Three curriculum questions inspired by Finland's reforms

For some time, Finland has been held up as the epitome of educational excellence. In Scotland in particular, the Finnish educational model, social equality, a high status teaching profession, the absence of examinations, combined with uniformly high expectations and high PISA rankings (although these have recently dropped slightly), has been lauded by politicians and academics alike.

Finland is, however, about to experiment with massive changes to its curricular model. These include a radical departure from traditional subject teaching to a topic-based curriculum and a move to a more informal, cooperative style of learning.

The arguments for the reforms are that they are necessary to meet the challenges of working life in “modern society”, that cooperation, problem-solving and communication skills are more relevant today than book-based, often abstract, knowledge.