"In a recent analysis of educational reform policies in Finland, Pasi Sahlberg (2009) describes how since the 1970s Finland has changed its traditional education system 'into a model of a modern, publicly financed education system with widespread equity, good quality, large participation – all of this at reasonable cost' (p. 2). In addition to the gains in measured achievement, there have been huge gains in educational attainment at the upper secondary and college levels."
Steady Work: How Finland Is Building a Strong Teaching and Learning System by Linda Darling Hammond
In the picture above, it depicts quite clearly the transformation that took place in Finland's education system after the 1970s compared to the United States which has not seen much change within almost 40 years. One of the reasons Finland was able to change its system was because it moved away from the traditional sense of education and reformed it in such a way that it became a more modern take on educating the young students. In other words, rather than simply teaching in front of a classroom, teachers were encouraged, and even taught, how to assign small group projects so that less time was spent teaching a curriculum to all the students, and more time was given for teachers to observe and walk about helping students individually. Also, Finland has made its teacher selection process more complex as well as competetive. This can be thought of as one way to weed out the so-called "bad" teachers while at the same time keeping teachers who are very knowledgeable, passionate, and capable of running a high-quality classroom. Although these are only two changes that Finland has made in its education system that have contributed to the success of its schools, there were and still are many factors that have allowed for Finland's success.
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