Page 41 - 樂善堂梁銶琚學校（校刊2019）

The Finnish

Education System

Tai Po Old Market Public School
Tung Tak School

Finnish Education Strives To Build Trust
The Finnish education system does not seek to create an environment of competition. The
Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture trusts the schools and the work they do leads to a wide

and shared sense of confidence. The ministry does not undertake inspections of schools. Principals
don’t use lesson observations to evaluate teacher’s performance because they believe that it’s the
culture for teachers to provide quality education. Teachers are professional. They don’t compete
against each other since there are no rankings of teachers. They love their jobs and their schools.
Moreover, there is only one school in each region which reduces competition between schools.

They have no stress in recruiting students. In this atmosphere of trust, all teachers and schools
show enthusiasm for teaching every student.

Equal Opportunities For All

When we visited different schools in Finland, we did not hear about the theory of the Happy
School. In Finnish education, students are provided with equal opportunities. One of the principals
in Finland told us, ‘When there is equality in education, students will be happy.’ Finnish education

is not only about a fair admission process but also about how students can be treated with equity
through the learning process. Each one of them can make different choices in terms of learning
styles, ways of assessment and the curriculum. Students, therefore, have opportunities to achieve
what they want, with regard to their potential and personal values. No child is left behind in this
education system. As one of the Finnish principals says, ‘The aim of Finnish education is to allow

students to pursue meaningful lives.’

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