About the educational philosophy of Finland

2. Finland
A country well-known for
its innovative educational
system, where the
philosophy of education
has come to life as a
paradigm that defies
conventional wisdom and
redefines success in the
search for knowledge.

4. Education System in Finland

5. Early Childhood and Education Care
and Pre-primary Education
All children under school-age have a subjective right to early childhood education and care
(ECEC). The municipalities are responsible for arranging the ECEC services, for their quality and
supervision. Families can also opt for publicly subsidized private ECEC settings. The Finnish ECEC
is based on an integrated approach to care, education, and teaching, the so-called “Educare”
model. Learning through play is essential.

6. Basic Education
The objective of basic education is to support pupils’ growth towards
humanity and ethically responsible membership of the society and to
provide them with the knowledge and skills needed in life.
Basic education encompasses nine years and caters for all those between 7
and 16 years. Schools do not select their students. Every student is
allocated a place in a nearby school, but they can also choose another
school with some restrictions.

7. Upper Secondary Education and Training
After compulsory basic education school-leavers opt for general or
vocational upper secondary education. Both forms usually take three years
and give eligibility for higher education.
Vocational education and training are popular in Finland, more than 40
percent of the relevant age group starts vocational upper secondary
studies immediately after basic education. The biggest fields are
technology, communications and transport, and social services, health and
sports.

8. Philosophy of Finland’s
Educational System

9. Educators in Finland think, quite
correctly, that schools should teach
what young people need in their lives
rather than try to bring national test
scores back to where they were.
(Soby, 2015)

10. Finland’s Educational System is inspired in Philosophical view.
Plato’s Perspective
• First and foremost, equal access to education is a
constitutional right. (Dickinson, 2019)
• The approach to key competencies in the Finnish
curricula is holistic and occurs through the study of
individual subjects. (Soby, 2015)

11. Finland’s Educational System is inspired in Philosophical view.
Pythagorean's Theory
Pythagoras believes in respect for the students, including
individual differences.

12. Here are three examples which
indicate that Finland’s educational
system is inspired by the
Pythagorean perspective:

13. According to Alemanji (2018): ‘There are some
specific case studies from Finland that propose
different strategies of anti-racism in and out of
schools.’

14. Finnish early childhood education emphasizes respect
for each child’s individuality and the chance for each
child to develop as a unique person. (Nikko, 2015)

15. The values of living in harmony with one another and
respect for all cultures, traditions and faiths are taught
very early on in a child’s life. (Nikko, 2015)

16. Thank you
for Listening