Samuel Abrams, a researcher at Teachers College, Columbia University, was named a knight by the Finnish government.
“The honor was bestowed before family, friends, and colleagues in recognition of Abrams’s advancement of the understanding of Finnish education in the United States. Abrams has conducted a vast amount of research on Nordic as well as American education systems. Much of this research will appear in his book “The Children Must Play: Education, Business, and Conflict,” to be published by Harvard University Press in 2015.”
Sam Abrams taught for many years at Beacon High School in Néw York City.
“When asked about a specific trend or issue as a key factor in the success of Finnish education, Abrams brought up two things: the well-rounded curriculum of the Finnish educational system and the professionalization of teaching. In contrast to the American curriculum, Abrams said, the Finnish curriculum for students in grades one through nine comprises a lot of arts, crafts, music, and play while consisting of no standardized testing. Abrams said the Finnish approach thereby not only makes school more enticing for children but also cultivates significant collaborative skills and provides natural, hands-on opportunities for learning math and science. According to Abrams, this philosophy, combined with a nutritious hot school lunch, which is free for all students, makes Finnish schooling so effective.”
Abrams advised the Finns not to worry about PISA scores but to continue to do what was best for children.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Sam Abrams has also consistently argued that the main advances in Finnish education occurred when they reduced class size across the board.
So the golden question would be how the US can adapt a Finnish style system but which also takes into account the crippling long-term effects of poverty in the US. Also, the US is schooling so many learners of English, but whose first language is not English. I wonder what percentage of Finnish students are not first language Finnish speakers? I would also like to know more about the Finnish professionalization of teaching. I am sure it does not resemble the National Board Certification process in the US. National Board Certification involves anonymous raters scoring teachers they have never met as part of the layered process (based on a checklist style rubric). I would envision the Finnish system enabling future teachers to have ample opportunity to practice and hone the craft with experienced teachers so that by the time they are first year teachers they have a thorough grounding in a classroom setting and are allowed to pick and choose from their knowledge base as to what will be effective practice in their classroom. In the US, every other week there is a new curriculum being ENFORCED including the exact way for teachers to implement it (including a pacing calendar). Since change is happening constantly, teachers are basically like marionette puppets.. never having the autonomy to decide what they think is best for the class nor the chance to practice anything and get good at it. Ah yes and then there is increasing class size based on Bill Gate’s belief that a highly effective teacher can teach large numbers of students. It is great that the Finns have such a top system. Just wish Samuel Abrams would now investigate how the US can implement such a systems with adaptations for differences between the countries (while others simultaneously work to disengage the corporate strangle-hold on public education right now).
It’s worth looking at the original article just for the headline:Finnish education system receiving advice from the U.S.
Apparently that’s advice on what not to do?
Finland has two main linguistic minorities, speakers of Swedish and of Sami. Pupils are expected to demonstrate competence in their “mother tongue” whatever that might be.
“…not to worry about … scores but to continue to do what was best for children.”
This is the challenge for public school teachers everywhere.
Wouldn’t be a challenge if we would get rid of those ubiquitous “scores” and/or the “grading” of students.
Please find one English-speaking country that can afford to imitate the Finns. Their orthography takes 4 months to learn, and the English spelling takes 3 years.
If the Finns had the English spelling system as their native mode of learning, they would also be doing the same as the US.
Most educated Finns can speak and write English, French, and German in addition to Finnish.
He also mentions that Finns pay their teachers well and respect them. Now there’s a concept.
The US has little problem educating Finnish-Americans or other Americans of Scandinavian descent. And this despite the antiquated system of English orthography.
This is so amazing. Why oh why aren’t we listening to these people? sigh, Love, Julie
If our public schools were as good as Finland’s, no one would ever seek charters or even private schools, which Wikipedia says are very difficult to set up in Finland. Interestingly enough, though, such private schools, as for instance a Waldorf school, still get state support. That’s different from here.
What are the chances here that we could require three foreign languages in addition to proficiency in one’s native language? Where would we find teachers that educated?
