Oppi – Helsinki Learning Festival brought over 100 world's leading education experts from 18 different countries to Helsinki 11-12 April. The festival was organised by the Finnish Institute in London and Suklaa and sponsored by Sanoma Learning.

The festival offered a broad selection of innovative speeches, workshops, performances and talks about the current themes in education. Krista Kiuru, Esko Aho, Pasi Sahlberg and top international names such as Russell Quaglia, Sarah Brown, Jennifer Chung, Lilly Kam, Simon Breakspear, Pak Tee Ng ja Gavin Dykes brought new ideas and perspectives to the discussion about education.

Session after session the festival was teaching: anything is possible,

Tekes, the Finnish funding agency for Innovation, says of the festival.

Huffington Post, Times Education Supplement (TES) and several international education blogs enthused about the festival and its significance to the future of learning.

If Suklaa had innovation at the heart of their festival agenda, they certainly ignited my curiosity. You know you've had a life changing face-to-face experience when you want to share the learning with everyone who missed out. Thanks to Arianna Huffington and social media, we can keep the Oppi flame and momentum for positive education change alive - kunnes tapaamme jälleen!

Says author and journalist Cathy Rubin of Huffington Post’s Global Search for Education blog.

Oppi inspired the festival-goers to try out the new Twitter-based Oppi Bug game to document their Oppi experiences. The tweets can be found at #oppi and #oppibug archive. #OppiBug hashtag collected nearly1600 tweets.

I bloody loved this festival. I loved the enthusiasm, and the palpable sense that we could make the future a better place for children. It hummed with kindness and optimism - and the spirit of collaboration and ambition pervaded the entire event. You get the idea: it was VERY GROOVY, BABY

Says Tom Bennett from The Times Education Supplement (TES).

This was an education conference with a difference, and the difference was the attitude. It was an education event for the 21st century

Sums up contributor Dr Ben Schogler of Skoog Music.


The Oppi festival in Helsinki kick starts a series of international Oppi pop-up festivals. The name Oppi (Finnish for learning) is a tribute to the Finnish educational expertise. Do stay tuned to find out where Oppi will travel next.