ABSTRACT
In an age of accountability, high-stakes testing, and supplementary school programs, Finland has rejected international trends by creating one of the highest-performing education systems in the world, all without imposing a grueling educational regime on students and teachers. Finland is an example of a country that has achieved equity both in school and in society at large. In other words, Finland has achieved the dream educational system by balancing these two essential factors. From 1972 to the mid-1980s, Finland changed the landscape of primary education by addressing the early streamlining process, providing a comprehensive and rigorous nine-year primary education for all Finnish students, and maintaining the vocational school option once students completed peruskoulu. The Finnish approach to special education contrasts strongly with most other countries, including its Nordic neighbor Norway and the United States. Finland and Norway share many of the same welfare-state commitments to providing social equity.
