why is there no homework in finland

clock This article was published more than 4 years ago

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.

‘I have seen the school of tomorrow. It is here today, in 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.

By Pasi Sahlberg and Peter Johnson

Finland has been in the spotlight of the education world since it appeared, against all odds, on the top of the rankings of an international test known as PISA , the Program for International Student Assessment, in the early 2000s. Tens of thousands visitors have traveled to the country to see how to improve their own schools. Hundreds of articles have been written to explain why Finnish education is so marvelous — or sometimes that it isn’t. Millions of tweets have been shared and read, often leading to debates about the real nature of Finland’s schools and about teaching and learning there.

We have learned a lot about why some education systems — such as Alberta, Ontario, Japan and Finland — perform better year after year than others in terms of quality and equity of student outcomes. We also understand now better why some other education systems — for example, England, Australia, the United States and Sweden — have not been able to improve their school systems regardless of politicians’ promises, large-scale reforms and truckloads of money spent on haphazard efforts to change schools during the past two decades.

Among these important lessons are:

Education systems and schools shouldn’t be managed like business corporations where tough competition, measurement-based accountability and performance-determined pay are common principles. Instead, successful education systems rely on collaboration, trust, and collegial responsibility in and between schools.
The teaching profession shouldn’t be perceived as a technical, temporary craft that anyone with a little guidance can do. Successful education systems rely on continuous professionalization of teaching and school leadership that requires advanced academic education, solid scientific and practical knowledge, and continuous on-the-job training.
The quality of education shouldn’t be judged by the level of literacy and numeracy test scores alone. Successful education systems are designed to emphasize whole-child development, equity of education outcomes, well being, and arts, music, drama and physical education as important elements of curriculum.

Besides these useful lessons about how and why education systems work as they do, there are misunderstandings, incorrect interpretations, myths and even deliberate lies about how to best improve education systems. Because Finland has been such a popular target of searching for the key to the betterment of education, there are also many stories about Finnish schools that are not true.

Part of the reason reporting and research often fail to paint bigger and more accurate picture of the actual situation is that most of the documents and resources that describe and define the Finnish education system are only available in Finnish and Swedish. Most foreign education observers and commentators are therefore unable to follow the conversations and debates taking place in the country.

For example, only very few of those who actively comment on education in Finland have ever read Finnish education law , the national core curriculum or any of thousands of curricula designed by municipalities and schools that explain and describe what schools ought to do and why.

The other reason many efforts to report about Finnish education remain incomplete — and sometimes incorrect — is that education is seen as an isolated island disconnected from other sectors and public policies. It is wrong to believe that what children learn or don’t learn in school could be explained by looking at only schools and what they do alone.

Most efforts to explain why Finland’s schools are better than others or why they do worse today than before fail to see these interdependencies in Finnish society that are essential in understanding education as an ecosystem.

Here are some of those common myths about Finnish schools.

First, in recent years there have been claims that the Finnish secret to educational greatness is that children don’t have homework.

Another commonly held belief is that Finnish authorities have decided to scrap subjects from school curriculum and replace them by interdisciplinary projects or themes.

And a more recent notion is that all schools in Finland are required to follow a national curriculum and implement the same teaching method called “phenomenon-based learning” (that is elsewhere known as “project-based learning”).

All of these are false.

In 2014, Finnish state authorities revised the national core curriculum (NCC) for basic education. The core curriculum provides a common direction and basis for renewing school education and instruction. Only a very few international commentators of Finnish school reform have read this central document. Unfortunately, not many parents in Finland are familiar with it, either. Still, many people seem to have strong opinions about the direction Finnish schools are moving — the wrong way, they say, without really understanding the roles and responsibilities of schools and teachers in their communities.

Before making any judgments about what is great or wrong in Finland, it is important to understand the fundamentals of Finnish school system. Here are some basics.

First, education providers, most districts in 311 municipalities, draw up local curricula and annual work plans on the basis of the NCC. Schools though actually take the lead in curriculum planning under the supervision of municipal authorities.

Second, the NCC is a fairly loose regulatory document in terms of what schools should teach, how they arrange their work and the desired outcomes. Schools have, therefore, a lot of flexibility and autonomy in curriculum design, and there may be significant variation in school curricula from one place to another.

