Finland’s education system is generally reduced to two simple observations in Türkiye: little homework, and children spending a lot of time outdoors in the schoolyard. This approach is appealing because it turns a complex system into an easily copyable and ultimately hollow recipe. Yet Finland’s story is less about having little homework and more about schools’ capacity to complete learning in the classroom, and about how that capacity is designed alongside the importance given to the teaching profession, early support, and trust-based governance. Because the system works, the need for homework decreases. Because pressure on students is lower, they can play comfortably outdoors during breaks.
Let’s look at objective indicators of achievement. In the OECD PISA 2022 results, Finland shows strong performance. In mathematics, the share of students reaching at least the basic proficiency level, Level 2 and above, is 75 percent, which is above the OECD average. The top performer share is also around 9 percent. That said, compared with 2018, average reading and mathematics scores declined in 2022, and achievement gaps linked to socioeconomic differences appear to have widened in some areas. So while Finland is doing well, it is not a success story running on autopilot.
Precisely for this reason, Finland has tightened its reform agenda in recent years. One of the most critical moves has been reorganizing the learning support system. As of 1 August 2025, the organization of learning support in early childhood and basic education was changed, schools moved toward hiring more teachers, and new practices were introduced regarding the in class placement of students with high support needs. The logic of this reform is to identify the problems that have contributed to declining performance in recent years and to provide support within the school before issues grow, without pushing students toward market based solutions.
A second notable move is a legal regulation that brings serious restrictions on the use of smartphones and mobile devices in the classroom. The rules adopted by parliament were designed to enter into force after the 2025 summer break. The general principle is that device use during lessons depends on teacher permission. Here too, Finland is not dealing with symptoms but with the attention and interaction infrastructure of the learning environment.
This picture holds lessons for Türkiye. What can be taken from Finland is not the amount of homework or the length of recess. What can be transferred to Türkiye is building an educational architecture that creates the capacity to complete learning inside the school. This architecture rests on early screening of students’ skills and needs, free in school support tailored to student needs, strong teacher education, high attractiveness of the teaching profession, reliable school based assessment, and ensuring that high stakes exam pressure does not hold the classroom hostage.
I will continue tomorrow with further lessons to draw from Finland’s education system.
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