Following the spectacular success of our Open Knowledge Festival and our partner Suklaa’s organisation of London Festival of Education last year, we are organising a global education festival to take place in Helsinki 2014. This interactive and participatory festival is designed for teachers and educators to celebrate the best practices in education and is looking to attract a large international audience.

Finland is famous for attracting educationalists from across the world because of its high international education ranking and its ability to consistently innovate thanks to the autonomy allowed by the Finnish education system. This festival aims to showcase best practices in Finland, but also asks the increasingly important question: what can Finland learn from the international education community?

Whilst many people are keen to learn from Finland, it’s paramount that those in Finland are also looking out and learning from and with their global colleagues. It was this idea as well as the successes of our respective festivals with Suklaa that made us very keen to develop an international learning event that happens within Finland, for Finnish educators but also for teachers from across the world.

As a first step we organised a roundtable event for key Finnish educational experts, teachers, professors, policy makers and cultural and business leaders 11 April in Helsinki. The vibrant event was hosted by British Council Finland at Hub Helsinki, and it provided plenty of fresh ideas and unique perspectives to the discussion.

Read more about the enthusiasm and energy around the festival and how to take part in organising it!