Finally, because of this decentralized nature of authority in Finnish education system, schools in Finland can have different profiles and practical arrangements making the curriculum model unique in the world. It is incorrect to make any general conclusions based on what one or two schools do.

Current school reform in Finland aims at those same overall goals that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — which gives the PISA exams every three years to 15-year-olds in multiple countries — as well as governments and many students say are essential for them: to develop safe and collaborative school culture and to promote holistic approaches in teaching and learning. The NCC states that the specific aim at the school level is that children would:

understand the relationship and interdependencies between different learning contents;
be able to combine the knowledge and skills learned in different disciplines to form meaningful wholes; and
be able to apply knowledge and use it in collaborative learning settings.

All schools in Finland are required to revise their curricula according to this new framework. Some schools have taken only small steps from where they were before, while some others went on with much bolder plans. One of those is the Pontus School in Lappeenranta, a city in the eastern part of Finland.

The Pontus School is a new primary school and kindergarten for some 550 children from ages 1 to 12. It was built three years ago to support the pedagogy and spirit of the 2014 NCC. The Pontus School was in international news recently when the Finnish Broadcasting Company reported that parents have filed complaints over the “failure” of the new school.

But according to Lappeenranta education authorities, there have been only two complaints by parents, both being handled by Regional Authorities. That’s all. It is not enough to call that a failure.

What we can learn from Finland, again, is that it is important to make sure parents, children and media better understand the nature of school reforms underway.

“Some parents are not familiar with what schools are doing,” said Anu Liljestrom, superintendent of the education department in Lappeenranta. “We still have a lot of work to do to explain what, how and why teaching methods are different nowadays,” she said to a local newspaper. The Pontus School is a new school, and it decided to use the opportunity provided by new design to change pedagogy and learning.

Ultimately, it is wrong to think that reading, writing and arithmetic will disappear in Finnish classrooms.

For most of the school year, teaching in Finnish schools will continue to be based on subject-based curricula, including at the Pontus School.

What is new is that now all schools are required to design at least one week-long project for all students that is interdisciplinary and based on students’ interests. Some schools do that better more often than others, and some succeed sooner than others.

Yes, there are challenges in implementing the new ideas. We have seen many schools succeed at creating new opportunities for students to learn knowledge and skills they need in their lives.

It is too early to tell whether Finland’s current direction in education meets all expectations. What we know is that schools in Finland should take even bolder steps to meet the needs of the future as described in national goals and international strategies. Collaboration among schools, trust in teachers and visionary leadership are those building blocks that will make all that possible.

Education System
Fins and Fun

Homework in Finland School

How many parents are bracing themselves for nightly battles to get their kids to finish their homework every year with the beginning of a school year? Thousands and thousands of them. Though not in Finland. The truth is that there is nearly no homework in the country with one of the top education systems in the world. Finnish people believe that besides homework, there are many more things that can improve child’s performance in school, such as having dinner with their families, exercising or getting a good night’s sleep.

Do We Need Homework?

There are different homework policies around the world. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) keeps track of such policies and compares the amount of homework of students from different countries. For example, an average high school student in the US has to spend about 6 hours a day doing homework, while in Finland, the amount of time spent on after school learning is about 3 hours a day. Nevertheless, these are exactly Finnish students who lead the world in global scores for math and science. It means that despite the belief that homework increases student performance, OECD graph shows the opposite. Though there are some exceptions such as education system in Japan, South Korea, and some other Asian countries. In fact, according to OECD, the more time students spend on homework, the worse they perform in school.

Finnish education approach shows the world that when it comes to homework, less is more. It is worth to mention that the world has caught onto this idea and, according to the latest OECD report, the average number of hours spent by students doing their homework decreased in nearly all countries around the world.

So what Finland knows about homework that the rest of the world does not? There is no simple answer, as the success of education system in Finland is provided by many factors, starting from poverty rates in the country to parental leave policies to the availability of preschools. Nevertheless, one of the greatest secrets of the success of education system in Finland is the way Finns teach their children.

How to Teach Like The Finns?

There are three main points that have to be mentioned when it comes to the success of education system in Finland.

