Described as “currently the most widely read worldwide study of what should lie at the heart of an education revolution” (SMH, Dec 2007), the McKinsey report, looked at the qualities of the world’s best performing schools in 2006 and 2007. Some of the most interesting points can be drawn from the case study of Finland, which scores highest in international literacy, numeracy, scientific and problem solving despite having no national testing system and one of the world’s least prescriptive curricula.The following are some of the defining characteristics:

Getting the right people to be teachers

• Finland recruits its teachers from the top 10 per cent of graduates
• Finland has introduced a first-round in its teacher selection process which consists of a multiple-choice examination designed to test literacy, numeracy and problem- solving skills.
• The top-scoring candidates then go through to the second round in the selection procedure which is run by individual universities. Applicants are tested for their communication skills, willingness to learn, academic ability and motivation for teaching.
• Finland limits the number of places on teaching training so that the supply of teachers matches demand.
• Finland, like Australia, frontloads its compensation by paying good starting salaries, but relative to other OECD countries, subsequent increases in salary are small with a difference between the average starting salary and the maximum teacher salary of only 18 percent.
• Teaching is seen as a high status profession in the eyes of the general public in Finland.

Developing teachers into effective instructors

• Finnish teachers work together, plan their lessons jointly, observe each others’ lessons and help each other improve.
• Most faculties of education manage their own training schools: these are fully operational schools where students carry out their initial teaching practice.
• Teachers are given one afternoon each week for joint planning and curriculum development.
• Schools are encouraged to work together and share materials so that best practice spreads quickly throughout the system.

Ensuring that the system is able to deliver the best possible instruction to each child

• Finland has arguably one of the least prescriptive curricula of all systems. It emphasises the need for teachers to adapt learning to the specific context in which they find themselves, while at the same time setting high expectations for what should ultimately be achieved.
• Finland has largely dispensed with national examinations, conducting only periodic assessments of student performance, the results of which stay confidential.
• Finnish children start preschool at age six and school at age seven and in primary school they study for just four to five hours per day; yet by age 15, Finnish children top the world in the OECD’s assessments of reading, mathematics, science and problem-solving.
• Finland has a highly effective system of interventions to support individual students. Through intervening quickly at the level of individual students, Finland prevents early failure compounding into long-term failure, and thus maintains strong and consistently equitable outcomes for all students.

Source: McKinsey & Company (2007), How the World’s Best-performing School Systems Come Out on Top, http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/socialsector/resources/pdf/Worlds_School_Systems_Final.pdf