to attend a weighted-curriculum education emphasizing languages, maths, music, or arts, for example.

The same goes for children requiring more time or attention to help them learn. In many cases where the child has special needs, they can get a personal assistant.

The maximum length of a Finnish school day is determined by grade. For 1st and 2nd grade, when the children are 7 and 8 years old, they can have a maximum of five hours of school a day. From there on, the maximum is 7 hours a day, with a little extra allowed if they attend a class that follows a weighted curriculum.

There are also guidelines for the minimum amount of teaching each student has the right to receive weekly.

Each lesson consists of around 45 minutes of teaching. There are breaks between learning, but they can have different lengths. 15-minutes between lessons is common, and the lunch break is at least 30 minutes long.

For your 15-minute break, you always head outdoors – unless it’s -15 degrees Celsius or colder. I have fond memories throughout the primary school of how fun the breaks were. Playing outdoor games or soccer until the bell rang.

A typical school day usually starts sometime between 8 am and 9 am. After some lessons and a few short breaks, a free lunch is served, usually between 11 and 12. Lunch breaks are usually long enough for the children to play outside after lunch.

Lessons continue into the afternoon before it’s time to go home. Cities provide after-school activities for young pupils.

If you live far away from your school, the school provides you with free bus or group taxi rides that take you closer to home.

Despite what you might have heard, Finnish pupils get homework.

It may be a little less than in some countries, with some studies citing an average of 30 minutes of homework a day. Since the days are relatively short, there is plenty of time to get it done before hobbies and play.

Finnish students usually take their first standardized test, the matriculation examination, at 18 and only if they attended an upper secondary school and in their chosen topics.

Together with subject-specific entrance examinations, the results from this examination are used to apply to study a University degree.

That doesn’t mean that pupils have no tests, though.

Since the schools follow the national core curriculum, students have regular tests and exams based on learning goals.

Students get grades on each subject they study based on their performance throughout the year from 4th grade onward. For the youngest pupils, the teacher usually writes notes on how they did at regular intervals.

At the end of year 9, students get a final grade for each subject they studied. These grades are used to apply to upper secondary schools and vocational training.

All pupils in Finland study

Finnish or Swedish (mother tongue and literature)
The other national language (Swedish or Finnish)
At least one other foreign language
Environmental studies
Health education and physical education
Religion or ethics, history, and social studies
Mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, and geography
Music, visual arts, crafts, and home economics

These differences are often mentioned about Finland:

Finns start school at age 7
Less homework and shorter school days
Goal of testing is to see if the child needs help with learning, not comparisons
No great differences between schools
Schools are publicly funded and free to attend
Schools follow the national core curriculum
Books and free lunch provided

Some other differences that might be interesting include that teacher requirements in the US vary from state to state. In contrast, Finnish teachers need a specific Master’s degree and most people value the profession. Only 34% of US teachers feel the general public values their profession.

How does Finland’s education system promote equity and equality?

Finland’s education system is based on the idea that everyone should be able to have a basic level of skills and learning regardless of their background.

That’s why schools are publicly funded, and students get books, free school meals, and, in some cases, even devices they might need for their studies. Finnish schools don’t have school uniforms.

There are guidelines for what the schools and cities need to provide to help children with special needs, but each case is assessed based on the circumstances. The aim is to provide support while the child attends normal classes. Different levels of support can be arranged depending on what the situation calls for.

Primary education is free in Finland. Higher education is also free, but students have to do well in the matriculation examination and often take an entrance examination to be accepted to study for a degree. Students from outside the EU have to pay fees for higher education programmes.

Finnish schools are publicly funded through the government, municipalities, and the European Union (mostly higher education).

What is the role of teachers in Finland’s education system?

Finnish teachers are valued professionals with Master’s degrees and meet the requirements to teach their subjects. The degree focuses on skills for independent problem-solving.

Teachers design the classes they teach according to the national core curriculum. Their role is to support and advance the development, learning, and skills of children and young people.

The average salary of a teacher in Finland ranges from 3680 to 4090 € depending on what grades they teach. The number of years they have worked affects how much they are paid, and 10% make 2990 € or less a month.

Most teachers in Finland have long paid vacation times: 14 weeks annually.

