Finland's education system: 5 practices we can still use, and what its falling scores teach us
Five Finnish education practices worth keeping, what PISA 2025 shows about Finland's decline, and what does and does not transfer to U.S. schools.
Updated with current data and sources. Originally published September 13, 2020.
Finland still has practices worth borrowing, but it no longer leads the world on PISA: its math score fell from 548 in 2006 to 469 in 2025. Borrow what helps your students in the classroom, and leave the ranking out of it.
For years I heard this at least once a week: "Why can't we have schools like Finland?" It is still a fair question, as long as we are honest about two things. Finland has changed, and our countries are very different. Here is what the latest data shows, the five practices I would keep, and what does and does not transfer.
What happened to Finland's PISA scores?
Finland's math score was 548 in 2006, according to Yle, and 541 in 2009 and 519 in 2012, according to Education Week. It was 484 in 2022, Yle reported, and 469 in 2025, against an OECD average of 463, according to NCES. Reading fell 16 points from 2022 to 474, the University of Jyvaskyla reported, while science held at about the 2022 level at 504.
Finland's average PISA math score
Finland's fall is not the whole picture, because scores dropped across the OECD. The OECD average on PISA 2025 was 461 in reading and 482 in science. U.S. reading and math are also among the lowest ever observed for the United States. One caution: the OECD says U.S. response rates fell short of its standards, so bias in the U.S. results cannot be ruled out. Finland's data met all the standards.
PISA 2025 average scores: Finland and the U.S.
+17
percentage points more low performers in math in Finland than in 2015.
OECD, 2026
41%
of Finnish students say they apply extra effort when work gets hard (OECD average: 60%).
OECD, 2026
2.5 hours
a day Finnish students report using digital devices at school for learning (OECD average: 1.7).
OECD, 2026
51%
of Finnish lower secondary teachers work in schools where over 10% of students have special needs, up 20 points since 2018.
OECD TALIS, 2024
No one has proved why scores fell, and I would be wary of anyone who says they know. Classrooms have changed too. TALIS 2024 found that 34% of Finnish lower secondary teachers work in schools where more than 10% of students do not speak the language of instruction as a first language, up 16 points since 2018. Those are facts about Finland, not proven causes of its decline.
Five Finnish practices worth keeping
1. Instill the love of learning, for the sake of learning
There are no mandatory national standardized tests for pupils in basic education in Finland, according to the Finland Promotion Board, and that lowers the stakes. You can get part of the way there with inquiry-based learning. Get to know your students, find out what they care about, connect it to your objectives, and give them a real say, as Dewey argued. In our TechPlus AI curriculum, every project ends with the student explaining what they made and why.
Pair the freedom with persistence, though. Finland's 41% figure above is a reminder that a low-pressure system does not produce effort by itself.
2. Create a culture of cooperation, not competition
If your classmate does well, you do well. Grading on a bell curve builds an unhealthy competition that students will not meet when they work with colleagues. Create more group projects with assigned roles. Do not grade everything. Focus on feedback and formative assessment, so that students feel safe to try, fail forward, and try again.
3. Give less homework and fewer tests
Children in Finland have less homework than in many other countries, the Finland Promotion Board says. A common U.S. guide is the 10-minute rule, ten minutes per grade level per night, which NBC News reports is endorsed by the National PTA and the National Education Association. If you want students to meet an idea at home, try flipped learning: assign a short video, then work through the ideas together in class.
4. Create a more relaxed atmosphere
Finnish students get frequent breaks. An American teacher in Helsinki described 15-minute breaks each hour in The Atlantic in 2014. They also spend less time in class: the OECD reports 660 hours of compulsory instruction a year in primary school, against an OECD average of 804. You may not control the bell schedule, but you can get students up and moving, working together, and using flexible seating.
Relaxed does not mean orderly by default. Finnish lower secondary teachers report spending 17% of class time keeping order, above the OECD average of 15%, up 3 points since 2018.
5. Work on continuous learning
Teachers in Finland are required to have a master's degree in primary, lower secondary, and general upper secondary education, Eurydice reports. Yet training alone is not enough: only 27% of Finnish lower secondary teachers said their recent professional learning had a positive impact on their teaching, compared with 50% in the United States and 55% across the OECD. If your school does not support continuous learning, build a professional learning network of like-minded educators. Students also notice when their teachers are still learning.
