Jennifer Chung, UCL Institute of Education
For more than twenty years, Finland and its education system have captured attention and admiration worldwide. The country’s high outcomes in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has led to sustained global interest in Finnish education. My doctoral research investigated the reasons for Finland’s success in PISA (Chung, 2009). Many of the underlying reasons stem from Finland’s historical, political, and socio-cultural context. In addition, the educational ‘ecosystem’ (Kemmis and Heikkinen, 2012) of Finland contributes to a society supportive of high-quality and equitable education.
Finland has been an independent country since 1917. The country spent approximately 600 years as part of the Kingdom of Sweden, and approximately 100 years as an Autonomous Grand Duchy of Russia. An independence movement reinforced the importance of an educated citizenry, as education would help Finns lead an independent nation (Chung, 2022). Finns have always had pride in their unique language, and worked hard to maintain literacy during foreign rule. Religion also played a role, as the Lutheran Church, the main religion of the Finnish people, required literacy in order to marry, thus leading to a highly literate society (Chung, 2019). The importance of education, pride in their unique language, and the emphasis on literacy were historically embedded within the country. Finland and its neighbours embraced the Nordic Welfare States’ egalitarian values in the 1960s and 1970s. Whilst the golden age of the Nordic Welfare State is arguably over (Chung, 2019), the egalitarian underpinnings support all students and families to access high-quality education.
Related to Finnish socio-cultural and historical context is political consensus. The country’s cohesive and unified view of education, superseding party lines, prioritizes education over party political agendas (Chung, 2019). The Finnish constitution declares that Finnish children must have access to free and equitable education, with the child’s background or additional needs as no hindrance to access. This commitment to equitable and free education relates closely to the aforementioned Nordic welfare state. Furthermore, higher education does not succumb to political pressure. Future teachers study the discipline of educational science at university, and the teaching profession is free from political control (Chung, 2022, 2023). The structure of Finland’s political system, and the necessity for parties to form coalitions in order to achieve a majority in Parliament, further facilitates political consensus regarding education (Chung, 2023). A British professor, working in Finland, summed up Finnish political consensus eloquently: “In Finland, education policy is made for the next generation. In England, education policy is made for the next election” (Chung, 2022).
The Finnish concept of sisu, loosely translated into English as grit or perseverance, also contributes to the country’s high outcomes in PISA. I argued in 2019 (Chung, 2019) that sisu is the main, unifying factor behind the intertwining reasons for Finland’s high PISA scores. After Finnish independence was achieved from Russia in 1917, a bitter Civil War ensued, resulting in much devastation to the population. Finland faced further devastation during the Second World War. Hosting the 1952 Olympics announced Finland’s recovery from these challenges and asserted the country’s ascent to independence on the world’s stage. In more recent years, Finland faced a severe recession during the 1990s, as the economy suffered in the wake of the break-up of the Soviet Union. Recovering from hardships highlights Finnish sisu: strength when facing adversity. Persevering through adverse weather, civil war, World War II devastation, and deep recession, all contribute to Finnish respect and high regard for education. Finnish adherence to sisu manifested itself in outstanding performance when the first PISA results were published in 2001.
This post has given an overview of the socio-cultural and political reasons behind Finland’s high outcomes in PISA. Finland’s education system has consistently attracted attention worldwide, catalyzed by impressive results in international achievement tests. The socio-cultural, historical, and political ecosystem of the country, including the unique concept of sisu, contribute to Finland’s high regard for education.
References
Chung, J. (2009) ‘An Investigation of Reasons for Finland’s Success in PISA’. PhD thesis, University of Oxford.
Chung, J. (2019) PISA and Global Education Policy: Understanding Finland’s success and influence. Leiden/Boston: Sense/Brill.
Chung, J. (2022) The Impact of Finnish Teacher Education on International Policy: Understanding university training schools. Cham: Palgrave MacMillan.
Chung, J. (2023) ‘Research-Informed teacher education, teacher autonomy and teacher agency: the example of Finland’. London Review of Education, 21 (1), 13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/LRE.21.1.13.
Kemmis, S. and Heikkinen, H.L.T. (2012) ‘Future perspectives: Peer-group mentoring and international practices for teacher development’. In H.L.T. Heikkinen, H. Jokinen and P. Tynjälä (eds), Peer-Group Mentoring for Teacher Development. London: Routledge, 144–70.