There are two routes to becoming a teacher in Finland. You can start studying the subject matter at University and add pedagogical studies to become qualified to teach that specific subject or you can apply directly to study to become a subject teacher.

The same Master’s level education is required to become a classroom teacher for a comprehensive school. To teach at the preschool level, teachers must have a bachelor’s degree in educational science.

Finland’s education system became well known after success in the PISA surveys from 2000 onward. While the results have declined since then – some say partly due to challenges like digitalization which takes some time to adapt to – there are still many positive outcomes worth pointing out.

For comprehensive school, the number is below 1% compared to 25% in the US.

Finland’s literacy rate has been 100% for over 15-year-olds. Finland has also been ranked as the most literate nation in the world.

Do you have more questions about Finland’s education system? I will answer them in the comments!

Here are some other facts about Finland that you might find interesting:

Finnish Culture: Discovering Everything You Need to Know

50 Cool Things Finland is Known for

Moving to Finland: Living in the 20 Largest Cities

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About Varpu I’m the founder of Her Finland. I love cultural tidbits, aha moments, Finnish folklore, and cinnamon buns. My newest interest is learning bird songs. Read more about me..

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Saturday 15th of July 2023

Congratulations, Varpu! I'm excited for you, and I know your students will be lucky to have you as a teacher. It makes sense that the frequent and lengthy breaks outside would be conducive to learning - our brains need relaxation time in order to really absorb new information. Sadly, here in the U.S., our students don't get as many or as lengthy breaks, especially in areas where principals/administrators are afraid long breaks might give students time to start fights or misbehaving. I think our students' brains might be a little stressed out.

I'm a science teacher myself, having taught science in elementary school, middle school, and high school (biology), and I have a master's degree. I was wondering whether my degree would transfer over there. However, I am more interested in teaching younger kids these days, and I'm working on my multiple subject credential, as well as taking early childhood education (ECE) classes. Do you think the Finnish government would accept this kind of training from the U.S.? I would love to know your opinion!

Wednesday 12th of July 2023

I know several Finnish teachers and every one one of them were of good reputation and wanted the best for their students.Here in the United states,many states have looked at the Finnish school model,but I can bet the teachers union would not go along with it.

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Finland has one of the best education systems in the world — here are 4 things it does better than the US

Finland is an innovative country when it comes to education, and its innovation yields results.

It's consistently one of the highest performing developed countries on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an important tool for measuring education systems worldwide.

While Finland's ranking dropped to 12 in the most recent PISA ranking, it's still a lot higher than the US ranking of 36.

Here are some things Finland does differently — and arguably better — than the US when it comes to education:

1. Better standardized tests

Finnish students only take one standardized test during their entire primary and secondary schooling.

Karen Magee, the president of the largest teachers union in New York, went so far as to urge parents to boycott standardized tests recently.

Here are some typical questions, according to Sahlberg:

"In what sense are happiness, good life and well-being ethical concepts?"

2. More time for play

Finns place a lot of value on free time and play. By law, teachers must give students a 15-minute break for every 45 minutes of instruction.

It's a different story in the US where kids typically get less than half an hour of recess every day .

This "deficit of play" for US students may lead to additional anxiety and other mental health issues, the psychologist and research professor Peter Gray has written.

3. College is free

This contrasts greatly with the US, where the average student loan debt now approaches $30,000, according to the Institute for College Access and Success's 2014 report.

4. Elevated teaching profession

In Finland, teaching is one of the most revered professions with a relatively high barrier to entry.

Only one in 10 students who apply to teacher education programs are admitted, according to the Center on International Education Benchmarkin g (CIEB) .

Teachers in Finland are treated like professors at universities, and they teach fewer hours during the day than US teachers, with more time devoted to lesson planning.

They also get paid slightly more in Finland. The average teacher in the US makes about $41,000 a year, compared to $43,000 in Finland, according to OECD data .

And while teachers in the US make less money than many other countries, the OECD found that they work the longest hours of all.

It's easy to understand why America's teachers — who are overworked and get relatively little respect — might not be as effective as teachers in Finland.

Watch: McDonald's just introduced the US to its most popular international menu items. Here are the ones you should order and avoid.

