La Finlande se maintient toujours en tête du classement établi par l’OCDE dans sa dernière enquête comparative (Regards sur l’éducation 2005) des systèmes éducatifs de ses trente pays membres. 

Un journaliste de l’hebdomadaire The Observer est parti en Finlande pour mieux comprendre les raisons de cette réussite. 

 Pourquoi le système finlandais est-il toujours en tête des systèmes éducatifs de l’OCDE ? 
Environ 60% des 5 millions de Finlandais ont reçu une éducation supérieure et les adolescents de 15 ans sont de loin les premiers de l’OCDE dans la résolution des problèmes de math. 

Le système se caractérise, entre autres, par l’absence d’évaluation, des journées courtes, l’importance de la musique, de l’art et du sport et dix bonnes semaines de vacances en été. 

Une approche radicalement différente de l’éducation semble être la clé de la réussite finlandaise. 
"L’école doit être un prolongement de la maison et non un lieu froid plein d’interdits", explique Riitta Severinkangas, prof d’anglais à l’Arabia School d’Helsinki. 
Pour Jouni Valijarvi, professeur à l’Université Jyvaskyla, le succès s’explique aussi par la tradition et l’histoire du pays. L’adoption du protestantisme comme religion d’Etat a permis une alphabétisation massive de la population (les personnes qui ne pouvaient pas lire la Bible ne pouvaient pas se marier). 
Par ailleurs, le métier de professeur est très valorisé. L’enseignement est une science à part entière avec un cursus de cinq années. 
Chaque année, seuls 13% des candidats à l’entrée en fac d’enseignement sont reçus. 

Enfin l’absence de compétition entre les élèves est une donnée primordiale, aux dires de Valijarvi qui explique : "l’approche compétitive baisse le niveau d’ensemble…On a d’un côté les gagnants de l’autre les perdants et l’écart entre les deux ne peut que se renforcer".

Shorter days in class, long holidays, respect for teachers: it's the formula for excellence

Juxu Herka, 13, kicks her Adidas trainers into a pile of assorted Nikes and Pumas and walks to her English class in her socks - a morning ritual at Arabia School in Helsinki which gives a clue to why Finland has the best state schools in the world.

This land of vodka and Nokia phones has more graduates than any other country and its 15-year-olds are the best at solving maths problems, according to the latest education survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Juxu and her classmates have no league tables or Sats, they enjoy short school days, free hot lunches, lots of music, art and sport, and 10-week summer holidays. In a country where 60 per cent of the people are university-educated, the children have the world's best education.

The US, Britain and all other European countries are far behind Finland in the survey, along with such educational hothouses as China and Japan.

'We believe school should be an egalitarian place and an extension of home, not a cold, forbidding environment,' said English teacher Riitta Severinkangas, an English teacher at Arabia.

'In every Nordic home, children and adults leave their shoes by the door. So we do the same in our school, to make it homely, though teachers are allowed to wear indoor shoes.'

In Juxu's English class, as in many others at this combined primary and secondary school, textbooks are virtually redundant. 'I get them to do a lot of illustrated essays,' said Severinkangas. 'Their homework today is to write about "my favourite pet". It is always better to try to get the pupils to relate to something in their own lives.'

A three-headed dog may turn up in the essays. Pupil Victor Sund is a Harry Potter fanatic and is reading the 600 pages of The Half Blood Prince - in English. 'It has not been translated into Finnish yet,' he says, matter of factly. Not to be outdone, classmate Ville Luostarinen shows off his weighty Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide - also in the original language. These pupils are all 13 and have been studying English for just three years.

Since the OECD's first major education study, in 2000, Finland, with a population of five million, has led the world in literacy.

'We were not astounded by that result,' said Jouni Valijarvi, professor of education research at Jyvaskyla University, 'because we have a tradition of reading and using libraries. It dates back to Christianity's arrival in Finland 400 years ago. Priests used to test couples' literacy. Those who could not read from the Bible were denied marriage licences.'

The 317 pupils at the school - a building without corridors, designed around a spiral staircase and an open-plan cafeteria - are from a cross-section of Finnish inner-city families, with few from ethnic minorities. Those with special needs belong to ordinary classes but also have three teachers of their own.

Nico Kalja, 14, sits in a corner of teacher Jorma Kuittinen's special needs class and says - in English - that it's all 'bullshit' and he would rather be on his PlayStation or listening to Metallica.

Yet Kuittinen has interested at least two of the eight children in a history lesson. Inez Kaukoranta, 14, enjoys films and acting; she is taking notes on Charlie Chaplin's Great Dictator. One of the boys prefers military technology and is making a collage of Second World War bombers.

Headteacher Kaisu rarely uses her office, preferring to be in the staff room with colleagues. 'We are informal and talk a lot, sharing ideas,' she said.

Lately, Karkkainen's time has been taken up showing foreign education experts around. 'They all want to know what our secret is. I say it's our teachers. In Finland, the teaching profession is highly regarded. Education is considered a science and there is such competition that only about 13 per cent of applicants a year are admitted to the teaching faculty. You do five years and qualify with a master's degree. We do not have teacher training colleges.'

Arabia school is twinned with a British comprehensive in County Durham, which Karkkinen has visited. 'The methods are the same, the children are the same, but in Finland we are trusted by the authorities to find the best solutions and do our job.'

But Valijarvi, the education professor, fears Finland's success will tempt politicians to 'tinker', perhaps introducing UK-style league tables. 'The competitive approach tends to lower the overall level,' he warned.

'Our poor students do extremely well, so the gap between them and the high performers is small compared to that in other countries. But we know you have to work extremely hard with those students. If you stress competition, they will be the losers and the gap will widen.'

For now, however, Juxu and her friends can go on leaving their trainers at the school door, knowing that they are knocking the socks off the competition.