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Mathematics education in Finnish comprehensive school: Characteristics contributing to student success
Location and Schedule
Time slot: 
RL-4 on Saturday 12, 10:30 – 11:30
Auditorium: 
S05-Víctor Treviño Auditorium – Leyes
Metadata information
Author(s): 
Pekka Kupari, Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. pekka.kupari@ktl.jyu.fi
Language: 
English
Keywords: 
Mathematics education, Comprehensive school, Equity, Curriculum, Teacher training, Assessment, Finland
Abstract: 

The Finnish comprehensive school system and its outcomes have received wide international attention at the beginning of the new millennium (the so-called “PISA effect”). Our education system has become an attractive and internationally examined example of a well-performing system that successfully combines high quality with widespread equity and social cohesion through reasonable public financing (Sahlberg 2006). Since 2001, hundreds of foreign delegates have visited Finland in order to learn the secrets of the high performing system. Through these visits, we Finns have benefited at least as much as our visitors. Questions and doubts presented by the visitors have helped us see what is valuable in our system and, most importantly, understand that explaining the high level of our school system is not a simple and straightforward task. Consequently, we have also started to think seriously about the special characteristics and strengths of our mathematics education. What explains the high level of mathematics performance? What kinds of policies and improvement strategies have been implemented since the 1970s in raising student achievement in mathematics?

This paper will address some main characteristics of mathematics education in the Finnish comprehensive school (Grades 1–9), starting with a brief review of Finnish comprehensive school education in general. Drawing on recent articles and reports (e.g. Aho et al. 2006, Kupari 2004, Kupari & Välijärvi 2005, Linnakylä 2004, Linnakylä & Välijärvi 2005, Pehkonen et al. 2007, Sahlberg 2006, Simola 2005, Välijärvi et al. 2002, Välijärvi et al. 2007), the main part of my presentation concentrates on describing essential features in our mathematics education such as the curriculum, teaching practices, assessment policies, and teacher training. Finally, some future prospects of mathematics education in Finland will be discussed.

The curriculum has an important role in Finnish mathematics education. Since the 1970s, also Finland has followed international – mostly Anglo-American – trends regarding mathematics curriculum. However, these trends have not been transferred into our practice as such but adapted to our education culture. One interesting feature in the curricular development of mathematics relates to the role of problem solving. Problem solving and applications have been important goals in our mathematics curricula for more than 20 years, and through this continuity these goals have become more and more established in mathematics textbooks and teaching practices. In the early 1990s the era of a new, trust-based culture began in Finland. The local authorities (municipalities and schools) became responsible for the preparation of their curricula on the basis of the National Framework Curriculum prepared by the National Board of Education. Now, teachers could see that the system believed that schools and communities were the places where decisions concerning the curriculum and the overall arrangement of schooling should be made. The systematic development of mathematics curriculum can be seen as one significant feature behind the high student performance.

Highly qualified mathematics teachers have a key role in students’ successful learning. In Finland, all teachers – both class teachers and subject teachers – have to complete a Master’s degree. The teaching profession has always enjoyed great public respect and appreciation in Finland. Moreover, the teacher’s profession, especially that of the class teacher, is a popular and greatly valued goal among post-secondary students. In our society, teachers are also trusted to do their best as true professionals of education. For example, teachers are relied on when it comes to student assessment, which usually draws on students’ class work, teacher-made exams, projects and portfolios. In the Finnish mathematics education, the role of teacher-based assessment is all the more important because we do not have any national exams at the end or during the comprehensive school.