Education in Finland

Success in Finnish schools

In December 29, 2011 the Atlantic published an article on education in Finland. I found it interesting and it provided me with much food for thought so I am sharing it with you. If you have any thoughts please be sure and share them at the bottom of the post. If you’d like to read the article online or send it to someone else here is the link to it http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success/250564/

Here is the beginning of the article

Everyone agrees the United States needs to improve its education system dramatically, but how? One of the hottest trends in education reform lately is looking at the stunning success of the West’s reigning education superpower, Finland. Trouble is, when it comes to the lessons that Finnish schools have to offer, most of the discussion seems to be missing the point.

The small Nordic country of Finland used to be known — if it was known for anything at all — as the home of Nokia, the mobile phone giant. But lately Finland has been attracting attention on global surveys of quality of life — Newsweek ranked it number one last year — and Finland’s national education system has been receiving particular praise, because in recent years Finnish students have been turning in some of the highest test scores in the world.