Finland's education system well worth studying Use the “F” word
in any conversation about public education it is bound to result
in a lively discussion. The “F” word is “Finland”. Here is a
country of five and a half million people and a public education
system with no high profile comparison based standardised
testing, fewer school hours than any other developed country and
kids who enjoy more playtime within those school hours than
might seem reasonable to us. Teachers – who are compensated
somewhere around the mid point in international comparisons of
teacher salaries – are unionized, but not subject to external
inspection or assessment. National curricular guides are
sometimes no longer than two or three pages. Teachers decide the
what and the how of what they do in their classrooms: to teach.
A chaotic system headed for failure – right? Well, apparently
not. Beginning in 2001 and continuing to the present day,
Finnish kids have been the stars of the 65-country Program for
International Student Assessment