Main content

Education in Finland: Unique Features Behind the Success

Education in Finland has long been celebrated for its uniqueness and success. Finland consistently ranks high on international assessments such as PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) , garnering attention for its distinctive approach. What sets this system apart, and how does it provide quality education accessible to all? Why are schools in Finland so successful? Let’s delve into the key features that distinguish Finnish education!

The Finnish School Journey

The Finnish education journey begins with an emphasis on holistic development. Children enter daycare or preschool, where, alongside learning essential life skills, they engage in play and outdoor activities. This early focus on communication and cooperation lays the foundation for a well-rounded education. Preschools, funded by tax money, are not only affordable but also contribute significantly to the development of social and cognitive skills.

As students progress, typically at age 6, they enter a mandatory year of pre-primary education. There they continue to build fundamental skills such as alphabets while maintaining a healthy balance of play. This approach ensures that the students retain the joy of learning, setting a positive tone for the years to come.

The subsequent stage involves nine years of comprehensive school, after which students can choose between upper secondary school or vocational training. After the students complete this stage or reach the age of 18, further education is optional. Still, higher education, including universities or polytechnics, remains mostly free of charge. For more information about the school system, check out infoFinland , for example!

A Balanced Approach to Learning

Finnish students enjoy school days that are notably shorter than those in many other countries. Rather than adhering to lengthy hours of instruction, the Finnish system places value on quality over quantity. The reasoning behind shorter school days lies in recognizing the importance of maintaining a healthy balance between academic pursuits and other experiences that contribute to a comprehensive education. Students in Finland have the time and freedom to engage in extracurricular activities, pursue personal interests, and simply relax. This intentional focus on a balanced lifestyle acknowledges that education extends beyond the classroom, encompassing the development of social skills, creativity, and personal passions.

In tandem with shorter school days, Finnish students experience minimal homework requirements. The Finnish system recognizes that overloading students with homework may lead to stress, fatigue, and diminished enthusiasm for learning. Instead, the emphasis is on meaningful, purposeful assignments that reinforce key concepts and allow students to apply their knowledge independently.

The impact of shorter school days and minimal homework affects the behavior of Finnish students. The approach for the education is more curious and enthusiastic, unburdened by excessive academic demands. This freedom allows for the cultivation of creativity, critical thinking, and a genuine passion for learning. The holistic approach to education prepares students not only for academic success but also for the challenges and opportunities that life beyond the classroom presents.

Due to the shorter school days, the “iltapäiväkerho” (afternoon club) plays a pivotal role in the educational landscape. Specifically designed for the youngest students, schools offer these after-school programs to provide a structured environment during the afternoon hours. In addition to school-based options, various external providers, including the church, extend iltapäiväkerho services. These programs are designed to foster a supportive and engaging atmosphere, offering activities that blend learning with leisure. This arrangement not only accommodates parents who work in the afternoon but also ensures that families have diverse options. Children benefit from a safe and enjoyable environment where they can spend time with friends until their parents are available to pick them up.

The Role of Teachers

Central to the education in Finland is the role of teachers. The teaching profession is valued and sought after. Educators in Finland undergo extensive training, most holding master’s degrees. This commitment to teacher education is reflected in the autonomy granted to teachers in the classroom. Within broad federal and municipal guidelines, teachers have the freedom to tailor their methods and curriculum to suit the needs of their students. This autonomy fosters creativity, innovation, and a personalized approach to learning. The relationships between teachers and students are further informal, making learning easier and more pleasant. Most often teachers and students address each other on a first name basis.

Unlike many education systems worldwide, Finland places minimal emphasis on standardized testing. Instead, teachers are primarily responsible for assessing and evaluating students’ performance. This reduces stress and promotes a more holistic understanding of student progress. Only once students reach the end of their upper secondary studies do they partake in a nationwide standardized test. The so called Ylioppilaskirjoitukset in Finnish.

Equality for All

One of the hallmarks of the Finnish education system is its commitment to equality. Education is a right and responsibility for everyone, provided free of charge. Special support is available for those in need, ensuring that all students have an equal opportunity to succeed. Even meals at school are provided free of charge.

