Educational System
New Nordic Educational System
Preparing students for an unknown future
A fully-integrated interdisciplinary system that empowers students to explore their natural creativity, discover their true passions, and shape their own future. The pre-K to grade 12 system consists of our curriculum, pedagogy, and technology.
Students are able to explore their personal strengths and passions through a combination of core and interest-driven academic courses, vocational and life skills training, impactful service learning, and practical work and entrepreneurship experiences. These elements combine to deepen students’ core competencies and enhance their social, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral growth.
We achieve this vision by drawing on students’ personal strengths, preferences, and passions
In addition, we bridge the divide between school and the real world, provide a range of experiences that enable students to develop the contemporary skills employers and universities are looking for, teach students the habits they need to manage their physical and emotional health, and instil in them with the empathy, grit, and perseverance required to navigate complex challenges.
Elements of our educational system
Our educational system has been designed to empower students to shape their own future and is built upon Finland’s renowned curriculum which promotes personalized learning, discovery, collaboration, and student involvement. In addition, it is integrated with international best practices and aligned with local needs and regulations to make it truly relevant for the local context.
✓ Future-ready
Preparing students for an unknown future by teaching future skills such as creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking.
✓ Purposeful
Bringing purpose to learning by using the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as learning themes that bind the core competencies and subject content together.
✓ Interdisciplinary
Linking subjects together – real-life doesn’t happen in isolation, so why should education?
✓ Competency-based
Bringing the Finnish National Core Curriculum’s (FNCC) core competencies alive.
✓ Personalized
Personalized teaching and learning allows students to progress at their own pace.
✓ Mindful Wellbeing
Mindfulness practices guide children to be present in the moment, reducing stress levels and increasing focus.
Our pedagogical approach moves from a teacher-led classroom to a learning environment where students are empowered to lead their own learning, supported by teachers.
Learning Stages
Exploration
Early Years Stage
Children begin to establish their identity and place in the world through a perspective consisting primarily of ‘me and my immediate surroundings’.
Foundation
Elementary School Stage
The Lower Foundation learning stage aims to establish the mindsets, habits, and behaviors for lifelong learning while the Upper Foundation learning stage empowers students by more firmly establishing their competencies as confident, independent learners through engagement in school activities and within the surrounding community.
Formation
Middle School Stage
Guiding and supporting students to understand their own development through these years of intense change, to celebrate their uniqueness, and to use their self-identity to inform the decisions they make about their future.
Direction
High School Stage
Empowering students to shape their future by drawing on students’ personal strengths, preferences, and passions; bridging the divide between school and the real world; and providing a range of experiences that enable students to develop the contemporary skills that employers and universities are looking for.
From the primary stage onwards, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are implemented as learning themes throughout Quests (units of learning). Students have autonomy over the phenomena they investigate in each Quest and are mentored by teachers to synthesize content knowledge into personalized portfolios.
In their portfolios, students show evidence of personalized applications of core competencies and content knowledge in innovative ways throughout the learning process.
What are Quests?
Quests are interdisciplinary lessons that make learning relevant by linking classroom lessons to the world students experience every day, through the UN SDGs. Through Quests, students leverage their strengths and preferences as learners to meaningfully engage with current issues in the world they encounter every day and contribute to their community on both local and global scales.
The role of mindfulness
In today’s digital age, everything moves faster and stress levels, especially in children, keep rising. Rather than fighting for children’s attention, mindfulness gives teachers the means to guide children to focus on being present in the moment. Our philosophy of mindfulness, for our staff and students, empowers everyone to think for themselves, lead their own teaching and learning, and shape their own future, based on their interests and desires and not on external factors.
