Why are Finland's schools successful?

[mainer]

A fascinating article in this month's Smithsonian Magazine:

The transformation of the Finns’ education system began some 40 years ago as the key propellent of the country’s economic recovery plan. Educators had little idea it was so successful until 2000, when the first results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a standardized test given to 15-year-olds in more than 40 global venues, revealed Finnish youth to be the best young readers in the world. Three years later, they led in math. By 2006, Finland was first out of 57 countries (and a few cities) in science. In the 2009 PISA scores released last year, the nation came in second in science, third in reading and sixth in math among nearly half a million students worldwide. “I’m still surprised,” said Arjariita Heikkinen, principal of a Helsinki comprehensive school. “I didn’t realize we were that good.”

In the United States, which has muddled along in the middle for the past decade, government officials have attempted to introduce marketplace competition into public schools. In recent years, a group of Wall Street financiers and philanthropists such as Bill Gates have put money behind private-sector ideas, such as vouchers, data-driven curriculum and charter schools, which have doubled in number in the past decade. President Obama, too, has apparently bet on compe tition. His Race to the Top initiative invites states to compete for federal dollars using tests and other methods to measure teachers, a philosophy that would not fly in Finland. “I think, in fact, teachers would tear off their shirts,” said Timo Heikkinen, a Helsinki principal with 24 years of teaching experience. “If you only measure the statistics, you miss the human aspect.”



Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/Why-Are-Finlands-Schools-Successful.html#ixzz1XlndutoK

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/Why-Are-Finlands-Schools-Successful.html

[AngryAmish]

1. Maybe their kids have a higher IQ, on average, than other nations.

[mainer]

2. Neighboring Norway's schools less successful:

Same population mix, different educational practices:

"Neighboring Norway, a country of similar size, embraces education policies similar to those in the United States. It employs standardized exams and teachers without master’s degrees. And like America, Norway’s PISA scores have been stalled in the middle ranges for the better part of a decade."



Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/Why-Are-Finlands-Schools-Successful.html#ixzz1XlpLl0ab

[AndyTiedye]

4. Genetically, Finland is closer to Hungary than Norway

[FarCenter]

7. Linguistically, but not genetically

The Hungarian language came with a fairly thin dominant invader population. Hungarians are mostly pre-Magyar genetically.

[FSogol]

3. A country full of liberals. n/t

[HughBeaumont]

5. Quite Simple: Cooperation, not Competition.

It'd be nice if Capitalism integrated this philosophy. But it won't. At least not among the upper echelon . . . competition is for the "little people".

[mainer]

6. I like the fact it was part of their economic recovery plan

Finland realized that the heart of economic development lies in improving your schools.

That, plus no Finnish student goes to school hungry.

[FarCenter]

8. They have orderly, disciplined, introverted students raised by Finnish parents?

[okieinpain]

9. no blacks, asians, indians, hispanics, Catholics, muslims,

atheist, list goes on forever. well maybe not forever but it's pretty dang long.

[mainer]

10. Read the article. The comparison with Norway is key.

Norway has similar ethnic diversity (in other words, very little) yet Norway's results (they rely on testing like the US) aren't as good as Finland's. And Finland's minorities do well, too. Yes, they do have an immigrant population which receives special attention in schools.

It goes beyond racial diversity; there's a true difference here based on the approach to education.

[okieinpain]

12. I would bet a 100 bucks that finlands minorities try to fit into

finland instead of asking finland to fit them.

[mainer]

11. And they spend 30% less than the US per student.

Another important factor (mentioned later in the article) is the respect with which the Finnish system treats its teachers.

More from the article:

"There are no mandated standardized tests in Finland, apart from one exam at the end of students’ senior year in high school. There are no rankings, no comparisons or competition between students, schools or regions. Finland’s schools are publicly funded. The people in the government agencies running them, from national officials to local authorities, are educators, not business people, military leaders or career politicians. Every school has the same national goals and draws from the same pool of university-trained educators. The result is that a Finnish child has a good shot at getting the same quality education no matter whether he or she lives in a rural village or a university town. The differences between weakest and strongest students are the smallest in the world, according to the most recent survey by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). “Equality is the most important word in Finnish education. All political parties on the right and left agree on this,” said Olli Luukkainen, president of Finland’s powerful teachers union.

Ninety-three percent of Finns graduate from academic or vocational high schools, 17.5 percentage points higher than the United States, and 66 percent go on to higher education, the highest rate in the European Union. Yet Finland spends about 30 percent less per student than the United States."



Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/Why-Are-Finlands-Schools-Successful.html#ixzz1XmBgbVAZ