A Day in the Life of a Teacher at a Finnish Curriculum School Outside Finland
Most teachers at Finnish curriculum schools outside Finland are locally hired and then trained in Finnish pedagogy, so their day combines familiar local school structures with distinctly Finnish classroom habits.
- Many Finnish curriculum schools pair a Finnish trained mentor teacher with local teachers in the early years of a school's operation, so day to day teaching is usually shared between a lead teacher and a co-teacher or assistant.
- The day tends to be built around co-teaching and team teaching rather than one teacher working entirely alone, particularly in K-5 classrooms.
- Teachers plan a mix of defined subject lessons and periodic multidisciplinary project work, rather than working purely from a fixed textbook sequence.
- Ongoing training is a regular part of the role, not a one off event, since teachers continue developing their Finnish pedagogy practice through the OPPI teacher training programme after they start teaching.
Morning: routines and shared planning
The day typically opens with a short morning circle or check in with pupils, a routine borrowed directly from Finnish primary classrooms and described in more detail in how Finnish primary classrooms run morning circles. Before pupils arrive, teachers often use a short window for shared planning with a co-teacher or classroom assistant, since Finnish pedagogy relies heavily on knowing what each pupil in the room needs that day rather than teaching a single fixed lesson to everyone at once.
Through the school day: teaching, breaks and project work
Subject lessons alternate with frequent short breaks, since Finnish practice builds in outdoor recess between lesson blocks rather than clustering all breaks around a single long lunch, a pattern explained further in recess and outdoor learning in Finnish schools. Several times a term, the regular subject timetable gives way to a multidisciplinary project period, where the teacher's role shifts from delivering content to facilitating pupil led investigation, and where collaboration with other class teachers on shared themes becomes part of the working day.
After teaching: planning, training and collaboration
Once pupils leave, a meaningful part of a teacher's working time goes into formative assessment and feedback, informal notes for parent updates, and collaborative planning with colleagues teaching the same year group. Teachers at Finnish curriculum schools outside Finland also continue developing their pedagogy through structured coaching and refresher sessions well beyond their initial certification, since Finnish pedagogy is treated as an ongoing practice to keep developing rather than a one time qualification to tick off.
Frequently asked questions
Do teachers at these schools work alone in the classroom?
Not usually, at least not exclusively. Many Finnish curriculum schools, particularly in their early years, pair a lead teacher with a co-teacher or classroom assistant, following the co-teaching model common in Finnish primary classrooms, so that pupils with different needs can be supported without pulling the whole class off task.
How is a teacher's day different from a typical local school?
The biggest differences are usually the frequency of outdoor breaks between lessons, the amount of collaborative planning time built into the schedule, and periodic project weeks that replace the usual subject timetable. The underlying subjects taught and the length of the working day are often closer to local norms than to Finland's own school day.
Does a teacher need to speak Finnish to work at one of these schools?
No. Teachers are trained in Finnish pedagogy and classroom practice, not in the Finnish language, and day to day teaching happens in the school's language of instruction, which is covered in more detail in language of instruction in Finnish curriculum schools outside Finland.
Related reading
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