Why Finland has the best schools

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers

article worth reading and thinking about and discussing.... comments welcome....

regards

Guru

The Harvard education professor Howard Gardner once advised Americans, “Learn from Finland, which has the most effective schools and which does just about the opposite of what we are doing in the United States.”

I enrolled my 7-year-old son in a primary school in Joensuu, Finland.  For five months, my wife, my son and I experienced a stunningly stress-free, and stunningly good, school system. Finland has a history of producing the highest global test scores in the Western world, as well as a trophy case full of other recent No. 1 global rankings, including most literate nation.

In Finland, children don't receive formal academic training until the age of 7. Until then, many are in day care and learn through play, songs, games and conversation. Most children walk or bike to school, even the youngest. School hours are short and homework is generally light.

Unlike in the United States, where many schools are slashing recess, schoolchildren in Finland have a mandatory 15-minute outdoor free-play break every hour of every day. Fresh air, nature and regular physical activity breaks are considered engines of learning. According to one Finnish maxim, “There is no bad weather. Only inadequate clothing.”

One evening, I asked my son what he did for gym that day. “They sent us into the woods with a map and compass and we had to find our way out,” he said.

Finland doesn't waste time or money on low-quality mass standardized testing. Instead, children are assessed every day, through direct observation, check-ins and quizzes by the highest-quality “personalized learning device” ever created — flesh-and-blood teachers.

In class, children are allowed to have fun, giggle and daydream from time to time. Finns put into practice the cultural mantras I heard over and over: “Let children be children,” “The work of a child is to play,” and “Children learn best through play.”
The emotional climate of the typical classroom is warm, safe, respectful and highly supportive.

The emotional climate of the typical classroom is warm, safe, respectful and highly supportive. There are no scripted lessons and no quasi-martial requirements to walk in straight lines or sit up straight. As one Chinese student-teacher studying in Finland marveled to me, “In Chinese schools, you feel like you're in the military. Here, you feel like you're part of a really nice family.” She is trying to figure out how she can stay in Finland permanently.

In the United States, teachers are routinely degraded by politicians, and thousands of teacher slots are filled by temps with six or seven weeks of summer training. In Finland teachers are the most trusted and admired professionals next to doctors, in part because they are required to have master's degrees in education with specialization in research and classroom practice.

“Our mission as adults is to protect our children from politicians,” one Finnish childhood education professor told me. “We also have an ethical and moral responsibility to tell businesspeople to stay out of our building.” In fact, any Finnish citizen is free to visit any school whenever they like, but her message was clear: Educators are the ultimate authorities on education, not bureaucrats, and not technology vendors.

Skeptics might claim that the Finnish model would never work in America's inner-city schools, which instead need boot-camp drilling and discipline, Stakhanovite workloads, relentless standardized test prep and screen-delivered testing.

But what if the opposite is true?

What if high-poverty students are the children most urgently in need of the benefits that, for example, American parents of means obtain for their children in private schools, things that Finland delivers on a national public scale — highly qualified, highly respected and highly professionalized teachers who conduct personalized one-on-one instruction; manageable class sizes; a rich, developmentally correct curriculum; regular physical activity; little or no low-quality standardized tests and the toxic stress and wasted time and energy that accompanies them; daily assessments by teachers; and a classroom atmosphere of safety, collaboration, warmth and respect for children as cherished individuals?

Why should high-poverty students deserve anything less?

One day last November, when the first snow came to my part of Finland, I heard a commotion outside my university faculty office window, which is close to the teacher training school's outdoor play area. I walked over to investigate.

The field was filled with children savoring the first taste of winter amid the pine trees. My son was out there somewhere, but the children were so buried in winter clothes and moving so fast that I couldn't spot him. The noise of children laughing, shouting and singing as they tumbled in the fresh snow was close to deafening.

“Do you hear that?” asked the recess monitor, a special education teacher wearing a yellow safety smock.

“That,” she said proudly, “is the voice of happiness.”

William Doyle is a 2015-2016 Fulbright scholar and a lecturer on media and education at the University of Eastern Finland. His latest book is “PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy.”

source- Why Finland has the best schools

regards,
Guru
IT for Change, Bengaluru

www.ITforChange.net

[Mahantesh S K]

with all respect I am sorry to say that we have spoiled our education (still heading towards doom) system and now appreciating someone else's.

Don not you feel it an irony sir?

what all u made us read in the article was there in our Vedic and post Vedic era. Children were allowed to play more and learn later, it was highly pedagogical. instances of critical pedagogy can be seen. but in the name of opposing Bramanya we adopted or mimed to adopt the so called child centered education system, which was not at all suitable for Indian temperament. Certain people are forcing us to become which we are not at all in being.  I am sorry to say that we failed to analyze  the tricks of the British.  Every body talks (motivated to talk). The most  tragic part of the whole 70+ years development of Indian Education System drives its source from the West not from the within.

I am not a traditionalist to accept Old is Gold but what stupidities I feel every day in the scenario makes me pity on kids as well as self declared educationist and condolence towards the teachers like Me.

I may be wrong but I represent many individuals of my fraternity. . .

with regards

MK

Napoklu

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[Gurumurthy K]

Thanks Aravind sir for your comments (so wonderful to see you back in the STF...)

I agree with your view about local language and local culture. learning has to begin from ones context (otherwise it is simply not possible) and this means LPS must begin from and focus on local language and local culture.  I agree we must believe in ourselves and work with our own cultural resources

But I will be careful before making generalisations about our past systems being ideal. Ancient Indian education was open only to people of certain backgrounds and many sections in society were kept away from education... so that they could serve the privileged groups.

One of the biggest achievements in last couple of decades is the universalisation of education in India, that has of course caused many challenges to schools and teachers. but education is no longer a elite pursuit in India.

