Finland’s Education System is the Best in the World
Do you know what country does persistently rate among the best in the world in education? Finland. Apparently, That's right.
The small Nordic country is best known for giving the world Nokia phones, Angry birds and Awful heavy metal music is actually a captain in world education. Not only does Finland have the highest high school graduation rate in Europe but on International tests, Finish students almost rank regularly near the top in Reading, Math and Science. This is not achieved by overloading kids with endless hours of homework.
So let’s come to the topic, why does Finland have the smartest educational system on earth?
Here are the some of the reasons that set Finland apart,
No child gets left behind
Finland government provides all families especially low-income families with a vast social safety. The Finish government sends a box of supplies to every family with a newborn child too and since then, childcare is heavily subsidised, letting most families send their children to some form of early childhood education. Finland's public schools also focus on making sure that every student achieves basic knowledge in the subjects that they study. Where as in some other countries, students and school districts are expected to compete against other students and institutions. As a consequence, this system, inevitably creating a system of winners and losers, therefore this can be one of the reasons why the achievement gap that exists between the rich and poor in American schools is smaller in Finland than anywhere else in the world.
They are practical!
Finnish children don't even begin school until they turn 7 and once they're in school they get almost three times the amount of recess time as American students. They are barely assigned homework until 7 and they almost never take standardised tests.
Actually, Finnish students are only required to take one standardised test and that's not until the end of high school.
Teachers are actually respected like other major professions
Happening to be a teacher is not easy in Finland. There are only 8 universities that offer the Masters programmes required to get a teaching credential and only one in ten applicants get accepted. So it is not a surprise that teachers in Finland receive nearly the same level of respect as doctors and lawyers. Moreover, Finnish teachers only spend nearly four hours a day in the classroom
and take second hours a week for professional development. They can also do not have to deal with merit pay which has been the cause behind many high profile cases in many other countries.
They believe that less is more.
Finland people believe that when it comes to education, patience, hands-on learning and concentrating on problem-solving are more significant than listening to lectures, mindless test preparations and memorization of information that students will perhaps forget as soon as they leave the exam room. Isn’t it? Also, Finnish teachers don't race through lessons to stuff as much information as possible into students heads so that the students can then spit the same back out on a standardised test.
Despite that, they give priority to moving slowly and taking as much time as necessary to thoroughly discover fewer topics but in much greater depth.
There's plenty of ways to learn from countries like Finland that do things very differently yet promisingly with proven track record of achieving better results. I believe some things have to be implemented in every country because schooling is a concept that should offer a great path to students but not scary thoughts.
Source 1: Reders Digest
Source 2: TopTenz
Source 3: FillingmyMap
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No child gets "left behind" in the either. I don't see this as a key to success. I've been taught my teachers with almost no schooling and teachers with dr.'s. Degrees don't make good teachers the desire to teach and the ability to explain things at the most basic level does. You might have something with standardized tests. I think those are what holds back the US most in education. Too many standardized tests.
Teaching to the test is not necessarily to the betterment of the children. The best teachers almost are just born with it. They naturally have a desire to teach and help others learn. Just because they pass the test doesn't mean they can teach. Just because they can pass the test doesn't mean the kids understand and know how to use what they have learned to better themselves and society. I agree with you 100% too many tests.
Im from the Philippines and i wish we could copy this educational system in our country, but due to poverty mostly the children doesn't have the opportunity to go to school and because we are a third world country, classroom and teachers are scarce here. I wish in the future that there would be a turnaround as you know education is still the best investment for the people in a nation
I think if every country implements systems like Finland does, we can probably see a great future. Let's hope for that :)
I am not an educator but have children, grand children and great grand children educated at what is considered some very good schools in the USA. In my opinion, learning should be enjoyable and without such a heavy homework load that it takes the student and family members helping to get it done. There should be time for exploration and discovery without everything being so regimented which would allow for more creativity. That alone with problem solving and critical thinking will be in high demand as our culture negotiates and navigates the years ahead.
True @team101.
Thanks for sharing. Finland has some excellent ideas for a proper human-based education system.
I fear America's system is too caught up in the industrial revolution that spawned it. Children are meant to become replaceable cogs on the factory line, equipped with the minimal amount of capability to perform their basic tasks. We sort kids by year and move them through the conveyor belt until graduation.
The problem is that the future will be made up of intuitive, creative positions and most American kids will get left behind (or already are...).
Yes @somethingsubtle agreed with your thought. But unfortunately, this is happening in many countries around the world.
That's a great articel you have here @dommaraju . I believe India should also learn from the Finland education system. In India, there's no end of this poor education system. Even students get loads of homewrk before they were even 6 years old. People are just blindly getting admission of their kids in expensive private schools. They just believe only stress and workload can lead to the success. Student's gets all the theoretical workload and they never learn the practical approach.
Same problem in the USA too. So many kids get so stressed from the work load they commit suicide. Very Sad!
Yes @cryptonet , you are absolutely correct. The education system has to be changed especially in some countries like India.
Yes you are saying right..here in india many things to change in education whether its about higher education too.
It is important to know this information and that Finland is the number one country to which education is concerned, in my opinion, all countries of the world should copy this model, and start from the base of education, that is, from preschool, education Basic, diversified until reaching college level, is very important whenever you take more attention to basic education because if a child has a good base then you will have the right tools and knowledge to develop well into the future.
Of course, Finland has great assets - phonetic language very easy to assimilate for children, homogeneous population - but above all it rests on an original management: the heads of establishment are autonomous. "Marie-Aude Boucher, principal deputy of the Franco-Finnish lycée in Helsinki and a former professor in Seine-Saint-Denis, is the headmistress who recruits the teachers, and that changes everything!" The whole team is associated and mobilized behind Settlement project. "
Consequence: highly valued socially and paid between 10 and 20% more than in France, the job of teacher attracts the cream of students. Once in office, they have great freedom to adapt the teaching and work in teams. They spend an average of two to three hours a week in a meeting to discuss the classes, the students in difficulty, the highlights of the school ... Practices that are still too rare in our latitudes.
Upped & Followed
I know little bit about Finland education system but your post help me to move my knowledge but Finland is best as compare to most countries thanks man for sharing :)
Great Education systems... Nice ideas