In line with the modern era, technology plays a crucial role in education in Finland. Integrated thoughtfully, technology supports learning without overshadowing traditional teaching methods. This balanced approach ensures that students are well-equipped for the demands of the digital age. School supplies are provided to the students, guaranteeing equal opportunities for learning to everyone. This means books, computer, and other materials needed for studies are provided completely free of charge to all students.

The Finnish education system is successful because of its unique combination of shorter school days, minimal homework, teacher autonomy, and equality. By focusing on holistic development, fostering strong teacher-student relationships, and maintaining a commitment to equal opportunities, Finland has created a model that continues to inspire educators worldwide.

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Education in Finland - statistics & facts

Basic education, upper secondary education, higher education, key insights.

Detailed statistics

Expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP in Finland 2000-2021

Expenditure on education system in Finland 2000-2021

Number of students in educational institutions in Finland 2023, by institution

Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Current statistics on this topic.

Educational Institutions & Market

Student well-being in primary and secondary education in Finland 2023

Number of completed university degrees in Finland in 2022, by gender and university

Recommended statistics

Basic Statistic Number of educational institutions 2023, by type of institution
Basic Statistic Number of students in educational institutions in Finland 2023, by institution
Basic Statistic Population with educational qualification in Finland 2022, by level of education
Basic Statistic Population with educational qualification in Finland 2022, by education field
Basic Statistic Expenditure on education system in Finland 2000-2021
Basic Statistic Expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP in Finland 2000-2021
Basic Statistic Expenditure on education system in Finland 2021

Number of educational institutions 2023, by type of institution

Number of educational institutions in Finland in 2023, by type of institution

Number of students in educational institutions in Finland in 2023, by type of institution

Population with educational qualification in Finland 2022, by level of education

Number of people with educational qualification in Finland in 2022, by level of education (in 1,000s)

Population with educational qualification in Finland 2022, by education field

Number of people with educational qualification in Finland in 2022, by field of education (in 1,000s)

Expenditure on education system in Finland in selected years from 2000 to 2021 (in million euros)

Expenditure on education system as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) in Finland in selected years from 2000 to 2021

Expenditure on education system in Finland 2021

Expenditure on education system in Finland in 2021, by type of education (in million euros)

Basic Statistic Number of comprehensive schools in Finland 2012-2022
Basic Statistic Number of pupils in comprehensive schools in Finland 2022, by type of school
Basic Statistic Number of pupils in comprehensive schools in Finland 2023, by region
Basic Statistic Expenditure on primary education per pupil in Finland 2011-2021
Basic Statistic PISA student performance in Finland 2000-2018, by subject and score
Basic Statistic PISA student performance in Finland 2018, by subject and gender

Number of comprehensive schools in Finland 2012-2022

Number of comprehensive schools in Finland from 2012 to 2022

Number of pupils in comprehensive schools in Finland 2022, by type of school

Number of pupils in comprehensive schools in Finland in 2022, by type of school

Number of pupils in comprehensive schools in Finland 2023, by region

Number of pupils in comprehensive schools in Finland in 2023, by region

Expenditure on primary education per pupil in Finland 2011-2021

Expenditure on comprehensive school education per pupil in Finland from 2011 to 2021 (in euros)

PISA student performance in Finland 2000-2018, by subject and score

PISA student performance in Finland from 2000 to 2018, by subject and score

PISA student performance in Finland 2018, by subject and gender

PISA student performance in Finland in 2018, by subject and gender

Basic Statistic Number of upper secondary schools in Finland 2012-2022
Basic Statistic Number of upper secondary schools in Finland 2022, by type of school
Basic Statistic Number of students in upper secondary general education in Finland 2011-2021
Basic Statistic Number of students in vocational education in Finland 2011-2021
Basic Statistic Number of students in vocational education in Finland 2021, by field of education
Basic Statistic Expenditure on upper secondary education per student in Finland 2011-2021

Number of upper secondary schools in Finland 2012-2022

Number of upper secondary schools in Finland in from 2012 to 2022

Number of upper secondary schools in Finland 2022, by type of school

Number of upper secondary schools in Finland in 2022, by type of school

Number of students in upper secondary general education in Finland 2011-2021

Number of students in upper secondary general education in Finland from 2011 to 2021

