Comparisons

Finnish pedagogy vs the International Primary Curriculum (IPC)

Both teach subjects through connected, real-world themes rather than isolated worksheets, but the IPC is a purchasable thematic curriculum for ages three to twelve, while Finnish pedagogy is a national system that a school adopts in full.

In brief

The IPC was developed by Fieldwork Education in the late 1990s and is now used by more than 1,800 schools in over 90 countries.
IPC organises learning into thematic units (over 130 of them) that combine subject, personal and international learning goals for ages 3 to 12.
Finnish pedagogy uses phenomenon-based learning, which is thematic in a similar spirit but is set by each school within the national core curriculum rather than bought as a packaged unit library.
IPC is a curriculum product a school licenses; Finnish pedagogy is a national approach a school affiliates to and trains its teachers in.

What the IPC offers a school

The IPC gives schools a ready-made bank of thematic units, each with learning goals split across subject knowledge, personal qualities (such as adaptability and resilience) and international mindedness. A school buys into the curriculum, trains staff on its units and reports against its own assessment framework. It was originally built for international schools serving mobile expatriate families, so continuity between different IPC schools around the world is a deliberate selling point.

Where Finnish pedagogy overlaps with IPC

Both reject teaching subjects in isolation for the whole day. A Finnish multidisciplinary learning module and an IPC unit both start from a real topic (a river, a market, a journey) and pull in maths, language, science and the arts around it. Both also build in explicit attention to how children see themselves as learners and as members of a wider world, not just what facts they can recall.

Where they differ

The IPC is a fixed, purchasable content library with its own unit plans and assessment rubrics that any school, regardless of national context, can adopt; Finland's approach is a national core curriculum that individual schools and teachers interpret and build their own units against, with far more local teacher autonomy over exactly what is taught and how. IPC schools often sit inside a wider international-schools market and are frequently paired with the IB Diploma at secondary level; Finnish pedagogy is less a fixed package and more a set of principles (teacher trust, sample-based assessment, no early tracking, strong early years) that a school internalises through training rather than through a licensed unit bank.

Frequently asked questions

Can a school run the IPC and Finnish pedagogy together?

Some schools use IPC-style thematic units as the vehicle for delivering Finnish pedagogy's principles, particularly the emphasis on real-world, multidisciplinary topics. The two are compatible in spirit, though a school would need to check which one it is formally licensed or affiliated under for accreditation purposes.

Is the IPC linked to the IB like Cambridge or PYP are?

No, the IPC is an independent curriculum from Fieldwork Education, not part of the International Baccalaureate, though many schools use IPC at primary level and move into IB or Cambridge programmes at secondary level.

Does Finnish pedagogy have its own version of IPC's thematic units?

Yes, in the form of multidisciplinary learning modules built into the national core curriculum, though these are designed locally by teachers rather than bought as a pre-written unit library.

Bring Finnish pedagogy to your school

OPPI affiliates a selective cohort of schools each year for its K-5 Finnish-pedagogy programme, backed by Education Finland. Tell us about your school and our team will reach out.

Backed by Education Finland. Over 20 schools have already affiliated, including DPS, Radcliffe and Sanctus. Places in each cohort are limited.

Apply to the affiliation cohort →