Page 4 - 樂善堂梁銶琚學校（校刊2019）

Editorial

Finland Overview

Our trip to Finland and our visits to schools clearly made a very strong impression on all those
who participated. It is always interesting to spend time in other schools and to learn how things are

done in different systems of education. But our Finland mission gave us more than that. The Finnish
system has such a strong and distinctive ethos and is different from its Hong Kong counterpart in
so many ways that we were inspired to think afresh about our approach to the education of the
students in our care.

These articles give a definite sense that we saw something new and different in our school
visits and that the general impression was overwhelmingly positive. As one article puts it, ‘The
experience truly opened our eyes and inspired us in many ways’. Phrases such as ‘… consistent

and high quality learning …’, ‘… greater happiness and self-confidence …’, ‘… promote equality,
trust and life-long learning …’, ‘… flexible and responsible learning …’, ‘respect for students
and understanding of their unique needs …’ are seen in every article and they exemplify the
participants’ upbeat and constructive response to what they saw and learned.

Of course, this is not to suggest that Finland’s educational system is perfect or that it would be
appropriate for all other countries. The way in which a country educates its young is shaped by that
country’s history, society and many other factors, and reflects the country’s values, traditions and

requirements. Finland is a distinctive country, dissimilar in many ways to its European neighbours,
and certainly very different from Hong Kong.

Geography and population alone ensure that many aspects of Finnish education would be

impossible to implement in Hong Kong. Finland’s average population density of 17 inhabitants per
square kilometre, one of the lowest in Europe, means that it has plenty of open space. This offers
exciting and accessible possibilities for environmental education. Low-rise schools with a lot of
external space around them make outside play breaks every 45 minutes entirely practical. Hong

Kong is at the opposite end of the scale, with an average of 6,300 people per square kilometre -
and many more in the areas where most schools are situated.

Some other aspects of the Finnish system might be difficult to replicate in Hong Kong. Finland’s

relaxed, informal approach, with its strong emphasis on learning from play and self-discovery, focus
on life skills and the relative unimportance of regular testing, is quite a contrast to our results-

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