Finland’s emergence as a world-leading education system surprised even the Finns. But there are also many myths about how they did it, writes Pasi Sahlberg.

You were meant to be reading an article that began: “My teenage boys are sleeping upstairs. Any minute now, they’ll be down to raid the fridge and go on the internet. This is what our teachers are doing to our children, blah, blah, blah.”

Tighter controls on numbers training to become teachers are needed to ensure the high standard of applicants is not reduced as jobs become more scarce.

GREATER investment in education here should be matched with more autonomy for schools and less focus on reading and maths, an expert who helped turn Finland’s education system into one of the world’s best has suggested.