Kids in Finland begin compulsory, formal education at age 7 (in Canada, some kids begin at 3 years old).

Finland consistently ranks high in global education assessments like PISA for overall student achievement, known for top-tier reading, math, and science scores. Its’ system emphasizes highly trained teachers (almost all educators have a Masters degree) and learning is student-centered.

Educators in Canada regularly visit European countries (like Finland, Denmark, and Italy) as a part of study groups - to learn more about their play-based education systems.

These European countries have later starts to formal academics (begin at age 6-7), they highly value outdoor and unstructured play, have strong teacher training, focus on social-emotional development and trust in children’s natural curiosity.

Children from these countries often surpass peers from more academically pressured systems

In Toronto, the Play Learning Lab is run at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto. Play is valued at highly respected, leading post secondary institutions responsible for teacher education, namely graduate studies in education

and it’s interesting how Forest Schools in Denmark are a well-established, mainstream part of early childhood education, not an alternative or niche model. For ages 3-6 (before formal schooling begins), children participate in forest kindergartens. Highly trained educators facilitate and observe these publicly supported programs that prioritize play, nature and wellbeing. These programs create confident, capable, socially skilled children.