Finland began to reshape its education system from 1963, when the Finnish government took the decision to consider public education as their best chance of recovering its economy after World War II. The thesis of the Finnish Government was that the country would only be competitive if educate its population. The second major decision came in 1979, when it was granted to teachers equal status with doctors and lawyers. Teacher candidates grew steeply, not because wages were so high, but because their autonomy and respect become attractive work. The transformation of the Finnish education system began 50 years ago as the driving force of the economic recovery plan in the country.

1. 1
FINLAND: EDUCATION PARADIGM IN THE WORLD
Fernando Alcoforado *
Reading the articles Educating Americans for the 21st
century- Why Are Finland's
Schools Successful?, published on the website
<http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-are-finlands-schools-successful-
49859555/#pqgjOUUIyXRytAXz.99> and What makes Finnish teachers so special?
It’s not brains, published on the website
<http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jun/17/highly-trained-respected-and-free-
why-finlands-teachers-are-different?CMP=share_btn_fb>, it can extract conclusions set
out in the following paragraphs.
Finland began to reshape its education system from 1963, when the Finnish government
took the decision to consider public education as their best chance of recovering its
economy after World War II. The thesis of the Finnish Government was that the country
would only be competitive if educate its population. The second major decision came in
1979, when it was granted to teachers equal status with doctors and lawyers. Teacher
candidates grew steeply, not because wages were so high, but because their autonomy
and respect become attractive work. The transformation of the Finnish education system
began 50 years ago as the driving force of the economic recovery plan in the country.
Why the schools in Finland are successful? Finland has improved a lot in reading,
mathematical and scientific literacy of their students largely because their teachers are
trusted to do what it takes to transform the lives of young people around. Many schools
are small enough that teachers know all the students. If one method fails, teachers
consult colleagues to try another alternative. Almost 30 percent of children in Finland
receive some kind of special assistance during their first nine years of schooling.
In 2000, the first results of the International Programme for Student Assessment (PISA),
a standardized test given to 15 year olds in over 40 countries, revealed that the Finland
had the best young players in the world. Three years later, they achieved the same
results in mathematics. In 2006, Finland was the first among 57 countries in science. In
Finland, there are no standardized tests in addition to an examination at the end of the
year to students in school. There is no competition between students, schools or regions.
Schools in Finland are public.
The heads of the government agencies focused on education are educators. Each school
has the same national objectives. The result is that a Finnish child has a good chance to
get the same quality education, no matter if he or she lives in a rural village or a big
city. The differences between the weakest and strongest students are the lowest in the
world, according to the latest survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD). Equality is the most important word in the Finnish education. In
Finland, children are ready to learn how to learn, not how to do a test.
Teachers in Finland spend fewer hours in school every day and spend less time in the
classroom than teachers from other countries. Teachers use the extra time to build
curricula and evaluate their students. Compulsory education does not start until 7 years
old. Finland offers pre-school for all children of five years where the emphasis is
socialization. In addition, the State subsidizes parents, paying them 150 Euros per
month for each child until he or she reaches 17 years. Ninety-seven percent of children

2. 2
of 6 years attend public preschool. Schools provide food, medical care, counseling
families and shuttle service if necessary. Health-care is free.
In Finland, the pillar that supports the education relates to the selection and leading
teacher training, professional recognition and good working conditions. In every
Finnish school, teachers are always attentive to student achievement. In Finland, the
teaching profession has status similar to that of doctor and lawyer. What does the
teaching compete on equal terms with other cutting-edge careers is the social
recognition, autonomy and good infrastructure conditions. The government of Finland
down general definitions of the curriculum, but each teacher can adapt it to local
conditions. This creates an environment with highly motivated professionals.
In the history of Finland, teachers were always seen as the people who took civilization
to small villages. In Finland, teachers are autonomous professionals respected for
making a difference in the lives of young people. There are those who think that the
formation of a teacher in Finland is the key to a good education and thus improve
student achievement. The teaching profession has become a topic fashionable among
education reformers worldwide. Successful education systems are more concerned with
finding the right people to become teachers throughout their careers.
The Finnish dream was to offer a good school for all children, regardless of their family
background or personal circumstances - a focus that has remained unchanged over the
past four decades. In the initial phase, during the 1970s and 1980s, had centralized
leadership and government control over schools, curricula prescribed by the state,
external school inspections and detailed regulation, giving the Finnish government a
strong influence on schools and teachers. But a second phase, from the beginning of the
1990s, a new education culture was created characterized by trust between education
authorities and schools, local control, professionalism and autonomy. Schools have
become responsible for their own evaluation and assessment of the student's curriculum,
while state inspections were abandoned. This required that teachers acquire high
academic credentials and started to be treated as professionals.
Unlike what happens in Finland, it is clear the indifference of the rulers of Brazil with
education and particularly with teachers, although Dilma Rousseff use "Educator
Motherland" as the motto of his disastrous government. Data from the Higher Education
Census 2013 released by the National Institute of Educational Research Anísio Teixeira
(INEP) confirmed a grim trend for the future of the country: the "blackout teachers" in
the schools that happens the fourth consecutive year being less and less number of
students seeking undergraduate courses for teachers. Consequently, Brazil has formed
less teachers [See the article Queda de matrículas em licenciatura no país gera temor
de apagão na formação de professores (Fall enrollment in undergraduate courses for
teachers in the country generates fear of blackout in teacher formation) published on
website <http://oglobo.globo.com/sociedade/educacao/queda-de-matriculas-em-
licenciatura-no-pais-gera-temor-de-apagao-na-formacao-de-professores-13897981>].
This unfortunate situation is that the education system in Brazil is demanding a radical
change in the way it has been planned and managed. We must inspire us in successful
experiences in the world, such as Finland, Japan and South Korea. The continuity of the
current debacle of education in Brazil is reflected in the treatment that is given to their
teachers. We need to understand that without quality education, the future of Brazil and
its people will be compromised.

3. 3
*Fernando Alcoforado, member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor of Territorial
Planning and Regional Development from the University of Barcelona, a university professor and
consultant in strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is
the author of Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova
(Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São
Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado.
Universidade de Barcelona, http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e
Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX
e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of
the Economic and Social Development-The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Muller
Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe
Planetária (P&A Gráfica e Editora, Salvador, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e
combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011),
Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012) and
Energia no Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV,
Curitiba, 2015).