What Finland is really doing to improve its acclaimed schools
Finland has been paid outsized attention in the education world since its students scored the highest among dozens of countries around the globe on an international test some 20 years ago.
And while it is no longer No. 1 — as the education sector was hurt in the 2008 recession, and budget cuts led to larger class sizes and fewer staff in schools — it is still regarded as one of the more successful systems in the world.
In an effort to improve, the Finnish government began taking some steps in recent years, and some of that reform has made for worldwide headlines. But as it turns out, some of that coverage just isn’t true.
A few years ago, for example, a change in curriculum sparked stories that Finland was giving up teaching traditional subjects. Nope.
You can find stories on the Internet saying Finnish kids don’t get any homework. Nope.
Even amid its difficulties, American author William Doyle, who lived there and sent his then-7-year-old son to a Finnish school, wrote in 2016 that they do a lot of things right:
What is Finland’s secret? A whole-child-centered, research-and-evidence based school system, run by highly professionalized teachers. These are global education best practices, not cultural quirks applicable only to Finland.
Here is a piece looking at changes underway in Finnish schools by two people who know what is really going on. They are Pasi Sahlberg and Peter Johnson. Johnson is director of education of the Finnish city of Kokkola. Sahlberg is professor of education policy at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. He is one of the world’s leading experts on school reform and is the author of the best-selling “Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn About Educational Change in Finland?”
[No, Finland isn’t ditching traditional school subjects. Here’s what’s really happening.] CONTINUE READING: The truth about Finland’s great schools: Yes, kids do get homework, and no, they didn’t stop teaching individual subjects. - The Washington Post
