Introduction
Finland education system is regarded as one of the most successful in the
world, Finland has consistently ranked the very top tier of countries in the
international TIMSS and PISA assessment over the past decade. What is notable
is the remarkable consistency across schools where there are little variatins
in outcomes between schools, and the achievement gaps within schools are
extraordinarily modest. This short knowledge brief is aimed to give a run
through of the amazing facts of Finland education system from various
perspectives including – teacher training and capacity building, curriculum and assessment.
History of the
Education System
In the 1970s, Finland’s schools were disparate after 108 years under the
Russian rule and the many wars that followed her 1917 liberation.Not only were
the schools struggling her economy was too.unemployment was near 20%. The
Finnish government believed that education was the best way out of the
country’s predicament. The Finnish government reached a political consensus on
one priority – the need to reform, build and modernise the Finnish education
into a unified education system. The goverment decided to really leave no child
behind and implement a system promising every student in the country a good
education regardless of how much money their family made or were the lived.
Perhaps the most important decision made was the creation of a common,
untracked comprehensive school system that would serve students from all walks
of life.
Teacher training and capacity building
Creating a comprehensive school system is no guarantee for success. Investments and thoughtful plannings
were made to recruit and develop a
teaching force committed to the the core
values that underlie the comprehensive school system and capable of meeting the
needs of diverse learners. Teachers in Finland are required to obtain a
master’s degree before receiving teaching qualification. The rigour in the
selection of prospective candidates to teacher education programmes has made
teaching an attractive career which enables the selection of candidates from
the top quartile of secondary school graduates. Candidates are screened based
on their Matriculation exam scores, upper secondary school records and out of
school accomplishments. Selected andidated are required to take a written exam
being observed in a teaching-like activity and be interviewed to assess their
motivation to teach.
The number of schooling days in Finland is 190 days and teachers spend two
hours per week on professional developments. Therefore, on average Finnish
teachers spend about 96 hours per year on professional developments. In
comparison, teachers in Malaysia spend seven days a year (six hours per day) on
professional developments which is equivalent to 42 hours a year.
School going age
Pupils in Finland go through 12 years of education. Compulsory education in
Finland is 9 years and was implemented in 1950s. Finnish children do not
start school until they are seven years
old compared to the avarage Kindergarten age of five in the US. Pre-schoolis
not compulsory but 97% students go to
free, subsidized play-based presschools starting at age five where they get a
gentle introduction to academics and classroom expectation. Pre-school education is under the purview of the
municipality
Curriculum and
assessment
Finnish teachers are given
professional autonomy. Chief among these are curriculum and assessment.
Teachers in Finland subscribe to the national core curriculum and over the past
20 years the curriculum becomes less detail and prescriptive. It functions more
as a framework leaving teachers the latitude to decide what they will
teach and how.
Overall, teachers in Finland are highly valued and given a ton of autonomy
to create their own curriculum filled with plenty of art, music and science.
They are given guidelines on what to teach but are not told how to teach. They
are empowered to make bold choices to do what they think is needed to get the
kids to learn. They are championed for thinking outside the box.
And they do it all in less time. Finnish teachers spend fewer hours at
school and less time teaching than their
counterparts in other countries. Most
schools are in session from eight or nine a.m. until one or two p.m. So
they have more time to prepare and evaluate their students. And not only that,
most teachers stick with the same group of kids for five years, so they can
really get to know their students.
Pupils in Finland do not take exams until they reach high-school.External
test in carried out on sampling basis and is designed to provide information on
the functioning of the education system as a whole. Teachers assess their
pupils on an ongoing basis basedon the guidelines provided. However, the main focus
in Finnish classrooms is to help pupils
to learn to aassess their own learning. Teachers in Finland are highly trusted
professional knowledge workers, and are treated as such. Accountability is
entirely professional as evidenced by the abolishment of inspectorate and
absence of public assesments.
Classroom practice
Low achieverment pupils in Finland are given as much help as they need. As
much as 30% of Finnish pupils are given extra tuition (by teachers in school)
during their first 9 years of schooling.
There is no segregation of students
based on performance. Pupils are given very little homework which normally does
not exceed half an hour. Studentsin primary and middle school are given little
or no homework. They learn what they need to know in the classroom so they can
have plenty of time for friends, family and other interests after school. A
recess of 75 minutes is standard throughout Finnish elementary schools.
Practical experience is given the same focus as theory and for that reason
science classes only run with a maximum of 16 pupils to allow participation of
everyone during experiments.
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Finland’s path to education reform has been slow and steady, preceding
gradually over the past four decades. Finland
success in education is mostly due to this steady progress rather than
a consequence of highly visible innovations launched by political leader.
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The national core curriculum functions as a framework and becomes less
detailed and prescriptive for example the curriculum for basic school
mathematics only 10 pages!!
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Conclusion
The success of Finnish
education is based on trust which cannot
be legislated and cannot be implemented from the central goverment. The
significantly lengthened and strengthened preparation of teachers ia a
pertinent factor in which teachers are aquipped to rise to the challenges of
increasing professional autonomy given to them by the government. This has also
in many ways empowered the Finnish teachers to practice the teaching profession
with confidence.Even today, Finland shows very little interest in instituting
the external assessment and accountability regimes prominently practised in
many parts of the world, a clear evidence of trust between educators and
community. A final amazing points is that this superb education system is cost
effective. The US
spends a third more than Finland on a child’s K-12 education.
Wallahu ’alam
Koleksi Brif Isu Dasar Pendidikan 2012-2015
Sektor Dasar, BPPDP, KPM
ms 21-23
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