Education in Finland Why Finnish kids are so smart? Virpi Sanders FFFC April 6 th, 2009.

Education in FinlandEducation in Finland“Why Finnish kids are so “Why Finnish kids are so

smart?”smart?”

Education in FinlandEducation in Finland“Why Finnish kids are so “Why Finnish kids are so

smart?”smart?”

Virpi SandersVirpi SandersFFFC April 6FFFC April 6thth, 2009, 2009

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Content • Pisa research• Background for Finnish PISA success• History of education in Finland• Education and the Finnish society• Education Development projects• Science, Math, Literacy and Teacher

training• Future of Education in Finland

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PISA in a nutshell = Programme for International

Student Assessment Collaborative project of the OECD countries

(Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development). The project came into being when there arose a need to develop indicators for cross-national comparisons in education. In 2006 there were 57 participating countries and 31 of them were OECD-countries.

Finland has participated each time; 2000, 2003 and 2006

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Background for Finnish PISA success

• Equal educational opportunities • An integrated nine-year structure intended for the entire age

group • The education system is flexible and its administration is

based on intense delegation and provision of support • Co-operation between different levels of administration,

schools and other sectors of society • Focused on individual support for pupils’ learning and well-

being and relevant guidelines • Focused on individual support for pupils’ learning and well-

being and relevant guidelines • Master degree required • Pupils active involvement and interaction with teachers and

fellow pupils. Pupils process and interpret the information that they absorb on the basis of their prior knowledge structures.    

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History of Education* The Finnish school system has been intentionally

developed towards the comprehensive model, which guarantees everybody equal opportunities

* Education reforms 1964 and 1968* The parallel school system would be replaced by

national nine-year basic education. In practice, the renewal was realized in Finland step by step between 1972 and 1977

* In 1985 the ability group system was abolished so that eligibility to further studies would be open to everyone.

* 1990s: the role of central administration diminished

* National Core Curriculum for Basic Education was introduced as from 16th January 2004

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Education and the Finnish society

• An education system whose characteristics consist of uniformity, free education, school meals and special education by using the principle of inclusion.

• Small differences : the definition of admission areas, the lack of ranking lists, the even distribution of good teachers between schools.

• 73 % of the 25-64-year olds have at least gained a certificate from upper secondary level and 33 % (the highest in the EU) have had a university or corresponding education.

• Slightly over 1% does not receive a comprehensive school leaving certificate

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Science teaching and curriculum

• The revised National Core Curriculum pays more attention to knowledge structures of different natural sciences, as well as ways of acquiring information and their applications. The aim is to achieve in-depth understanding of knowledge by means of exploratory learning. According to the National Core Curriculum, instruction in natural sciences is characterized by a problem-based approach and experiential working methods. In terms of natural sciences, the objectives, core contents and the description of good competence set out within the curriculum emphasize a diverse learning environment.

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Mathematics and curriculum

• The guidelines given by the expert group on mathematics established in 1992:

• Mathematics teaching would strive after goal-directed studying, classification of mathematical information, emphasizing acquisition of mathematical knowledge and use, problem solving and paying special attention to learning styles. Many of these recommendations and principles were included in the 1994 framework curriculum for mathematics.

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Teacher Training• Competent teachers• Master degree required for class

teacher or subject teacher post• Lack of Math and Science teachers

> in-service and conversion training

• Continuing teacher training

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Literacy in Finland• High esteem of reading in Finnish culture• Large and dense network of public library• The social status of mothers as an

important role-models for girls• Foreign films on TV provided with Finnish

sub-titles instead of dubbing• Net-surfing, SMS, role games

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Future of Education• Teachers professional skills• Developing new teaching methods• Guaranteed sufficient resources • Benchmarking • Pupils well-being

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Sources and Contact info:

Sources of Information:http://www.pisa.oecd.org/http://www.pisa2006.helsinki.fi/ http://www.oph.fi/english/ http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/

newprog/index_en.html

VIRPI SANDERS: [email protected] 954 770 8370