Uloga Direktora U Finskim Školama

Metodički obzori/Methodological Horizons, 2010

A change of the school principal's role was marked as one of the most important catalysts in reforming Finnish educational system, the world leader in terms of learning results and students' achievements. Two factors have influenced the change of principal's role in schools in Finland: 1) rapid economic growth generated by technological innovation; and 2) the process of municipalization.

Journal of Educational Change

Recently, the large-scale reforms of special education have been carried out in many countries. This study focuses on the latest Finnish reform of special education in compulsory education. As principals lead educational reforms in schools and their role in the implementation of the reform is significant, the study explores principals' views on the changes in support arrangements after the educational reform. We used latent class analysis to identify the subgroups of principals who share similar views. In addition, we examined the relationship between the subgroups and individual, school, and municipal level factors using multinomial logistic regression analysis. Four subgroups were identified: improved pedagogical support (19% of principals), stability of support (54%), increased administrative support (14%), and weakened support (13%). Work experience as a principal, school size, schools' resources for special education, and region differentiated these subgroups from one another. Despite nationwide reform, the support arrangements and their changes seem to differ among schools in the opinion of principals. We discuss the implications for the planning and implementation of the educational reforms.

Foro de Educación

The aim of this article is to examine the historical and present changes in educational policy in Finland. In this article we track and describe the development of the comprehensive school reform in Finland by asking: What was the background to the comprehensive school reform in Finland? What was the main content of the reform and how did it lay the foundation for the success today of Finland's educational model? What are the main contemporary challenges for the Finnish educational model? The article is supported by bibliographic, qualitative document analysis and makes use of state-of-the-art sources taken from studies pertaining to Finland's education system. It also draws from official government documents and multilateral institutional documents in which Finland's educational policymaking is investigated. We argue that the comprehensive school reform in Finland laid the foundation for the success of the country's educational model in international comparisons and that the success of the reform was the result of a set of historical, social, cultural, political, economic, and ethical-moral factors that have shaped Finnish society since the mid-19 th century.

Bloomsbury Education and Childhood Studies, 2019

Comprehensive school system, Local education authorities, Decentralization, 'Culture of trust', Pupil welfare staff Comprehensive school system: An education system in which the schools are publicly funded and are commonly not able to select their intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. It is the opposite of a selective school system, into which admission is based on selection criteria (Kalalahti, Silvennoinen, Varjo & Rinne 2015). Culture of trust: The unarticulated cultural principle in Finland, meaning that the central administration (Ministry of Education and Culture and the Finnish National Agency for Education) have confidence that local education authorities, together with principals, teachers, parents, and their communities know how to provide the best possible education for their children. Municipality: An administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government as granted by the national laws to which it is subordinate. In 2018, Finland consists of 311 municipalities. They are the main providers of basic education (Varjo & Kalalahti 2018). Research on management, leadership and governance In Finland, local education administration at the primary level is the responsibility of the subordinate bodies of the state, municipalities. According Aho, Pitkänen and Sahlberg (2006), rather than unifying the education system through centralized decrees and standards, Finnish education policies have nurtured cohesive diversity and developed material and human resources. Hence, the practices on management, leadership and governance are distinctive.

Manuscript for Richard, R. Vertigo (ed.) Educational Reform in Europe: History, Culture, and Ideology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, pp. 1-24., 2014

Finland a nation ignored and made invisible and near the artic circle, is a nation that puts its children and teachers first. It is a nation to immolate with its unique approach and success in this vis a vis a school system with sanity.

Paris: Organization for Economic …, 2007

This report is part of a larger OECD study exploring school leadership policy issues. It aims to provide analysis on the particular Finnish approach to school leadership for systemic improvement that contributes to their educational success. In a decentralised environment, Finnish ...

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2015

Through a partnership between the University of Oradea in Romania and New England College is the USA we sought to corroborate whether or not teachers in the field agreed with the information we have been receiving through the media, change agents, and the leaders of the Finnish educational system. We believed that Finnish teachers agreed with the journalists then we would have an important message for our teachers and educational and political leaders. Our findings overwhelmingly indicated that teachers should be given the respect, support, resources, responsibility, freedom, training, and authority to effectively and professionally teach their students.

Education Research International

The purpose of this study was to find out what current challenges successful principals in Estonia and Finland identify in developing their schools. The strategies used in dealing with these challenges were also analyzed within the framework of “growth-mindset pedagogy” as an educational approach to school leadership. The principals were interviewed, and the resulting data were analyzed by means of both inductive and deductive content analysis. The similarities among and differences between principals from Estonia and Finland were compared and discussed in the context of high-achievement-oriented but culturally different educational systems. According to the results, the challenges are similar in both countries, relating to the principals’ professional development, as well as developments in the curriculum and the learning community. The Estonian principals identified more challenges related to developments in the learning community than their Finnish peers, although in both countri...