Five from Finland
Education, part 4
Finns love to learn. Now they are teaching the world how they do it.
There is so much going on in Finnish education that we are already on our fourth collection of education-related activities. Check out what this quintet is up to.
Huippu Education
This Finnish company has announced a partnership with the New English School in Amman, Jordan. The school joins Huippu Education’s growing international customer base, to which it provides high-end and well-established education services.
“We see ourselves as pioneers of renewing how education is seen globally,” saidLaura Indrén, founder and CEO. “Whether it is at the most remote location, lively city or sometimes even a conflict area, we want to ensure all children are being offered the best available education – from early childhood to graduation.”
Finns don’t always understand how good they have it when it comes to education. FinlandWay wants to share the recipe with the rest of the world with the aim of helping families and children at the stage when learning skills and motivation are developed.
“The values of sustainable development, equality, wellbeing and solidarity are something we’re proud to be spreading through FinlandWay,” Noora Laitio told us. “[W]e genuinely want to create better beginnings for children and families around the world.”
Finland is world-renowned for its education system and doesn’t fare poorly in winter sports either. Now the two have come together in a unique range of education export products which are proving popular in China.
The Chinese government has an ambitious goal. It wants to create 300 million new winter sports enthusiasts by the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. For Finns – who consider skiing, skating and general frolicking in the snow as national pastimes – this has opened the door to a new kind of educational export. This is all part of the China-Finland Year of Winter Sports 2019 initiative.
Lohja-based Kisakallio Sports Institute has been one of the first to seize this opportunity
“We have over 70 years’ experience in sports education and teaching sports skills,” says Harri Hollo, Kiskallio’s marketing director. “Now we want to teach Olympic winter sports to the Chinese and help them to understand the possibilities in combining education with sports.”
International Minifiddlers, a programme launched by Helsinki-based Caprice, could make violin teaching a reality in primary schools and after-school clubs.
The teaching uses the Colourstrings method, an approach which is based on the philosophy of Zoltán Kodály and has been tested and refined over four decades in Finland. The method is ingenious in how it divides violin technique and music theory into distinct elements and introduces them to learners in the optimal order, in a way that makes use of colours and images.
“The method and materials have brought us much closer to being able to bring violin instruction to primary schools and after-school clubs, to reaching as wide an audience as possible,” said Maarit Rajamäki, a professional violinist and the founder and chief executive of Caprice.
Playvation and Moomin Language School
This Espoo-based provider of digital language learning solutions allows your children to learn a foreign language with the help of the Moomins.
“The Moomins have a supporting role in the service: the characters promote learning and join children on their journeys,” said CEO Anu Guttorm. “The Moomins’ values include courageousness, equality and appreciation of nature. These are the kinds of values that are needed today around the globe.”
Indeed, the company has announced deals in the Persian Gulf region, Morocco, Poland and China.