Reading Time: 2 minutes
- OECDOrganisation for Economic Cooperation & Development conducts PISA testsProgramme for International Student Assessment tests are conducted every 3 years. on the 65 countries that make up 90 percent of the world’s economies, and evaluates critical thinking in math, science, and reading among 15 year olds.
- Finland consistently features among the top 5 in the world & top 3 among non-Asian countries, a performance that experts believe is attributable to various reasons.
- Reason 1: The bar to become a teacher is very high.
- To become a teacher one must meet certain criteria, the first being a Master’s degree from one of Finland’s research universities; this degree takes 5 to 6 years to complete.
- Then there is a multi-part entrance exam that includes reading and remembering the reading material, doing role plays with imaginary students, and panel-interviews.
- It is said that around 8,500 candidates appearing for a typical entrance exam are so qualified that they could comfortably get into law, medicine, science, etc., but only 750 (8%) get selected to be teachers.
- Reason 2: Nobody asks, “Which is the best school?”
- All schools are the same with the same national goals and they draw from the same pool of university-trained educators.
- So, every student, be it someone in a rural village or in a university town, learns from the best.
- All schools are funded by the government and it is illegal to set-up a private school to charge fees; everything in the school i.e. lunches, books, excursions, taxis (if required), etc. are free.
- Reason 3: No-pressure, customizable teaching
- A child in Finland starts education (Grade 1)It is mandatory by law that all students attend school from age 7 to age 16. at 7 years of age and is required to attend just 20 hours per week (on average, 4 hours per weekday) and this includes lunch and play times.
- Individual teachers decide how the curriculum is taught and teaching is customized based on individual needsIf one thing doesn’t work with a student, they try something else. Nearly 30% of all Finnish students receive some kind of special help during the first 9 years of their school. and learning styles; teachers spend as much (possibly more) time preparing teaching strategies than in the classrooms.
- Tests & exams are given regularly but the results are not published or shared; they are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching system.
- Students start school between 9:00 am & 9:45 am because an early start is believed to affect learning and health.
- Many schools are small enough so that teachers know every student, and students often have the same teacher for up to 6 years, making it family-like learning where a teacher takes the role of a mentor.
Image courtesy of Arthur Krijgsman through Pexels
Reference shelf :