Finnish Teachers: What Can We Learn from Them?

Besides its exceptional education approach, schools in Finland are filled with exceptional teachers too.

Let’s see the approaches Finnish teachers take in teaching and learning.

Ask for help	Finnish teachers accept that they are not perfect. With its system that encourages cooperation instead of competition, the teachers and students help each other to succeed. Finnish teachers often reach out to their colleagues, administrators and even their students’ mother for help when faced with challenging student or class.
Get outside	Finnish teachers often organize their class sessions out of the classroom such as to the riversides, city centres, forests and marshlands. They fully utilize the natural resources available during their excursion to enhance their lessons. A single resource such as a rock can teach us anything from spelling to math to science.
Get to know their students	Finnish teachers spend a lot of time and energy in getting to know their students. As they are often assigned to teach the same students for years, they have more opportunities to understand their students better. With this, they are able to tailor their lessons to the students’ learning style.
Implement more play time	Although Finland students spend a lot of their time playing, they still excel in academic. The long recess enables them to recharge and increase their focus when they are back to the class lesson.
Think outside the textbook	Finnish teachers are given the autonomy to implement different kinds of methods and materials to assist them in getting their students to learn.
Keep learning yourself	Finnish teachers show great passion for their job and in learning. This in turn influences their students to learn too as the students find the lesson interesting and inspiring.