Number of students in vocational education in Finland 2011-2021

Number of students in vocational upper secondary education and training in Finland from 2011 to 2021

Number of students in vocational education in Finland 2021, by field of education

Number of students in vocational upper secondary education and training in Finland from in 2021, by field of education

Expenditure on upper secondary education per student in Finland 2011-2021

Expenditure on upper secondary school education per student in Finland from 2011 to 2021, by type of education (in euros)

Basic Statistic Number of registered university students in Finland 2012-2022
Basic Statistic Number of university students in Finland 2022, by university
Basic Statistic Number of new university students in Finland 2022, by university
Basic Statistic Number of completed university degrees in Finland 2022, by university
Basic Statistic Number of completed university degrees in Finland in 2022, by gender and university
Basic Statistic Number of students and graduates in polytechnic universities in Finland 2022
Basic Statistic Number of students in polytechnic universities in Finland 2022, by gender and field
Basic Statistic Number of admitted students to universities of applied sciences in Finland 2022
Basic Statistic Number of university of applied science graduates in Finland 2022, by education field

Number of registered university students in Finland 2012-2022

Total number of students registered at university in Finland from 2012 to 2022

Number of university students in Finland 2022, by university

Number of students registered at university in Finland in 2022, by university

Number of new university students in Finland 2022, by university

Number of new students registered at university in Finland for the academic year 2022, by university

Number of completed university degrees in Finland 2022, by university

Number of completed university qualifications and degrees in Finland in 2022, by university

Number of completed qualifications and degrees at universities in Finland for the academic year 2022, by gender

Number of students and graduates in polytechnic universities in Finland 2022

Number of students and graduates in universities of applied sciences in Finland in 2022, by gender

Number of students in polytechnic universities in Finland 2022, by gender and field

Number of students in universities of applied sciences in Finland in 2022, by gender and field of education

Number of admitted students to universities of applied sciences in Finland 2022

Number of admitted students to universities of applied sciences in Finland in 2022, by institution

Number of university of applied science graduates in Finland 2022, by education field

Number of completed degrees and qualifications at universities of applied sciences in Finland in 2022, by field of education

Premium Statistic Student well-being in primary and secondary education in Finland 2023
Premium Statistic Share of comprehensive school pupils who have been bullied in Finland 2023
Premium Statistic Share of students who have been bullied in upper secondary education in Finland 2023
Premium Statistic Share of students in upper secondary education feeling lonely in Finland 2021

Well-being of students in primary and secondary education in Finland in 2023

Share of comprehensive school pupils who have been bullied in Finland 2023

Share of pupils who have been bullied at comprehensive school in Finland in 2023, by frequency

Share of students who have been bullied in upper secondary education in Finland 2023

Share of students who have been bullied at general upper secondary and vocational schools in Finland in 2023, by frequency

Share of students in upper secondary education feeling lonely in Finland 2021

Share of students in upper secondary education who feel lonely in Finland in 2021, by gender

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A Day in the Life of a Finnish Student: Embracing Education and Well-being

July 19, 2023

Finland, often hailed for its exemplary education system, is known for its commitment to providing quality education to its students. With a focus on fostering holistic development and nurturing a love for learning, Finnish students experience a unique educational journey. In this blog, we will take a glimpse into a typical day in the life of a Finnish student, exploring the Finnish education system routine, emphasis on well-being, and the values that underpin their educational experience.

Morning Routine:

The day begins with a Finnish student waking up early, ensuring they get enough rest for the day ahead. With an emphasis on balance and well-being, they engage in activities like meditation, light exercise, or perhaps a nutritious breakfast before heading to school. This ritual sets the tone for the day, promoting mindfulness and preparing them for a day of learning.

Comprehensive Curriculum:

Finnish students benefit from a comprehensive and inclusive curriculum that encourages a love for learning. The national curriculum framework provides a strong foundation in core subjects such as mathematics, science, languages, and social studies. However, it also allows flexibility for students to pursue their interests through optional subjects, promoting a well-rounded education.