Still the purely educational principles are sound. Even the three books the state gives to each new baby, one for himself, and one for each parent to read to the child. Give a kid two parents and three books, and maybe we’d have something.
Their education system, along with their majority Lutheranism, seems designed to keep their society from deteriorating.
Here the problem is how to RESTORE a civil and moral society.
For once, I more or less agree with Harlan. Finns and Hungarians were highly motivated to learn languages because they were small countries and no one else in the world spoke Finnish or Hungarian. On the other hand, virtually everyone in China, an enormous country, now learns English, because the government tells them they must. Incidentally, we used to require far more language study than we now do. Even engineers, my late neighbor was telling me (he was an engineer); he told me that as an engineering student in the mid-twentieth century, he had to write an engineering exam in French. Finnish education also places a large emphasis on learning music, which is a kind of language.
One way the Finns did it was by giving an extraordinary amount of power to women during the founding of their country at the turn of the twentieth century. Many of their welfare reforms were quite “top down” or paternalistic, or rather, maternalistic).
As far as being Lutheran, I have been told that many of the progressive movements in Scandinavia arose in reaction to its excessive harshness. I don’t really know about that. Finland until quite recently had a terrible problem with alcoholism and may still for all I know. Be that as it may, these countries have little problem in combining a sincere Christianity with a social welfare state.
I do know that we have made a terrible, short-sighted error in allowing business and finance interests to take primacy in government, not to speak of the weapons and armaments business interests. The myopic dream of individual acquisition of (greed for) riches and material possessions as the overriding goal of human existence largely precludes having a public sphere of society IMO. Our founding fathers understood that. The other thing is that in order to do it, people have to Believe It Is Possible for things like teaching languages and getting along cooperatively in civil society to be taught. Otherwise they will just take the path of least resistance.
Harold,
Thank you for everything you have said here, especially that, “… in order to do it, people have to Believe It Is Possible for things like teaching languages and getting along cooperatively in civil society to be taught.”
I am very frustrated that so many writers here guess at the nature of Finland’s curriculum, when it is published online for any American to read. It is extensive beyond the imagination of those who do not look at it, detailed, structured, clear and abundantly rich in subject matter for all grades, from what we would call first grade through secondary school.
There is a misconception that Finland’s professional and well-trained teachers are allowed to teach whatever they want. They’re allowed to teacher however they want, but they are required to teach the National Core Curriculum to each child.
The following link is to an outline, leading to the several pdf’s containing the national curriculum:
Click to access 47671_core_curricula_basic_education_1.pdf
Pasi Sahlberg, at his website, recommends the following description of education in Finland:
http://pasisahlberg.com/news/finnish-education-in-a-nutshell/
http://www.minedu.fi/export/sites/default/OPM/Julkaisut/2013/liitteet/Finnish_education_in_a_nuttshell.pdf?lang=en
Finnish education in a nutshell
Equity in education
One of the basic principles of Finnish education is that all people must have equal access to high-quality education and training. The same opportunities to education should be available to all citizens irrespective of their ethnic origin, age, wealth or where they live.
… Education providers are responsible for practical teaching arrangements as well as the effectiveness and quality of its education.
… The schools have the right to provide educational services according to their own administrative arrangements and visions, as long as the basic functions, determined by law, are carried out.
… The teachers have pedagogical autonomy. They can decide themselves the methods of teaching as well as textbooks and materials…
… The activities of education providers are guided by objectives laid down in legislation as well as the national core curricula and qualification requirements. The system relies on the proficiency of teachers and other personnel.
… The main aim of the national evaluations of learning outcomes is to follow at national level how well the objectives have been reached as set in the core curricula and qualification requirements.
… The national core curriculum for basic education is determined by the Finnish National Board of Education. It contains the objectives and core contents of different subjects, as well as the
principles of pupil assessment, special needs education, pupil welfare and educational guidance. The principles of a good learning environment, working approaches as well as the concept of learning are also addressed in the core curriculum.
… The education providers draw up their own curricula within the framework of the national core curriculum. Thus there is room for local or regional specificities… Also questions such as the language programme and the local lesson-hour distribution must be addressed…