Educating the Finnish Way: Cultivating Independently Motivated Students Through an Autonomous Mindset

Since 2001, PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) scores revealed that Finland has the most successful education system in the world, with their students consistently outranking global participants. These scores have granted Finland acknowledgement from educators across the world. Because of this, researchers have analyzed their system and classroom practices. Many of these researchers have focused on primary education and their implementation of play and discovery learning in the classroom. This paper contains a literature review that analyzed any current research written on the main attributes to the Finnish education system’s success. There appears to be a hole in the research in Finnish education regarding secondary education. For the study, research focused on secondary schools, with an emphasis on learning how educators foster student independence. It also defined the term “autonomous mindset,” which described students who have agency in their own education, in addition to being motivated and independent on a daily basis. The goal of the research was to interview secondary educators in Finland and interpret how American teachers can apply innovative strategies into their classroom that will result in students who have an autonomous mindset. Eleven teachers at Parhaat Secondary School were interviewed. These interviews were transcribed and organized into four main codes: Finnish culture, student teacher relationships, creative lesson planning, and personalized instruction. These codes were then expanded on as findings. The study revealed that, to cultivate student autonomy, teachers must get to know their students, build a mutual respect, and create student interest-driven lesson plans. These strategies were suggested to teachers who are interested in cultivating the autonomous mindset in their American classrooms.