Borrow a practice because it helps your students, not because a country once topped a chart.Ernie Delgado, BeyondK12
What transfers to U.S. schools, and what does not
A classroom teacher or principal controls some of this, and a national system controls the rest. Spend your energy on the left column.
| Finnish practice | What transfers | What does not |
|---|---|---|
| Love of learning | Inquiry units and student choice | No mandatory national tests in basic education; U.S. public schools still have state testing |
| Cooperation | Group roles, feedback, ungraded practice | A system with no mandatory national tests to compare schools on |
| Less homework | A written homework policy and limits by grade | Family and community expectations built up over time |
| Relaxed day | Movement, breaks, and flexible seating | National hours: 660 a year in primary, against an OECD average of 804 |
| Teacher learning | Team planning, peer observation, protected time | A required master's degree, and social status: 48% of Finnish teachers agree teachers are valued in society, compared with 26% in the U.S. |
Two more differences matter for budgets. Primary class size in Finland averaged 18.7 students in 2023, against an OECD average of 20.6. Finnish primary teachers do not stand out on pay either: the OECD reports their actual salaries are 19% lower than those of full-time workers with tertiary education, close to the OECD average of 17% lower. Since 2015 their salaries have fallen 5.1%, while the OECD average rose 14.6% in real terms. Teacher status there is also slipping: the 48% figure is down 10 points since 2018, the same drop as in the United States.
How to try one Finnish practice this term
- Pick one. You do not have to try all five at once. Choose the practice that fits a problem you already have.
- Write down what you expect. Name one thing that should change: engagement, completed work, or how students talk about learning.
- Get a baseline. Collect that measure now, so you are comparing against something real.
- Run it for one term. Tell families what you are doing and why.
- Keep it or change it. If it makes a difference, great. If not, try something else. That is failing forward.
Where to start this week
Ask your staff which of the five they would try first, and let a small team run with it. If the answer is teacher learning, our professional development is built around the units your teachers are about to teach.
Finland's story is also a reminder to measure your own school rather than rely on reputation. The free AI Readiness Assessment takes five minutes and scores your school across Policy, People, Curriculum, Guardrails, and Funding, with the three fixes that matter most.
Related reading: Professional development for educators in the era of human and AI collaboration: what works in 2025-2026 and Human-centered AI and the future of personalized learning in schools.
Questions school leaders ask
Is Finland still the best education system in the world?
No single system holds that title, and Finland no longer leads PISA. In PISA 2025, 14 countries and economies scored significantly higher than Finland in reading and 19 in math, according to the University of Jyvaskyla's release of the Finnish results. Finland still scored above the OECD average in all three subjects.
Why did Finland's PISA scores drop?
No one has settled that. The OECD describes two decades of relatively steady drops since 2006. Over the same period Finnish schools saw more students needing language and learning support, and students report more device use at school than the OECD average, but none of these is a proven cause.
Do Finnish students take standardized tests?
There are no mandatory national standardized tests for pupils in basic education, according to the Finland Promotion Board. That is a national policy choice, so a U.S. school can reduce its own testing and test prep but cannot opt out of what its state requires.
Do Finnish teachers need a master's degree?
Yes. Eurydice reports that all teachers in primary, lower secondary, and general upper secondary education are required to have a master's degree. In the OECD's TALIS 2024 survey, 48% of Finnish lower secondary teachers agreed that teachers are valued in society, compared with 26% in the United States.
What is the easiest Finnish practice to try first?
Homework. A school can review how much it assigns this term, at no cost. The 10-minute rule, ten minutes per grade level per night, is a common starting point endorsed by the National PTA and the National Education Association.
Sources
- NCES, PISA 2025 U.S. results (September 2026) (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- OECD, PISA 2025 Results (Volume I): Finland country note (September 2026) (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- OECD, PISA 2025 Results (Volume I): United States country note (September 2026) (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- University of Jyvaskyla, PISA 2025: students in Finland still perform well above OECD average in science (September 2026) (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Yle, Finnish PISA 2022 results (December 2023) (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Education Week, Finland's global standing in education takes hit with latest PISA results (December 2013) (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- OECD, Results from TALIS 2024 country note: Finland (October 2025) (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- OECD, Results from TALIS 2024 country note: United States (October 2025) (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- OECD, Education at a Glance 2025: Finland country note (September 2025) (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Finland Promotion Board, Education in Finland (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Eurydice, Finland: teachers and education staff (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Yle, Finland bans smartphones in schools (2025) (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- The Atlantic, How Finland keeps kids focused through free play (June 2014) (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- NBC News, How much homework is too much? (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
See where your school stands on AI, in five minutes
Eight questions. A score out of 24 across Policy, People, Curriculum, Guardrails, and Funding, with the three fixes that move it most. The report is yours whether or not you ever call us.