Finnish education system – The best in the world

Richard Morris participated in the Foreign Journalist Program which the Finnish Ministry of Finland arranged in August 2015. He stayed in Finland for three weeks, during which he learned about the educational system in Finland. Read the following blog post

I am reading a worldly educational ranking in awe. Every year, Finland exceeds the list. How can a country with a population of 2 million or fewer have such excellent educational standards? This is particularly true when you understand that there is no standardized test in Finland, that there is no school check, and that the course of school will be updated every ten years.

Education systems are built on trust, mutual respect, and minimal pressure. It seems that the general concepts of Britain and the United States - teachers and labor unions - and Finnish people are taking a "joint effort" attitude, not relations between the government and parents. For example, of Finnish teachers, only 3% feel the pressure from parents. This is a struggling educator with 40% stress in the US. After the course has been updated, it will be completed by educational experts and educational unions.

During my stay in Finland, I had the opportunity to visit a teacher training school. On lunch break I received a full-fledged school meal in Finland. Even though Jamie Oliver has made changes in the school meals advertised in the UK school meal, our meals are not noticeable yet.

My other major idea is trust. The teacher has advanced education in Finland and all have the master's degree as a minimum requirement, but since the education occupation is highly appreciated, it is equivalent to a doctor and a lawyer. Their workload is much less than that of British teachers, but their salary is nearly equal

After the school is small and limited tests, they have not become a huge test factory for the UK education system yet. School inspections have never been done, and instead it guarantees that the organization is operating as expected by school governance. Each class has two parents. Digital forms of many school websites can be used by parents to e-mail to teachers, and the teacher can make a phone call within 10 minutes.

Bullying is also very serious, police will participate in cases as necessary. Bullying at school is a criminal act

Finnish people are practical people, their crafts courses prove this. UK school children can do something in place of Spotify, electric guitar, or the usual British sewing course they choose. They teach practical everyday knowledge, not mere fact-based learning

For example, preschool children are strongly readers and can be read by groups of five. This shows that colleagues' children can do this. They also tend to read at the speed suitable for children of that age. As we have been told many times, Finnish people invest in their children. I think they are their future and most important source of funding.

The educational system in Finland has been valued as the best educational system in the world for decades. For example, compared to the United States, there are more time for high attention to free games, standardized exams, free universities, educational professionals. The project is considering converting the school system to Finnish exports. Next year, hundED will try 100 new innovations at several schools, utilize the new core curriculum and encourage schools to provide more freedom. This project shares the results with the students, teachers and policy makers around the world, not converting the findings into a competitive advantage for Finnish schools. A gift of love from Finland

Educators around the world admire the Finnish school system and Australia is discussing ways to make it follow the Finnish example. However, little is known about how the Finnish school system actually functions. Recently I spent 2 months on Finnish Endeavor Executive Scholarship and conducted research on school and university teacher education programs. You may be interested in the details I found. The Finnish Constitution provides basic rights to education. Public institutions need to provide equal educational access to all residents of Finland so that they can develop themselves regardless of their financial status. The law provides mandatory and free pre-primary education and basic education rights, including everyday meals and transportation with assistance to students.