well only pick either and welcome to the alex album sure thank you very much so you've had a long experience and from the said to cation to late to the national agency now but previously a minister of education wasn't really the piece of assault the program for international student assessment from louis cd when it 1st came out in the year 2000 was that put shot full of finish education into the international spotlight i would say that it it that that's the time when the real interest started and actually also is the big change the discussion in finland all of course we do have a lot of criticism internally about our education system but when the results came that kind of quiet it down and there was the kind of more call him kind of situation after that so it really changed a lot of things unless they still prayed and for the ability last even winning

a gold medal win for each education was was top of the class sure and i think that is something that has kind of flown the routes the kind of proudness about our education system because it's kind of bound to the 'd finnish d.n.a. . it's comes from kind of a 150 years ago when when finland was actually a very poor country and when 1st the ideas about finland one day being an independent nation started. then there was the idea that what's the best way for finland to be a nation among nations and the answer warse that if we can raise the kind of cultural or language stick skills level of the whole population that is the best way for us to become independent and that was actually also the means

that was taken the idea to educate everybody in the finnish society and that's kind of it's still kind of carries on that same idea that the equality is by far the most important principle in the finisher to cations system so education a symbol of collective national achievement when we see service showing not just fill in the top or near the top of the class for education but also as one of the happiest countries or they are perhaps the happiest country or their how much of that do you think is philly's pray that education security the children are going to get a decent education so is ed to this education contribute to the fil a sense of self esteem. i would say. that in international compact reasons there are 3 areas where finland is doing well one of them being education the human

capital another one being the kind of security of the society the kind of stable mass and the 3rd one being equal it to you whether it's going of gender require the quality or other aspects of the quality and i think these 3 they kind of feed eat each other and they also create another company and which is central and that's trust. the finnish society is a trust society and it's possible because there is equality in the society and equality comes through the equal education system and those are the reasons that create the stability in the society so it's a kind of virtuous circle happening there finland in terms

of achieving educational excellence been so kicks against the accepted wisdom for the students go to school later in life not not until the 2nd a good to school leatham the day we have a shorter school day than the international average for the students have less homework so this it was the very opposite of the the other countries which school highly in the piece are rankings the far eastern countries which have a very intensive schooling with very hard what lots of homework drive for full excellence how could finland achieve what it does counterfactual going against the grain or working harder studying more. hyper southwark we want our children to have a life that they have other aspects in their life. than only going to

school and understanding that the wellbeing and learning are strongly connected that if there's no wellbeing there's no learning if the breakfast is not eaten in the morning the learning won't happen. and that also kind of is connected to the idea that do you have time for your family you have time to your friends you have time to hold b.s. that it's a kind of more holistic way of looking what kind of growing into humanity in practice means but only this one little disputed finish excellence but the must be false still in the the education system and there's always room for improvement what would you identify as the atheist will finland wants to drive forward to achieve even more one thing that needs to change is

that in finland the teacher which is kind of very very central strength in our system the teacher profession is a very kind of individualistic profession in finland that teachers do their job and work and develop below and that we must change we must get the kind of teachers collaborate much much more together to create the school community that supports the learning in order to kind of maintain the quality in our system the schools and the teachers they need more support structures and mechanisms that we have had earlier when the change is faster it means that there's a danger that kind of cards will be dealt again and that some will get good cards and some others will get bad guards and we don't want that to happen we want to

make sure that no matter with school. family lives close to the closest school is a good school. and how about higher education and father education. i mean by international standards developed countries the number of finns going to invest 45 percent of them which is school of than wellwood many countries is that a strength for a weakness does that mean you emphasize implication of education or does it just been that your friends want to go out into the world to know what place as opposed to spending time with you know best. the thing we are very happy with is ok chanology cation in finland is actually very popular that it's gone off half and half that go to the general secondary and code to the vocational side and that's a good thing but we're seeing that the changes in the working life in the future

will mean that we have to increase. the percentage of people go into the to the target 3 level to the university level and that's what we're aiming at to to increase those presented to us and at the same time we must also make changes halward the learning in the university sector is happening that there's clearly a need there also to kind of combine academic and the kind of practical side the kind of theory of practice kind of involvement of reflection in a much much stronger way how easy is it to translate finnish education to another society is that it's not possible or or really should people remember that for this education is a product of finland as well as being a good education system in that so we don't see that we have the secret of

education we're faced with the same job lindsey's of other nations are we have a good starting point but the challenge is for futures are kind of similar and for that reason be a very committed to international cooperation and development work together with other nations and i think we can all learn it with that kind of an approach now ali parents across the world what should list. what do you do but how do children going to do i just to see the children do well at school and excel. i suppose normally they would say well what card or higher truth to make sure you do your homework. and then the finish example seems to point in the opposite direction is there a message you could love to to parents across the world as the as they fret about the future be moved to finland the uk is a is a something else you could see to give comfort to anxious people wanting their

