finland is going to be the first country in the world to abolish the division of content taught in schools. what that means, is that students might go into their first period, say, "WW1", and be taught by not only the history teacher, but the geography teacher, the foreign languages teacher and the physics teacher, who thought that it would be a good opportunity to talk about balistics, or the mathematics teacher, that thought some of the data regarding death tolls in major battles would be useful in studying statistics.
This is a common sight in the schools of helsinki, and is slowly spreading across the country. The standing prediction is that by 2020, all schools in the country will be taught based on multidisciplinary topics, or "phenomenons", as the Finns took to calling it.
this is quite surprising. why would anyone do that? The old(e) system has been working fine for years, and has brought us this far, where did this come from?
This is a common sight in the schools of helsinki, and is slowly spreading across the country. The standing prediction is that by 2020, all schools in the country will be taught based on multidisciplinary topics, or "phenomenons", as the Finns took to calling it.
this is quite surprising. why would anyone do that? The old(e) system has been working fine for years, and has brought us this far, where did this come from?
"We still have schools teaching in the old way, which was good during the 1900's, but necessecities are different now, and we need somthing that will suit the 21st century." | The times they are a changin' goes the song, and finland is aware of that. they simply want to have a generation well prepared to take on the international market. which they already are. Ever since the pisa (considered one of the hardest standardized tests anywhere) was created in 2000, finland has been ranking no. 1 in all the tests' categories, while the u.s ranks way lower down the list. its true that the u.s is a far larger country with a way more complex demographic, but even when we compare a state like minnesota - which is similiar in size, geography, demographics, and was even settled by scandinavians - with finland, we find that finland is way superior. you'd think finnish education is super strict and disciplined, with tight schedules and tough examinations. but no, it is acctually the polar opposite. when compared to education here, finland's comes across as kind of lazy! kids start school at about age 7, they address their teachers by their first name, there are no examinations and very little homework until they are way into their teens and school starts late, sometimes really late, depending on the classes you have that day. you could be senior and go to school at 8:00 on a monday, and 11:00 on a Tuesday. there are also no High placement or low placement classes, Finland in fact has the smallest gap between the high performing students and the low performing students in the world. the Finnish Curriculum is just a broad guideline, there to be filled as any teacher sees fit. the teachers, it is worth noting, all go through intensive trainning that lasts years, are usually the top 10% in their class, and are respected just as much as a lawyer or a doctor. there are no school inspectors in Finland for over 20 years, and study materials used by a school are not regulated. only 6% of the countries GDP goes towards education, much lower than in the U.s, and there are countries that plan to increase theirs to 10% or 12%. Why does Finnish education work? |
They Care
i mean, there must be some more scientific reasons, child psychology and all that, that explain why their way works so well. but at the root of their success is that they understand the value of education. i remember reading a book about education around the world a long time ago, and even though i don't remember much about what i read, i do remember an american boarding student in finland saying that even the class stoner, the type that has the audacity of showing up to school with wattery red eyes, paid attention in class, and did well in tests. better than some of his peers at times even! this just goes to show that the importance of education is at the heart of every finn. it is part of their history.
finland came out of WW2 a war torn country, with a mainly argraian economy, and for years it was one of the poorest countries in europe. during its time under russian control, way back in the mid 1800's, finland yearned for a national identity. finnish was the peasant's language, while russian was spoken by high ranking members of society. and Finland fought for their independence, their idendity, but they decided not to make violence and bloodshed the means of achieving their goals. they deduced correctly that the pen is mightier than the sword, and used education as their weapon. "Finnish guerillas, were teachers" - as janna palojarvi, director of international relations of the ministry of culture and education of finland, puts it in her lecture on Finnish education in Colégio rio branco in brazil. - " they went into the villages and taught the villagers how to read.", "They worked with the churches, and made it mandatory to be able to read in order to get married!".
finland, seeing it had nothing else to offer at the time, focused in developing their most important resource, the most important resource of any country in fact: the people.
their "educational revolution" began around the 1960's or 70's, and 40 years later, you have one of the best countries in the world in almost every concievable measure.
way to go finland!