My view is that we should take the good from the past (which is in plenty) and avoid the bad/ugly (which also is in plenty)... and not  either ape the west or completely swear by our past .... as Gandhi said ...

“I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.”

warm regards

Guru

IT for Change, Bengaluru

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On Thu, Mar 24, 2016 at 9:28 PM, aravind navalli <aravind...@gmail.com> wrote:

I do accept that finland has best education method. But I strongly believe that primary education should compulsory be in their mother tounge. and also feel that the curriculum should always reflect that society that the children come from. but our nursey rhymes are all from western. children only learn that rhyme never feel it. we lost best education system we had in our ancient times and trying to find it somewhere in foreign countries. I still believe that we have it all and not ready believe in our selves.

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[Gurumurthy K]

Sir

I don't have details about their examination system, but i do know that they do not have the huge competitive pressures from exams like we have here.

but following links may be useful
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-are-finlands-schools-successful-49859555/?no-ist

(nice article - Finland also has a kind of no detention policy)

http://www.oph.fi/english/education_system

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Finland

regards

Guru

IT for Change, Bengaluru

www.ITforChange.net

On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 8:26 PM, Harishchandra Prabhu <hari.pan...@gmail.com> wrote:

ಸರ್ ನಿಮ್ಮ  ಲೇಖನ  ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದೆ.  ಅಲ್ಲಿಯ  ಪರೀಕ್ಷಾ  ಪಧ್ಧತಿ  ಬಗ್ಗೆ  ಮಾಹಿತಿ  ಇದೆಯಾ ಸರ್?

ಹರಿಶ್ಚಂದ್ರ . ಪಿ.
ಸಮಾಜ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರು
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On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 7:57 PM, Basavaraja Naika H.D. <basavara...@gmail.com> wrote:

How better nonformal education in Finland

On 21-Mar-2016 7:30 pm, "Krishnakumar s" <skumarye...@gmail.com> wrote:

Very nice article sir, Why can't we apply the same system? The Great KES Officers are the main cause for failure of education sytem in karnataka. As soon as they passed KES exam and become officers, the feel that they know everything and try to dominate without any hold on either language or content. This is our fate. That is why now our DIETs have Rehabitation Centres(Ganji Kendra)

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[Gurumurthy K]

Dear Laxmanrao sir,

Teachers and educationists agree that initial learning must be in the mother tongue. unfortunately, in society today, there is a very huge premium on learning English, which makes parents want English medium schools from class 1.

we teachers need to educate parents/society that the best way to learn English is not to have it as a medium in LPS but rather have it as second / third language. if teachers are made capable to teach english using rich and diverse materials (text, audio, video) then students can learn to speak, understand English quite well...  for this we need to provide an english materials rich class environment. English teachers can create simple audio, video resources for language learning and use with the students.. such as photo essays, audio books, digital stories etc .... this is a better option than making English as medium of instruction, which is the cause of failure of many students...

my views. comments welcome..

regards

Guru

IT for Change, Bengaluru

www.ITforChange.net

On Mon, Mar 28, 2016 at 6:26 PM, laxmanrao ayachithula <laxman...@gmail.com> wrote:

Every country has some positive and negative points of progress. Though the education system of Finland is good and acceptable, we should think in what way and to what extent we adopt or adapt with that.  Not every inch of other countries is good and in the same way not every inch of out past is bad. Let noble thoughts come  from all  the corners of the universe is our philosophy. Wherever and whichever is good and useful that we admit, but we don’t ignore everything of our past in the name of something chosen like education was not for all in those days. Now no one says it its to followed but what are our needs and objectives of education that we should think and follow. up to primary it should be compulsory to impart education in mother tongue. Later on let them go for any of the media. As an Indian I am not against to English as a language but as a medium of instruction it doesn't work out in getting the concept and explain. May be some differ with this opinion.

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[Gurumurthy K]

sharing Dr. Maya Menon's thought provoking  post with other groups...

regards

Guru

IT for Change, Bengaluru

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On Wed, Apr 6, 2016 at 12:54 PM, Maya Menon <maya...@teacherfoundation.org> wrote:

Actually schooling must be provided in the language of the home in the initial years. There's lots of research to corroborate this fact. Which means a tribal child in Karnataka should be learning in the language of the home to begin with (for e.g Solige). Instead what we do is foist  the state language on them rather imperialistically, with teachers often looking down on the child who converses in his/her home language rather than Kannada.

Besides, the way we teach Kannada or Hindi or any other regional language in our schools is plain 'boring'! That feeling of boredom infuses all other learning too. English medium schools work if the parents at home converse with their child in English.

Rural kids learning English when they first enter school - is traumatic to say the least and it completely jolts their sense of self worth. To worsen the issue, teachers who teach the English lessons themselves have no idea what they should do and so they merely read aloud, in a rote fashion from the textbook. That becomes learning English. When learning any language one needs  to make sense of the world in that language, using large amounts of listening & speaking in the language. But we quickly jump into reading and writing - which gets done in a mechanistic way :-(!!

Regarding Why Finland has the best schools - the only reason I can give is because all their policy makers, educators and school leaders all work in synch with each other and consistently look at how they can improve the educational experience of their young. In our country we constantly are looking at political motives, caste motives and finally doing just enough to get by - instead of putting our heart and soul into it.

Admittedly Finland is a much smaller country than ours in terms of population, much wealthier country in terms of resources - people and materials and they are also far more long-sighted in terms of their vision for the generations of school goers. Poverty is not our problem  - indifference and cynicism is !

Teaching is undoubtedly a tough profession - but it matters to make a long-lasting positive difference.

Best regards

Maya

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