一些大学提供具有专业执照的学位。这些学位除了完成所需课程之外还有额外的要求,如展示在行业做事的能力。舉例來說醫學硕士學位(芬蘭語:Lääketieteen lisensiaatti,英語:Licentiate of Medicine)。醫學學士(芬蘭語:lääketieteen kandidaatti)只能在高级医护人员的指导下進行臨床工作。而医学硕士确能独立工作,因为这个学位同时带有医生执照。所以醫學硕士虽然在芬英文中带有“副博士”(Licentiate)的字眼,但它不等同于其它学科的副博士,而是一个硕士学位。醫學博士在芬兰语中称为“lääketieteen tohtori”(英語:Doctor of Medicine)。
^Anneli Niikko, "Finnish Daycare: Caring, Education and Instruction", in Nordic Childhoods and Early Education: Philosophy, Research, Policy and Practice in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, Series: International Perspectives on Educational Policy, Research (Information Age Publishing Inc., 2006), 141
^According to Eeva Penttilä,, Director of International Relations for the Finland Education Department (City of Helsinki), "When a child is born in Finland, every mother gets a box (maternity package) from the Mother Care Center which consists of the first bed the baby has...[and]... three books. There is a book for the mother, a book for the father, and a book for the baby. Of course the baby book has...mainly those faces that babies easily can see. This indicates to the parents that for this new member of the family, you have to read. Reading to the baby is so important. I was amazed when I read somewhere that when you consider our population, we produce more children's books than any other country does. One thing you can’t do here is to buy good education for your child. Everything is free including universities. Every child is a self made person in this kind of a system because whatever your background is, you can make it but if you don’t make it, whatever your father is, you will drop down because we do not have this elite. The school meals are also free... Education isn’t even free in China. If I count the taxation from my salary, it goes somewhere about 60 percent. I am a happy taxpayer because my grandchildren get everything they need for free.” Eeva Penttilä, quoted in Leo R. Sandy, "Education in Finland", New Hampshire Journal of Learning Vol 10 (April 2007) (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆)
^Hujala continues, "Early education has also been shown to be economically and socially beneficial. The long term benefit of early education exceeds the economic costs. In addition, children’s participation in early childhood education is a significant promoter of social equality (Kajonoja, 2005; Woodhead, 2004). The effectiveness of early childhood education on both on children’s social and cognitive development has been demonstrated. For instance, the results of the PISA of 2003 demonstrated the long-term effects of early childhood education on school achievement, including the fact that children who had participated in early childhood education performed significantly better in mathematics in secondary school. French research, on the other hand, has demonstrated a connection between participation in early childhood education and experiences of success in the lower school (El Pan-European Structure Policy on ECE [2006]). The connection between early childhood education and school success was highly significant among children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Thus, early childhood education is a significant source for enhancing social equality. Longitudinal studies have demonstrated that the effectiveness of early childhood education lies in its ability to promote children’s communication and cooperation skills. See Eeva Hujala, “The Development of Early Childhood as an Academic Discipline in Finland”, Nordic Early Childhood Education Research, Vol. 1, no. 1 (2008).
^"In contrast to the United States: "almost every teacher and principal in Finland belongs to the same union. The union works closely with the Ministry of Education to improve the quality of education, and it negotiates for better salaries, benefits, and working conditions for educators." See Diane Ravitch, "How and How Not to Improve Our Schools", New York Review of Books (March 22, 2012). (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) In the United States, the Taft Hartley Act, enacted in 1947 over President Truman's veto by a conservative congress, prohibits supervisors from engaging in union activities.
^"These classes provide natural venues for learning math and science, nurture critical cooperative skills, and implicitly cultivate respect for people who make their living working with their hands," Samuel E. Abrams, "The Children Must Play: What the United States can learn from Finland about Education Reform", The New Republic (January 28, 2011) (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆).
^"In grades seven through nine, for instance, classes in science—the subject in which Finnish students have done especially well on PISA—are capped at 16 so students may do labs each lesson," Samuel E. Abrams, "The Children Must Play" (2011), cit.
^Asked about the many hours Asian students spend in school, Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, of Finland's Education Department told Justin Snider of the Hechinger Report (December 9, 2010 (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) : "There’s no evidence globally that doing more of the same [instructionally] will improve results. An equally relevant argument would be, let’s try to do less. Increasing time comes from the old industrial mindset. The important thing is ensuring school is a place where students can discover who they are and what they can do. It’s not about the amount of teaching and learning."
^The Kodály method was adopted enthusiastically in the 1950s. "Nowadays, the Kodály method is not the predominant method anymore, because music teachers have become more familiar with other methods and philosophies as well. But the Kodály philosophy still affects the point of view that many Finnish music educators have.
Music is a prime necessity of life.
Only music of the highest quality is good enough for children.
Music education must begin nine months before the birth of the child.
Music instruction must be a part of general education for everyone.
The ear, the eye, the hand, and the heart must all be trained together.
Different methods do not, however, exclude each other. They have different approaches to teaching music, and they emphasize different things: for example, Kodály emphasizes singing and purity of tone, Orff playing instruments, Suzuki listening, and Dalcroze learning by moving. Therefore, all of them have something to give, and they can be used together (Säätelä)". Soili Hietaniemi, "Early Childhood Music Education in Finland," 2005.互联网档案馆的存檔,存档日期2012-03-18. In addition to these after-school programs, these institutes also offer music playschools for babies and toddlers from the age of three months and up, which are quite popular with music-loving Finnish parents. In Finnish music education, as in academics, the stress is fostering in pupils above all a love and enjoyment of the subject matter.
^In Finland, “Reading to children, telling them folk tales, and going to the library are all high status activities,” Leo R. Sandy, "Education in Finland" (2007), cit.