1. Report to the Utah Legislature
Anne-Marie Harrison
August 26, 2014

2. Finland’s Educational Performance
• World-wide assessment (PISA)
Reading Math Science
‘06 ‘09 ‘12 ‘06 ‘09 ‘12 ‘06 ‘09 ‘12
Finland 2nd 2nd 6th 2nd 2nd 12th 1st 1st 5th
U.S.A. na 14th 24th 35th 25th 36th 29th 17th 28th
• Can you really compare Finland and U.S.A.?

3. Finland’s Educational Performance
• Can you really compare Finland and U.S.A.?
• What about Finland, Norway and NH?

4. Theme:
Equality
• No private schools
• Free public education from preschool through
doctoral programs
• Goal of equality
– 2 schools in Siuntio
– “There are no lists of best schools or teachers in Finland.
The main driver of education policy is not competition
between teachers and between schools, but cooperation.”
Anu Partanen in The Atlantic, 2011

5. Theme:
Trust
• “Trust through professionalism”
• Established conditions for trust:
 Clear standards and policies
 Excellent teacher education programs
 Top 10%
 Master’s degrees
• Allow for:
 Local control
 Varying models
 Teacher satisfaction
 Community support

6. Theme:
Long-term Commitment
• Patience
• 3 decades
• Started with Teacher Education
– Restructured university teacher training
– Top 10%
– Master’s Degrees
• “What the world can learn from educational change
in Finland is that accomplishing the dream of a good
and equitable education system for all children is
possible. But it takes the right mix of ingenuity, time,
patience, and determination.” Pasi Sahlberg