Our Passionate Experts Behind FinlandWay®
We bring the best of quality education from Finland to thousands of children, families and educators through a network of schools worldwide.
FinlandWay® Mission
Our mission is to offer the best comprehensive early education package, training local educators and preschools in the world-leading practices and designs from Finland. FinlandWay enables preschools to create exceptional learning experiences for young students for better beginnings.
FinlandWay® was co-founded by education experts from the University of Helsinki and emerging markets impact specialists from the World Bank Group.
We have selected the core elements of Finland’s education excellence and use the latest platforms and delivery models to support our partner schools and families to build better beginnings for lifelong learning.
Having studied the most impactful, economical and scalable school system models in growth markets and following years of research and system development, we combine the latest scientific understanding of the most efficient pedagogical approaches to support joyful early learning with pragmatic hands-on guidance for educators and parents. We combine our understanding of the demands and challenges of our partner countries with a firm footing in leading research and daily education practices of Finland.
Our vision
We work towards achieving global leadership in early years education excellence and lasting positive impact on the lives of the children, families and communities worldwide.
Our values
Quality
We provide high-quality training, content and support based on the latest science and research, with continuously monitored and stringent quality criteria.
Joy of learning
We enable educators to foster happy ambition and life competencies through joyous and natural learning activities.
Empowerment
We empower both our students and educators to identify and achieve their professional and personal strengths and goals through a positive and life-long approach to learning.
Accountability
We believe in creating learning environments nurturing responsibility, sustainability and trust; this is reflected on all levels of our operations.
Meet the FinlandWay® Team
Management & Board
Noora Laitio
FRSA, CEO and Co-Founder
A Cambridge economist and impact investment specialist in emerging economies, Noora has worked for IFC World Bank Group as their Nordic Representative and Western Europe Women’s Representative for Private Sector Projects, the European Investment Bank and in investment banking across five continents.
Jonna Kangas PhD
Education Expert and Co-Founder
A leading internationally published author, editor, speaker and researcher on participatory play-based pedagogy from Finland, Dr. Jonna is a Senior Lecturer and Teacher Training Expert at the University of Helsinki and a Joint Research Member at the Playful Learning Centre research laboratory. Her research has been published by Springer, Elsevier and Sage amongst others.
Marika Poutiainen
COO and board member
Marika is in charge of running daily operations and development projects at the FinlandWay® headquarters and making sure that the team members have the best opportunity to achieve their personal and customers’ goals. Marika can make everyone feel included and appreciated. In FinlandWay® she is excited about the possibility of constantly creating new and she thinks that challenges make the work interesting.
FinlandWay® Team
Laura Ketonen
Manager, programme design and training
Laura enjoys pedagogical problem-solving and innovation. She has strong competence in pedagogical mentoring and teacher training. Laura’s areas of expertise include programme planning and learning material development, with a particular focus on adapting the FinlandWay® methodology to diverse cultural settings. She can explain the Finnish pedagogical principles in a practical manner and is here to support our schools with the implementation of the FinlandWay® methodology.
Amandine Mäkelä
Operational Excellence
Amandine is an early childhood education teacher with extensive experience in management, development and quality assurance. Having lived abroad for the past 25 years, she has developed a deep understanding of diversity and multilingualism in children. Her areas of expertise are in creating positive learning spaces that enhance children's participation, community development, and supporting teacher's professional growth.
Anni Taivainen
Pedagogy
Anni is an early childhood special education teacher with extensive experience supporting children with diverse developmental needs. Anni has worked as a preschool manager, where she played a key role in opening a new facility. Anni has a strong interest in language - and culture- aware teaching and has trained Finnish professionals on this topic. She is passionate about integrating more arts into daily activities and supporting the emotional development of young children.
Pilvi Lindberg
Pedagogy
Pilvi is an innovative and passionate educator with more than 15 years of experience in the Finnish Early Childhood Education. Since the beginning of FinlandWay®’s journey, Pilvi has had a key role in creating the FinlandWay® curriculum.
Duong Nghiem
partnerships
Educated between Europe and Asia, Duong is an international business developer and project manager with experience in cross-cultural management from Vietnam and Finland. His expertise and passions include education project implementation and policy in emerging economies and intercultural communications and system adjustment.
Ximena Malagon
Director, FinlandWay® Colombia
Ximena is an Industrial Engineer with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration. She is an Executive with extensive local and international experience in management and finance.
Xiomara Acero
Pedagogy, FinlandWay® Colombia
Xiomara has a degree in Early Childhood Education with a specialisation in Social Management. He has more than 12 years of experience in preschool education in Colombia.
Alex Seijas
Pedagogy, FinlandWay® Colombia
Alex is a much loved teacher at Jardines FinlandWay®, focusing on bilingual virtual learning. She has an energetic personality and keeps children active and enjoying themselves during online classes.
Satu Prittinen
Pedagogy
In FinlandWay® Satu uses her knowledge and passion to support our partners. Satu emphasises every child’s right to quality education and special needs are close to her heart. She genuinely believes in lifelong learning. Satu holds two Master’s degrees in early childhood education and social psychology from the University of Helsinki.
Fiina Jaakkola
Pedagogy
Fiina is a Finnish preschool teacher and uses her expertise to create pedagogical contents for schools, families and online use alike. Her area of special expertise is multiculturalism and physical wellbeing and activity in early childhood education. Fiina can make any child excited about physical education! She’s also extremely knowledgeable about online / virtual learning and teaching.
FinlandWay® Careers
We are a fast growing startup and are continuously looking for new talent. Are you an early childhood education professional with good language skills? Or you might have great organisational skills and an eye for business opportunities? Above everything we appreciate a customer-centric mindset, can-do-attitude and the flexibility that working in a growing team requires.
FinlandWay®’s partnerships and credentials