Active Learning Environment:

Finnish classrooms are characterized by a student-centered and collaborative approach to learning. Rather than traditional teacher-led lectures, students actively participate in discussions, problem-solving activities, and hands-on projects. This fosters critical thinking, creativity, and teamwork skills, preparing students for real-world challenges.

Shorter School Days:

One noteworthy aspect of the Finnish education system is the shorter school days. Students typically spend fewer hours in school compared to many other countries, allowing them to maintain a healthy work-life balance. The idea behind this is to prioritize quality over quantity, recognizing that effective learning does not solely depend on the number of hours spent in the classroom.

Recess and Outdoor Activities:

During the school day, Finnish students enjoy regular breaks and recess periods. These breaks provide opportunities for socializing, physical activity, and play. Outdoor activities are highly encouraged, even during colder months, as they believe in the restorative power of nature and the benefits it brings to overall well-being.

Nutritious School Lunches:

Finnish schools place great importance on providing students with nutritious meals. Students are offered healthy, balanced, and free or low-cost school lunches, ensuring they have the energy and nourishment required for optimal learning. This practice promotes healthy eating habits, reduces inequalities, and fosters a sense of community as students dine together.

Emphasis on Well-being:

In Finland, the well-being of students is paramount. Schools prioritize creating a positive and supportive environment where students feel safe, respected, and valued. Teachers play a vital role in monitoring students’ emotional well-being and providing guidance when needed. School counselors are also readily available to address any concerns students may have.

Outdoor Education and Nature Immersion:

Nature plays a significant role in Finnish education. Students often engage in outdoor education activities, exploring forests, lakes, and other natural landscapes. This not only enhances their knowledge of the environment but also promotes well-being, creativity, and a sense of connection with the natural world.

Independent Study:

After school, Finnish students have the opportunity for independent study. Rather than overwhelming them with excessive homework, the focus is on self-regulated learning. Students are encouraged to manage their time effectively, set goals, and take responsibility for their own learning. This approach cultivates a sense of autonomy and instills lifelong learning skills.

Extracurricular Activities:

Finnish students are encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities that cater to their diverse interests. Whether it’s sports, music, arts, or clubs, these activities provide avenues for students to explore their passions, develop talents, and foster social connections beyond the classroom. These pursuits contribute to a well-rounded education and help in the development of various skills.

Conclusion:

A day in the life of a Finnish student encompasses a harmonious blend of rigorous education, well-being, and holistic development. The Finnish education system emphasizes individual growth, critical thinking, creativity, and the overall well-being of students. By fostering a positive learning environment, promoting an active lifestyle, and valuing each student’s uniqueness, Finland has set an inspiring example for educational systems worldwide. The Finnish approach reminds us that education goes beyond academic achievement, striving to nurture well-rounded individuals who are prepared to face the challenges of the future with confidence and resilience.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Finnish education system or exploring educational opportunities in Finland, consider visiting the Finland Education Hub. The Finland Education Hub provides a comprehensive resource for understanding and engaging with Finland’s education system, offering insights, research, and information about studying in Finland. Whether you’re a student, parent, or educator, the Finland Education Hub can be a valuable platform to discover the innovative approaches and educational opportunities that Finland has to offer.

average time spent on homework in finland

Countries Who Spend the Most Time Doing Homework

Homework levels across the world vary greatly by country.

Homework is an important aspect of the education system and is often dreaded by the majority of students all over the world. Although many teachers and educational scholars believe homework improves education performance, many critics and students disagree and believe there is no correlation between homework and improving test scores.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental organization. With headquarters in Paris, the organization was formed for the purpose of stimulating global trade and economic progress among member states. In 2009, the OECD conducted a detailed study to establish the number of hours allocated for doing homework by students around the world and conducted the research in 38 member countries. The test subjects for the study were 15 year old high school students in countries that used PISA exams in their education systems. The results showed that in Shanghai, China the students had the highest number of hours of homework with 13.8 hours per week. Russia followed, where students had an average of 9.7 hours of homework per week. Finland had the least amount of homework hours with 2.8 hours per week, followed closely by South Korea with 2.9 hours. Among all the countries tested, the average homework time was 4.9 hours per week.

