Michael Lawrence and Dr. Fabio D'Agostin | Creating Schools…

Perhaps the most common question I get when my work with Finnish education is mentioned is, ‘Why is their system so successful?’ The answer to this is a combination of many factors, but I have come to believe that the most important of these is that the Finnish education system has concentrated on the ‘Why?’ of education, whereas we have concentrated on the ‘What?’ and ‘How?’

No amount of teacher knowledge of how students learn, curriculum ‘development’, standardized testing and curriculum, IT, buildings and facilities will impact student learning if students do not have a desire to, and a positive attitude to learning. 

Students in Finland work with teachers to create their own education; meaning they have ownership and responsibility for it. In Australia, we impose an education on students. I recall a conversation with a Finnish colleague where I asked how their students had coped with remote learning. Her response was that students had been determined to not let it affect their learning and were really missing their time at school.

During my visits to Finland, I was continually astounded at the responsibility students took for their own learning and the mature attitudes they showed to school and other aspects of their lives. Primary age students walk home or catch public transport unaccompanied by parents. Behaviour issues are minimal because the school is their place. As one student, who did an exchange from the USA commented, “Finnish teenagers are still rebellious, but school is not commonly one of the things they rebel against.”

Teachers regularly spoke of learning goals that included imparting a positive attitude to history, or whatever the subject, for the rest of the students’ lives. There was a lot more going on in the classroom than just trying to get the best grades on the next test.

The school was made to be a place students wanted to attend. Teachers would play games with students for the first few days of the year: “We want the students to enjoy school. They won’t learn if they don’t want to be here.” 

Are Australian students lacking something Finnish students have? I don’t believe so, however our methods don’t encourage or nurture trust between teachers and students. In fact, our competitive structures pit them against each other and encourage the teacher to drive students for the shallowest forms of learning – test scores.

Finnish educators looked at me like I was a child molester when I told them we gave major examinations in NAPLAN to 8 year olds. “Why does the teacher allow this to happen?” they said.

“Does it work?”

“No” was the only possible answer.

“Well why do you keep doing it?”

“Oh, I see…” observed one Finnish teacher who had been listening intently, “The test shows which schools and students have weaknesses so that they can send extra help and funding to them.”

Once again, if the imposition of tests such as this on students as young as eight does not destroy any remaining trust the students have, our failure to take any real action on the problems they reveal will surely do so.

And it was somewhere during this conversation that I resolved to do all that I could to ensure that sometime in future, when Finnish educators ask me about the Australian education system, I can give answers that are logical and positive.

Details on the PD program to introduce elements of the Finnish education system to Australia produced with Educational Sciences Faculty of The Tampere University of Applied Sciences are available here: