Education Secretary Kirsty Williams is in Finland on a fact-finding mission to learn more about the country’s highly regarded education system (Weds 18th Jan).
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
She will visit Finnish schools and see for herself how teaching is organised and meet local students and teachers. The activity is part of an international education conference with people attending from 18 countries in the city of Rovaniemi. The Education Secretary will also hear from top Finnish pedagogical experts, including Professor Kirsti Lonka.
Finland’s education system ranks highly in global results and underwent a range of reforms, many of which are similar to changes now underway in Wales.
The Welsh Government is developing a new national curriculum which will be used to support teaching and learning from September 2021. The latest stage in developing the curriculum is looking at the design of the six Areas of Learning and Experience of the new curriculum; these are expressive arts, health and well-being, humanities, languages, literacy and communication, mathematics and numeracy, science and technology.
Kirsty Williams said:
“This visit is part of our efforts to learn from the best in the world when it comes to education.
“We are undergoing similar reforms in Wales as we develop our new national curriculum and I want to hear about the Finnish experience and whether there is anything we in Wales can learn from that.
“Our national mission is to make sure our education system provides our young people with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in the modern world. The new curriculum we are developing reflects this ambition.”