children to do the best they can. well from a finis experience is i think 2 things that i would like to say the 1st one being that the best thing a baron can do is to be interested in the child's life and learning and the 2nd one is the thing that we value in finland that makes sure that. we are not kind of stressing our children too much it's not only that you kind of learn things but it's also the ability for you what you can do with what you learned and there we come to the question again with the with the well being that you that the child satisfaction in life is also there cause that's really where the kind of you know motivations to learn new things in the future and kind of prosper in life actually

comes from it does not happen if you're too stressed too young to know in order to celebrate the success of finish education i brought with me the the early simon quick though you probably know that till the whiskey or a. less alcoholic substances but if it's all call it only scotch whiskey nothing else works and then pass that road and all your friends and toast to the new year and finish education thank you so much. coming up after the break we answer the question on whether finish excellence in education has been built. on lifelong continuing education.

and we're going to fulfill repeated promises apologise to the people i promise you . will potts. you want to. know. be cut.

i'm not one who will ever argue that there are worthy and unworthy victims it's also important to also distinguish the fact that whenever we have a crime scene or me off the i mean genocide and other cases of genocide that's that we're talking about issues of confronting it acknowledging it and injustice and reparations for it are important it is important to confront the crimes wherever they happen but it shouldn't be a means to dilute you know the experience of. in this particular case of the. welcome back to helsinki and i've just thought of another reason why is finland rather than tuckey which is the real home ascent necklace or santa claus i'm not of course because there are precious few reindeers in talking and the finnish

department of education of just made it official because they have registered you are picky that's the finnish celebration of christmas with unesco so it's all there and agreed internationally and it is education that it's led the way in funny social services the real reason for finland being the happiest country on f. l e education and then continuing education through life. i know you wrote the you're head of innovation the the national board for education and from want. to change occasions do spectacularly well by please a standard spent on national measurement. part of those one of them is that phyllis children spend less time in school they do less homework than most comparable countries yet they seem to do better at school so how do you explain the the products that phyllis shows seem to not to be asked to do as much in formal schooling but end up with better results well we believe that it's important that

children have time to play and have healthy sense spend time with their parents so we don't believe that by increasing the amount of time in school or by increasing the amount of homework given you can get better results children are children and they learn by playing they learn by being their peers and parents learning takes place everywhere not only in the school building no formal education starts lead to sudden finland again later than many other countries but there's a lot of work goes into child development before the template we are interested in baby boxes which is a long standing policy in finland so we certainly copied by scotland so how has that part of our continuing strand of child development i think that has supported families very well in the child box there is always

a book for example which creates a positive atmosphere for the parents to read to their child since the very beginning and i think the benefits that we have in the society are excellent tro both for the last the lottery and so this is a by almost like a cot of the given to each family in that when they have a child and has some some goodies that things are useful for bringing up babies. longstanding this policy of little since $1000.00 thirty's so you think of all these advantages and policeman for having children all these trade center policies that the foolish 4 feet would be a bit higher than countries but it's actually a bit longer compatible countries can you explain love particles yeah we've been discussing this a lot in the society during the past year and i don't think we know the answer but when you talk to young adults nowadays they look at the world and their own life differently there are issues like climate change for example that they consider

seriously the 11 obstacle for having a family and also the working life is very different now my generation for example we knew that when we had education in finland we were guaranteed to have a job nowadays it's different young people need to create their own professions and jobs so all these things seem to be the factors in their mind today why they are hesitant of having children and this is the objective of government policy to increase the finish perforate a national agency been discussing home education innovation might help of well the national discussion is going on also at the parliament about this but. there are different opinions on that and of course the government is trying to support the families also financially and there is a discussion that maybe we should have

a 2 year pre-primary education instead of having one year prior pre-primary education so this will be look into now during this government term and some experiments will begin at the finish national agency for education we haven't been discussing this very much except that we want the energy childhood education and care quality be excellent and we just are implement. in the 1st curriculum and we hope that we will get good quality education for every child so 20 years since the piece of the 1st piece of the o.e.c.d. an international component of study was released when it was released was a surprise for for this education is like yourself or the jesus well that confirms what we we knew all along it was a surprise i was attending an international education network in the united states at the time when the 1st results came out and all the delegates including us finish

said that this must be a nice day and the so we were very astonished we didn't really think much of it but . we don't learn for peace we learn for life but since then we've been very fortunate to have good learning outcomes and know looking to the future ahead of the innovation unit what would be could you put your finger on one aspect of innovation but you think that's going to be our next breakthrough where we're going to lead the field and finish education this is a hard question but if we don't ask the students what they would like their education system or learning or school would be like there we're missing some innovations that we could build on. thank you so much for for your side insight and in order to toss the continuing success of carriage

occasion to represent if the others aren't quick it's whiskey only scotch in the quick and then passed round your fellow educational thank you very much i appreciate it thank you thank you. i'm no delighted to be joined by one of finland's leading educationalists professor in the strong vessel industry i'm. in this going by scotland was widely seen of the leading educational system in the world and and that reputation continued long after perhaps evidence suggested that it was slipping back are you worried that the same thing may may happen to finland it is actually happening to some extent and i think. yeah it is a concern it is even a reason to worry about because it has to do especially that the greatest strength of the finnish school system is literacy basically we have always been a very literate country for various historical reasons including the fact that we

