On 24th of December, 2020, the book “This is Finnish Education” written by Wendan Qian, produced by Sino-Finnish Education Research Center of the Sino-Finnish Joint Learning and Innovation Institute (JoLII) was released in Beijing, China. The book aims to introduce the current state of Finnish education system for Chinese audiences. while facilitating the discussions on what Chinese education can learn from Finland by documenting the Finnish experiences of education reforms.
Adjunct Professor Cai Yuzhuo (University of Tampere), the director of the center in Finland and Professor Liu Baocun (Beijing Normal University), the director of the center in China have co-written the preface for this book.
Sino-Finnish Education Research Center is one of the six centers of the Sino-Finnish Joint Learning and Innovation Institute (JoLII) jointly funded by Ministry of Education of China and Ministry of Education of Finland. The center has been working on educational research and policy between China and Finland from the perspective of comparative education since its establishment in 2016. As a result, the center has built a high-quality assurance system to support the educational communication and collaboration between China and Finland.
Highly Recommended by Education Professionals in Finland and China
The book “This is Finnish Education” has received strong support from both Chinese and Finnish education professionals since its conception.
Professor Hannele Niemi from the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, who is the Finnish Chair of the Council of JoLII, said that she was delighted to see such a comprehensive description of the Finnish education system in Chinese. She highly recommends this book, saying that it really helps to understand how to connect equity and quality in education. It is inspiring to observe how different parts of the educational system are connected for students’ high-quality learning outcomes and well-being in Finland.
Professor Liu Jia, the former Dean of the Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, the Chinese Chair of the Council of JoLII, said that Finland is the birthplace of innovation in basic education. Only by understanding the dynamic development of Finnish education can we use Finnish basic education as a reference to promote the development of innovative education in China. This book explicitly describes the map of Finland’s education reform, and the close links it has with the Chinese teachers and stakeholders.
Professor Katariina Salmela-Aro at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, strongly recommends this important book. She points out that the book ‘This is Finnish Education’ comprehensively describes the Finnish Educational system from various perspectives. It allows readers to step into the Finnish classrooms and focuses upon the teachers’ classroom observations. The book outlines both the social and the cultural factors behind Finnish education system based upon Finnish research. Finally, the book thoroughly analyses the process of Finnish education reforms. The book inspires us to understand how Finland has transformed from a poor farming country where only a few people were educated to a modern knowledge-based society with a high-quality education system. It provides an understanding of how Finland has built its student-centered classrooms and the trust towards teachers in the society.
Yuhang Gao from the Cultural and Education Section of the Chinese Embassy in Finland highly recommends this book. He became aware of Wendan because of Finnish education. Gao saw Wendan’s understanding of Finnish education progress through different stages: a passionate beginner with some misconceptions, an insider with authentic experiences, then a researcher with deep understanding and reflections. Gao recommends this book to Chinese parents, teachers and researchers.
The Brand Series THIS IS FINNISH EDUCATION
The book “This is Finnish Education” is an important milestone of “This is Finnish Education” brand series. As a product of the series, the book provides reliable information and high-quality research results on Finnish education which aim to help Chinese educators understand Finnish education comprehensively.
In the past five years, This is Finnish Education brand series has continuously led and deepened the dialogue and collaboration in education between China and Finland covering all levels and fields, such as academic articles, scholar visits, students exchanges, video series, research seminars, theme-based educational reports and publications.
Based on academic research, the ‘This is Finnish Education’ series is becoming a leading and influential quality assurance system of professionals engaged in Sino-Finnish Education Research Centre. While we hope that the advanced experience of Finnish education can be an effective tool to aid Chinese education reforms, we also aim to provide an international stage for Chinese educators to lead and be heard upon.
In 2015, the Sino-Finnish Education Research Center invited Prof. Gu Mingyuan, a leading professor in education in China, who visited Finland to understand Finnish education. Professor Cai Yuzhuo from University of Tampere and Professor Teng Jun from Beijing Normal University along with other professionals attended the seminar. We organized a session titled “When the East Meets the North-A Dialogue between Chinese and Finnish Educational Masters under the framework of the Sino-Finnish Learning Garden”. Professor Hannele Niemi, the former vice president of the University of Helsinki was invited to discuss the cultural foundation, social environment, professional development of teachers and the mission of Sino-Finnish education cooperation in the office of Finnish Ministry of Culture and Education. The Sino-Finnish Education Master Dialogue lasted for 4 hours. The session was reported in the Chinese Education Newspaper, in a series of theme-based reports titled “Prof. Gu Mingyuan Shows you Finnish Education”.
In 2016 and 2017, with the co-efforts of the Chinese director Liu Baocun and the Finnish director Cai Yuzhuo, the first and second The Capacity Development Programme for Sino-Finnish Education Cooperation Professionals were successfully held in Beijing Normal University, China and Tampere University, Finland respectively. These seminars brought together more than 100 scholars and teachers from universities and educational research institutions who have long been engaged in Sino-Finnish educational cooperation both in China and Finland. This is also a vital part of the “This is Finnish Education Series” of the Sino-Finnish Education Research Center.
In 2017, the Sino-Finnish Education Research Center of JoLII, together with the Education Bureau of the Tampere Municipal in Finland and the Beijing Mingyuan Education Academy in China, jointly planned and published a series of theme-based educational reports in Chinese media. Under the framework of “This is Finnish Education” series, these reports aimed at promoting Chinese educators’ understanding of Finnish education. After that, the center produced “This is Finnish Education” video series which first released during the visit of the Finnish Minister of Education to China. The videos received positive feedback from different shareholders, and furthered the Chinese understanding of Finnish education.
During 2017 to 2019, Wendan Qian as a guest researcher of the center, imparted valuable information on the Finnish Education to Chinese educators via her column in the Shanghai Education Magazine. Now the book “This is Finnish Education” written by her is a significant milestone in the “This Is Finnish Education Series”.
When looking back over the past five years, the Sino-Finnish Education Research Center, with the support of the Sino-Finnish Joint Learning and Innovation Institute and extraordinary cooperation between the Ministry of Education of China and Finland, has several achievements to boast off in their portfolio such as academic articles, visiting scholars, workshops, videos, publications and a book.
Along with the success of the fifth annual conference of the Sino-Finnish Joint Learning Innovation Institute held in November 2020, a new cooperation agreement for the next ten years was signed by Professor Zhou Zuoyu, Vice President of Beijing Normal University and Professor Hanna Snellman, Vice President of the University of Helsinki. It marks the beginning of a new era for the Sino-Finnish educational cooperation. Under this framework, the Sino-Finnish Education and Research Center is warmly welcoming and anticipating fruitful cooperation over the next 10 years amongst the Chinese and Finnish educators.