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When I first came across Finland in my life, it was in the context of their war with the Soviets at the start of World War Two in the Winter War. I was (still am) a History buff, especially about the Second World War. I had read then about how the smaller Finnish army gave the Soviet Army a bloody nose despite being numerically inferior.
The second time I came across Finland was when I was doing Modern European History and Political Science at the university. That was when I came across the term “Finlandization”. Finlandization then basically refers to an independent state’s foreign policy that defers to that of a much stronger neighbor, meaning it would nto do anything to contradict the interest fo the stronger neighbor. That was the relationship then between Finland and the Soviet Union.
The third time of Finland hit me was due to Nokia. I am assuming everybody knows about Nokia so I shall not say very much about it. It is the fourth that I am interested in writing about. This is about Finland’s high quality education system.
If we read about Finland’s education system, its story is quite akin to that of their fight against the mighty Soviet Army. In an “education” world where “maintaining standards” have become a euphemism for centralized, high stakes testing of the written kind, Finland has been standing tall against the relentless onslaught of high stakes examinations or testing to produce a first class education system.
For many countries, this is almost unthinkable. But the Finland education model is very successful and more countries should try to imitate it instead of that of countries with high stakes written examinations like that of Singapore. Its success starts from the lowest rung at nursery level and goes all the way to the top. It is a system that ought to be given a serious look which what I will do in my upcoming posts.
| Filed Under: Directions in education Tagged with education, education system, examinations, Finland, Finlandization, high stakes, high stakes examinations, pendidikan, Singapore, sistem pendidikan |
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Dear Amran!
Great! I will be waiting eagerly to read about Finland’s interesting education system.
Also, it would be great if you could do some light comparative analysis: Finland Vs Singapore. A simple table smashing both against each other comparing methods and approaches to facilitate effective learning would be simply stunning
Also, great to see you on Twitter
About time!
Cheers and Ramadhan Mubarak!
Salams,
Zaid
Thanks again, Zaid. Yes, I have that comparison table at the back of my mind. Was planning to start on that right away but right now I am down with the flu. Not sure if the mind can focus
Ramadhan Mubarak to you too. 
Finland’s students scored the highest in the world on the PiSA (Programme for International Student Assessment) tests in 2006 (http://www.oecd.org/document/60/0,3343,en_2649_201185_39700732_1_1_1_1,00.html).
Lou Kruger
http://www.childrenleftbehind.com
Thanks for the link, Louis. Yes, and they did it without having a high stakes testing system.