It's 8 a.m. on a cold morning in the suburbs of Helsinki and these primary school children are getting ready for class. This morning's lesson is ancient history - they are reading texts about Egyptian ancient life. I will ask them what they found out from the book. I think we are all ready now.
This is a school system that has been among the world's best for years. However, these kids will spend half as much time in a classroom as Australian children. When you go to the first grade at seven years old, the minimum amount of hours is 20 hours a week. It increases as you get older, but it's still less than many countries in Europe or the world...