have been rather monocultural society in which the protestant church has had a very dominant position and that church required that people should be able to read even to get married. that sounds some some luck to sort of scotland of course yes it is so in terms of the village approach no with that if we take an analogy with the great philanthropist under come legally you know who's building libraries across the world to give the the working classes of off the top of the 19th and 20th century access to to the lemming. defending least education no stress the ability of students to access from this modern technology the the information that they need is that what is meant by little see in the world only i'm glad that you took up the example of libraries you know

finland has the densest library and that public library network in the world and every municipality has at least one by every if not more so it's not only the school system as such but it's the way these services that promote human capabilities form a kind of an internet linked network of infrastructure and services and this is too often taken for granted here if a thing goes abroad it realizes that it's very difficult to find a public library and make maybe even more difficult to get access to books if you get to the library and the site partly explained in the apartment part of the oaks . the police education has excelled into lastly despite the fact that these people spend less time at school have less homework assumed to be a little much less pressurised environment than the many of the contemporaries for

example in the far eastern countries who spend perhaps twice as long as school of several times as much hope this does the reading say that the school is a positive the explanation for the success absolutely i think part of the explanation is that we have not enough not too much schooling finnish side that puts a pretty heavy emphasis on on the kids self determination and even play the idea is that they have to find their own way and they have to find their own way to flourish and that it's not just the single road measurable with grades and so on so we don't have any national tests we don't even have any inspections in the schools schools are very autonomous in this sense of course that's possible because also the teachers are very highly educated they all have master's degrees and they are pretty proud professionals and this means that they make the decisions together with the parents and and kids my youngest son is 14 and he before this interview

had told me tell them one thing it's that here they trust us we can quote we call our teachers by the 1st name and the idea of taking kids seriously as. partners in in learning and teachers of course have a much longer relationship with students in finland and compassing several years as opposed to just the it teacher for the individual subject for a period for one year the teachers seem to have a much more developed relationship with the students that's 2 if you're lucky the 1st 6 years of comprehensive school you have. one single teacher this means that there is continue with the the relationship between the teacher and the students becomes much more and that's a reciprocal in many schools the students already in lower primary grades they feel that they own the school this is all the work place we move here as we want we are

not here to be disciplined so i think that that's a kind of a secret best friend you can't make people learn they have to find their own way that's all very very much. well here at the christmas market in helsinki there's more than enough contentment to go around but friends seem to have led the secret not just the being many at christmas but being nearly all year the same that fans don't like cutthroat competition don't like the fast inanna thing but if that's the case ironically it's propelled them to 1st place in the world happiness index as recognized by the united nations in terms of education as welfare is easy to see in practical terms what is attractive about the for the system snow that the children will receive at least a decent education and students know the good to life unbuffed and by tens of thousands of euros of debt in the not for contentment but of course education as

we've also here is deeply in bude in the finnish national consciousness being excellent and they give cation as an accolade for the whole country next week we'll look at the for the social and political model as also bread contentment so until you join the sentiments many christmas and a happy new year from helsinki. max and stacey are continuing on our south american tour and as you can see behind me

we are in rio de janeiro oh my god so beautiful so much going on this is a country can transition. what politicians do. they put themselves on the line to get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president and you. want to be rich. but you're going to be approaching this like that before 3 in the morning can't be good. i'm interested always in the waters about how. this should. exist is a stick of water bottle phone in the stomach of a fish the brand is spawns of the coca-cola company which sells millions of bottles of soda every day the idea was that let's tell consumers there are the bad was

there the litter bugs are throwing this away industry should be blamed for all this waste the company has long promised to reuse the plastic. that seems cool sets. stay on your social projects funding me. on that is the end of it for the team but for now the mountains of waste only grow . the same camera can use to smash someone's head is the same hammer i can use to build them a home but that's a human choosing what to do with that that's me expressing my values for the tool and that's what we need to do with artificial intelligence as well. brothers suit you i do the room light of them so little.

my name is drawn more than i was sentenced to die in prison by the british who love my life. take a stick grab some media attention i mean it's a shooting in a 16 year olds to 16 birthday party so so i think the police just held a lot of pressure to. close the case. for us i think just wrong it's like i couldn't believe those. you know so far they are all more than the sure don't want peace be with us that's all of the issues because i was standing right next to. me for is the sun you got to keep in mind one soon those 1617 years old so. this could lose monday night clung to his fear of them both literally and i hope lose lose. one lose is close to. the other groups will know the truth.

while his us presidential candidate multi-billionaire. his team views prison may be to make campaign. and protests about a dog's empowers enjoy the demonstration against pension reforms which could see the retirement age need to be full. and while the united states is in the throes of an epidemic many african states have been suffering from chronic. prescription painkillers we don't get how an ambitious project for one this time in a situation.