A Look at Education Around the World: #1 - FINLAND

Being in a different country sparked my curiosity about education and what it looks like around the world.
I'd love to travel the world, and study each country's education system. What is it exactly that makes or breaks a system? I know people have their theories, and trust me...I have my own, but what is the answer?
Why are the highest performing countries at the top? What are they doing that other countries aren't?
I am going to start looking at different countries and the systems they have in place. I will research and question, and see what differences exist. I mean, after all, Finland, who is considered the top performing country has a VERY different philosophy than Korea, who also ranks very highly. I know there are cultural factors there, but I want to look at other reasons. So, today I begin.
Today I took a look at Finland, who has been at the center of this topic for quite some time now. With high performance scores in comparison to other countries, here is a quick look at the facts...

• When a child is born in Finland, the family receives three books as part of a maternity package. One for the mother to read to the child; one for the father to read to the child; and one for the child. This is believed to foster a culture of reading early on.


• Finland has access to free universal daycare for children between the ages of 8 months and 5 years. (This has been in place since 1990) If a mother decides to stay home and care for her own child, she can receive money to do so, as long as the evironment for her child is considered appropriate (which is regularly checked up on).


• Basic early is fostered under the idea that children learn through playing. They are not "taught" they learn.


• Since the early daycare is free, this "headstart" is not dependent upon socioeconomic class, but rather seen as an opportunity that all children should be afforded.


• Early childhood education is not mandatory in Finland, but everyone uses it (Maybe because it is affordable?)


• Main school starts at age 7 so that kids are not already burnt out from learning when they haven't even started (remember the statement above: they are not taught in basic school...they learn) The idea is that by the time they are 7, they will be ready to learn!


• At main school almost every lesson is taught with an additional teacher in the classroom. This is to support the students that are struggling. Since this is done early on, it prevents studenst from continuing to fall behind. (This would eliminate a student not being able to read in the 6th grade, or a student not being able to complete his timestables when the rest of the class can. Prevention rather than intervention...wow, what an idea? Maybe one day we can figure that out!)


• Regardless of ability in a particular subject, students are kept in the same classroom. There is both a focus on the struggling students and the brightest students.


• The Finnish spend the LEAST amount of time in school in the world.


• There is no disruptive transitional phase between primary and secondary schools, and the teachers follow their kids. One teacher stated how this helped her understand her students and allowed her to act as "their school mother". Basically, the teachers watch them grow up.


• There are no mandated or standardized tests. There are no rankings, comparisons or competitions between students, schools, or regions.


• Homework is minimal.


• Their education system is publicly funded and run by educators (no business people, military leaders or politicians.)

Here are some other things that have significant impact:

• There is a very strong culture of reading and family communication with educators in Finland.


• More on the cultural impact: the learning environment is casual and informal, which may allow for students to deal with less pressure and stress than some of the other top performing countries.


• Teaching is a prestigious career in Finland. They are highly valued, but they are held to very high standards.


• And quite possibly the biggest two: 1) Finland has low levels of immigration, which means that the majority speak Finnish as their native language. This eliminates the struggles that other educational systems face with ELL students. 2) There is not a large disparity between economic classes in Finland, unlike most other countries in the world; and of course, it is obvious that large economical differences are accompanied by learning deficiencies.

Teachers are the single biggest profession in Finland. Of course, I had a burning interest in how the teachers were selected, and why they were so highly valued, well besides the obvious, which sometimes people in the US forget: that they are teaching the future of the country. I mean, I'm just saying...

Here are some facts about teachers in Finland:

• All of the educators are selected from the top 10% of the nations graduates to earn a master's degree in education. So basically, in order to be a teacher, you have to be in the top 10 of your NATIONAL graduating class. (I am pretty sure I wouldn't make the cut to be a teacher in Finland. Imagine that...not making the cut to be a teacher.)


• Here are some hard numbers I found to illustrate this: In 2008, 1,258 undergrads applied for training to become elementary-school teachers. Only 123 were accepted into the 5 year training program. That's 9.8%! And apparently this is typical. *This was taken from Time Magazine's Finlands Education Policy Successes.


• Although this mandated 5 year training is expensive, this helps to create a highly respectable profession that is honored and appreciated in society. In February of last year, the first ever International Summit on Education met in New York. There was an article written in the Washington Post by Linda Darling-Hammond that describes the biggest differences regarding teacher training, specifically focusing on the US, Finland, Singapore, and China. In fact, in order to make teaching in Finland even more attractive (which at this point is hard for me to imagine possible) a salary is given to those teachers who are completing their 5 year training. Most importantly, I believe the key to Finland's teacher training is the selection process. There are many people that want to be teachers, and unfortunately many people choose the teaching career in the US because...well, simply put: they believe "it is easy". Sure, everytime I hear this my blood boils, because I KNOW it is not; but the difference here is that teachers can get away with doing very little. Perhaps making it a little more difficult to "become" a teacher wouldn't hurt.


• Schools get to draw from a pool of these teachers once they finish their 5 year training in education. (All teachers MUST have their Master's, and not in education but in the FIELD THEY WISH TO TEACH. Want to teach Literature? Well, you need a Master's in Literature. Want to teach Math? You will need a Master's in math.) It is almost like an NBA or NFL Draft, but for teachers. Imagine that?

The "Whatever it takes" educational attitude in Finland is surely the reason that they seem to have done a pretty good job in educating their people. In fact, I also read that 45 years ago, Finland's education system was in terrible condition. So they seemed to have gotten their act together in about 40 years. This gives me some hope. Maybe there still is a chance for our education system. Bottom line is: although we have large economic disparity in America, parental and poverty problems are eliminated by schools performing well.

Oh Finland...thank you!