The Finland Education Utopia That Isn't

Is the Finnish educational system really the supreme model we should all be trying to replicate? And why you haven't heard of the real European winner.

This is part one of a small series that will take a look at worldwide education, how countries differ and what strategies and methods have succeeded.

The performance of students worldwide is measured and ranked globally by the OECD with their PISA program (Program for International Student Assessment). This comparative study is done every 3 years or so and its results are usually awaited with high expectations from all countries involved plus educators and teachers worldwide. Briefly, PISA tests 15-year-olds on their performance in reading, mathematics, and science literacy.

Even if you’re removed from the education world, you’ve probably heard someone fawn over the finish education model as being the gold standard.

Their recent decline in performance and metrics hasn’t curbed this admiration many have for the finnish educational system, and it is still exceedingly common to hear it described with an esteemed tone. A simple internet search will retrieve countless variations of “why Finland education is the best in the world”. But was Finlands’ education system ever deserving of being on a worldwide pedestal? Probably not.

While Finland is usually among the top ten performing countries worldwide, it is undeserving of much of the praise it receives simply because there are countries who are fairing better than Finland, but go mostly unmentioned or ignored by mainstream media outlets, one such country is Estonia.

Mathematics Performance - Pisa 2018

In the above chart, which only accounts for country's total mean, it is clearly visible the difference in Mathematics between Finland (highlighted in blue) and Estonia (highlighted in red). Both countries are above the OECD average (highlighted in black) but Estonia is clearly ahead.

Reading Performance - Pisa 2018

In the reading assessment, the gap between the two countries is smaller, but still, Estonia leads the way, not Finland.

Science Performance - PISA 2018

Lastly, in the science assessment, Estonia once more achieved higher scores than Finland.

All of these charts shown previously are meant to be both a refutation and a summary of where Finland really stands on education. The data presented is not meant to prove that Finland has subpar education, it does not, but the emphasis should be put more into Estonia and the methods and systems they use to continuously have the best students in Europe.

Even more crucial than looking at rankings, the focus should be on tendencies and yearly evolutions. Are countries showing positive or negative trends, regarding math, reading, and science? These are perhaps more crucial in determining which educational models will continue succeeding in the future.

For brevity purposes, let’s compare solely Finland and Estonia. The next three charts, show the results from 2004 up to 2018 and the tendencies are clearly visible, according to math, reading, and science.

Mathematics Performance 2004-2018 PISA

In the above chart of Mathematics since PISA data started being collected, the negative tendency of Finland and the positive trend of Estonia is stark. The black line indicates the OECD mean average, so Finland has in recent years been approaching much of the other OECD countries, while still being lauded as having the best education.

Reading Performance 2000-2018 PISA

In the above chart, for reading performance, we can again see the positive and negative trends clearly, even though both countries are above the OECD average, represented by the black line, Estonian students are outperforming finish students in reading and the tendency seems likely to continue. While Finland did start off with high scores, its trend has been steadly declining, at the same time, Estonia started with a lower rank but has breezed though achieving higher scores.

Science Performance 2006-2018 PISA

The above chart for Science seems to be the only discipline which registers a slightly negative tendency both for Estonia and Finland, still, the decline is sharper for Finland.

One of the reasons media outlets claim Finland has the best education in the world is most likely because it has free universal education, from kindergarten to university, a goal that is lauded by some media outlets. There is also no standardized testing and competition is discouraged both between schools and students, focusing instead on a homogenous student performance. But, as we will see in the next post, this has several disadvantages which prove to be detrimental to the students.

By coincidence, as I was researching for this post, the Estonian national PISA coordinator, Gunda Tire, gave an interview to the Portuguese education minister, in which she explained the success of Estonia and why it’s also deeply intertwined with their cultural and social history as a country. Some of the key points she mentioned were Estonia leaving the Soviet Union in the early 90’s, which forced them to reimagine all aspects of their society, including what kind of education and future they envisioned for their children. Education was thoroughly discussed between teachers, academics, parents and members of society who wanted to break away from the previous Russian orthodoxy. The first national public school curriculum was adopted in the mid 90’s and has had some alterations since then but has mostly remained the framework for their educational philosophy.

Although there is a national plan, schools still have the autonomy to decide what and how they want to teach. Individual needs of children were also taken into account, where some children might take longer to become proficient in reading or in math, they can expect to receive additional assistance, like temporarily attending a different class where the teacher will give them extra attention and go over the curriculum with them to make sure they comprehend it. This also prevents students that are doing poorly in one subject from disturbing the classroom behavior of the rest of the class. It is basically a public tutoring program catered to each individual student.

Another aspect of Estonian education is that results from schools go into a public database, and schools and institutions can see which methods worked or not by looking at students’ scores and rankings. There is also an accountability aspect, since education is free, taxpayers want to know where their taxes are being spent and teachers and schools feel accountable by their peers. There is also an internal evaluation in schools every 4 years, at the end of that period, schools are expected to reflect on results accomplished, mission ahead, and goals for the next school year.

Students also have a continual evaluation, starting at the beginning and end of 4th grade, and then at the end of 6th grade. Although tests are common practice starting from a young age, children are not given grades on tets at these stages, it’s merely a feedback tool for the schools and teachers to be aware of students’ needs. An expectation of interconnectedness between disciplines is also prevalent, as opposed to the view that math is completely unrelated to any other discipline.

Estonia has consistently been a surprising growing star in academics, achieving something very few have, maintaining their results or improving on them, but rarely declining in student performance. The opposite has been true of most OECD countries, where the general average is declining sharply. The coming years are even less promising as a result of virtual schooling related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Nevertheless, there are reasons to remain optimistic. Several countries have taken bold strategies to address specific educational issues and have seen their efforts bear fruit, as I’ll discuss in the next post.