Interpretation of the data

Although students from Finland spent the least amount of hours on their homework per week, they performed relatively well on tests which discredits the notion of correlation between the number of hours spent on homework with exam performance. Shanghai teenagers who spent the highest number of hours doing their homework also produced excellent performances in the school tests, while students from some regions such as Macao, Japan, and Singapore increased the score by 17 points per additional hour of homework. The data showed a close relation between the economic backgrounds of students and the number of hours they invested in their homework. Students from affluent backgrounds spent fewer hours doing homework when compared to their less privileged counterparts, most likely due to access to private tutors and homeschooling. In some countries such as Singapore, students from wealthy families invested more time doing their homework than less privileged students and received better results in exams.

Decline in number of hours

Subsequent studies conducted by the OECD in 2012 showed a decrease in the average number hours per week spent by students. Slovakia displayed a drop of four hours per week while Russia declined three hours per week. A few countries including the United States showed no change. The dramatic decline of hours spent doing homework has been attributed to teenager’s increased use of the internet and social media platforms.

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average time spent on homework in finland

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Stay up to date:, social innovation.

Finland is an innovative country when it comes to education, and its innovation yields results.

It's consistently one of the highest performing developed countries on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an important tool for measuring education systems worldwide.

While Finland's ranking dropped to 12 in the most recent PISA ranking, it's still a lot higher than the US ranking of 36.

Here are some things Finland does differently — and arguably better — than the US when it comes to education:

1. Better standardized tests

Finnish students only take one standardized test during their entire primary and secondary schooling.

Karen Magee, the president of the largest teachers union in New York, went so far as to urge parents to boycott standardized tests recently.

Here are some typical questions, according to Sahlberg:

"In what sense are happiness, good life and well-being ethical concepts?"

2. More time for play

Finns place a lot of value on free time and play. By law, teachers must give students a 15-minute break for every 45 minutes of instruction.

It's a different story in the US where kids typically get less than half an hour of recess every day .

This "deficit of play" for US students may lead to additional anxiety and other mental health issues, the psychologist and research professor Peter Gray has written.

3. College is free

This contrasts greatly with the US, where the average student loan debt now approaches $30,000, according to the Institute for College Access and Success's 2014 report.

4. Elevated teaching profession

In Finland, teaching is one of the most revered professions with a relatively high barrier to entry.

Only one in 10 students who apply to teacher education programs are admitted, according to the Center on International Education Benchmarkin g (CIEB) .

Teachers in Finland are treated like professors at universities, and they teach fewer hours during the day than US teachers, with more time devoted to lesson planning.

They also get paid slightly more in Finland. The average teacher in the US makes about $41,000 a year, compared to $43,000 in Finland, according to OECD data .

And while teachers in the US make less money than many other countries, the OECD found that they work the longest hours of all.

It's easy to understand why America's teachers — who are overworked and get relatively little respect — might not be as effective as teachers in Finland.

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The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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Study: Homework Matters More in Certain Countries

Homework is reinforcing the achievement gap between the rich and the poor, say authors of a new study.

Homework Matters, Depending on Your Country

Chart created by Jill Barshay | Hechinger Report; data from OECD

“For the United States, we don’t have homework reinforcing inequality,” Borgonovi said.

“It would be better to redesign the system to have less homework,” said Borgonovi. “But that is hard to do.”

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Tags: education , K-12 education , students , Finland , Singapore

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Education & Science

Education in Finland - statistics & facts

Basic education, upper secondary education, higher education, key insights.

Detailed statistics

Expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP in Finland 2000-2021

Expenditure on education system in Finland 2000-2021

Number of students in educational institutions in Finland 2023, by institution

Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Current statistics on this topic.

Educational Institutions & Market

Student well-being in primary and secondary education in Finland 2023

Number of completed university degrees in Finland in 2022, by gender and university

Recommended statistics

Basic Statistic Number of educational institutions 2023, by type of institution
Basic Statistic Number of students in educational institutions in Finland 2023, by institution
Basic Statistic Population with educational qualification in Finland 2022, by level of education
Basic Statistic Population with educational qualification in Finland 2022, by education field
Basic Statistic Expenditure on education system in Finland 2000-2021
Basic Statistic Expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP in Finland 2000-2021
Basic Statistic Expenditure on education system in Finland 2021