Finland's Context and Configuration

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CHAPTER 2 The Backdrop for Success: Finland’s Context and Configuration

1 Introduction

Finland’s context plays a strong role in its outcomes in PISA. Following Phillips and Schweisfurth (2006) and Halls’ (1970) approaches to comparative education, this chapter explores Finland’s historical and social context in order to better understand the country’s educational achievements. An education system, as a “living thing,” according to Sadler (in Higginson, 1979, p. 49), merits investigation within its context. The Finns need and deserve more than a brief description to explain and clarify their unique qualities. The question, “Who are the Finns?” necessitates a long answer:

But where does Finland belong? Is it a Baltic state, like Estonia? Is it part of Scandinavia, like Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, with which it is linked and with which it has such close ties? Is it really a part of Russia? Or is it something different from all these? A great part of Finnish history has been devoted to trying to solve this problem. (Bacon, 1970, p. 16)

This chapter strives to clarify the Finnish context, and therefore how this even- tually influenced high PISA outcomes in all administrations of the survey. It also explains the Finnish education system after exploration of “things out- side the school system” (Sadler, in Higginson, 1979, p. 49). This approach will enlighten the context in which the education system lies.

2 History of Finland to Independence

The Finnish people kept to themselves throughout their early history. “Due partly to the size of the country and their own small numbers, the Finns have striven throughout their history to live their own lives, avoid assimilation with their neighbours and remain aside from the quarrels of the rest of the world” (Juva, 1968, p. 17). The recent attention accorded to Finland has been an inter- ruption to the country’s traditionally quiet existence.

The first settlers in Finland emerged as far back as 7000 BC, a people who sub- sisted mostly on elk hunting and fishing. Archaeologists account for speakers of Finno-Ugric languages in modern Finland from about 4200 to 2200 BC (Chislett, 1996). By the Iron Age of Northern Europe, approximately the 6th Century BC, the beginnings of what we understand today as Finnish culture emerged, especially along the coast. The Finns of that day managed to elude their Indo-European counterparts for centuries. By the Bronze Age in that area, between 1800 and 500 BC, the Scandinavians reached the Southwest coast of Finland. Roman senator and historian Tacitus first mentioned the Fenni in his work Germania. Many believe he referred to the Finnish people in this account of 98 AD (Chislett, 1996; Niiniluoto, 1960). Until then, the Finns lived in relative obscurity from the rest of the Euro- pean world. Tacitus’s account described the people as living in extreme poverty, and he did not make clear the difference between the Finns and the Lapps. No historical accounts of the Finns clearly designate a place of origin. Juva (1968) cites that Blumenbach of Göttingen described Finns as a people from Cen- tral Asia. He based this assessment on their non-Indo-European language and the customs that differed from the customary Western ways. Some even have con- nected the Finns with the Turks. However, most trace their ethnic origin to the language, which has relations, whether close or distant, to Estonian, Hungarian, and Lapp, as well as the languages spoken by ethnic groups in northern Russia. These languages form the Finno-Ugric group. Although most linguists take great interest in the dissimilarity of the Finnish language from other European languages, Finn- ish can express the same notions as Indo- European languages (Niiniluoto, 1960). Most believe that, perhaps about four thousand years ago, those belonging to the Finno-Ugric language family came from the same geographical area. Although no conclusive data exist, many think they came from Central Asia, but some archaeologists suggest that the origins of the Finns may have been as close as Estonia, where they lived before they crossed the Baltic Sea into Finland (Hall, 1967). How- ever, no historical records, whether oral or written, have accounted for this migra- tory past. Slavic peoples absorbed some ethnic groups speaking a similar language to the Finns. Only the Finns, Estonians, and Hungarians achieved independence. In the context of world history, these groups led an isolated existence (Niiniluoto, 1960). The Finnish people, often confused with and lumped together with their Scandinavian neighbours, actually possess a completely different language and background from most of their European counterparts, and may understandably feel somewhat different from mainstream Europe. In order to understand Finland’s history, culture, and ties with Scandina- via, one must investigate the country’s relationship with Sweden. In fact, the Swedes did inhabit some places in modern Finland, especially around the coast and in the west and southwest. These areas of Finland always possessed a