First of all, Finns teach their children in a “playful” manner and allow them to enjoy their childhood. For example, did you know that in average, students in Finland only have three to four classes a day? Furthermore, there are several breaks and recesses (15-20 minutes) during a school day when children can play outside whatever the weather. According to statistics, children need physical activity in order to learn better. Also, less time in the classroom allows Finnish teachers to think, plan and create more effective lessons.

Secondly, Finns pay high respect to teachers. That is why one of the most sought after positions in Finland is the position of a primary school teacher. Only 10% of applicants to the teaching programs are accepted. In addition to a high competition, each primary school teacher in Finland must earn a Master’s degree that provides Finnish teachers with the same status as doctors or lawyers.

High standards applied to applicants for the university teaching programs assure parents of a high quality of teaching and allow teachers to innovate without bureaucracy or excessive regulation.

Thirdly, there is a lot of individual attention for each student. Classes in Finland are smaller than in the most of other countries and for the first six years of study, teachers get to know their students, their individual needs, and learning styles. If there are some weaker students, they are provided by extra assistance. Overall, Finnish education system promotes warmth, collaboration, encouragement, and assessment which means that teachers in this country are ready to do their best to help students but not to gain more control over them.

The combination of these three fundamentals is the key to success of any education system in the world and Finns are exactly those people who proved by way of example that less is more, especially when it comes to the amount of homework.

$System of education in Finland$

System of education in Finland

School System in Finland

Finland Education Reform

Fins and Fun: Distinctive Features of Education in Finland

10 Facts About Education in Finland

Don’t Let Faulty Plumbing Ruin your Child’s Lesson

Flagship of Distance Education

Why Are Finland’s Schools Successful?

The country’s achievements in education have other nations, especially the United States, doing their homework

LynNell Hancock

Photographs by Stuart Conway

It was the end of term at Kirkkojarvi Comprehensive School in Espoo, a sprawling suburb west of Helsinki, when Kari Louhivuori, a veteran teacher and the school’s principal, decided to try something extreme—by Finnish standards. One of his sixth-grade students, a Kosovo-Albanian boy, had drifted far off the learning grid, resisting his teacher’s best efforts. The school’s team of special educators—including a social worker, a nurse and a psychologist—convinced Louhivuori that laziness was not to blame. So he decided to hold the boy back a year, a measure so rare in Finland it’s practically obsolete.

Finland has vastly improved in reading, math and science literacy over the past decade in large part because its teachers are trusted to do whatever it takes to turn young lives around. This 13-year-old, Besart Kabashi, received something akin to royal tutoring.

“I took Besart on that year as my private student,” Louhivuori told me in his office, which boasted a Beatles “Yellow Submarine” poster on the wall and an electric guitar in the closet. When Besart was not studying science, geography and math, he was parked next to Louhivuori’s desk at the front of his class of 9- and 10-year- olds, cracking open books from a tall stack, slowly reading one, then another, then devouring them by the dozens. By the end of the year, the son of Kosovo war refugees had conquered his adopted country’s vowel-rich language and arrived at the realization that he could, in fact, learn .

Years later, a 20-year-old Besart showed up at Kirkkojarvi’s Christmas party with a bottle of Cognac and a big grin. “You helped me,” he told his former teacher. Besart had opened his own car repair firm and a cleaning company. “No big fuss,” Louhivuori told me. “This is what we do every day, prepare kids for life.”

This tale of a single rescued child hints at some of the reasons for the tiny Nordic nation’s staggering record of education success, a phenomenon that has inspired, baffled and even irked many of America’s parents and educators. Finnish schooling became an unlikely hot topic after the 2010 documentary film Waiting for “Superman” contrasted it with America’s troubled public schools.

“Whatever it takes” is an attitude that drives not just Kirkkojarvi’s 30 teachers, but most of Finland’s 62,000 educators in 3,500 schools from Lapland to Turku—professionals selected from the top 10 percent of the nation’s graduates to earn a required master’s degree in education. Many schools are small enough so that teachers know every student. If one method fails, teachers consult with colleagues to try something else. They seem to relish the challenges. Nearly 30 percent of Finland’s children receive some kind of special help during their first nine years of school. The school where Louhivuori teaches served 240 first through ninth graders last year; and in contrast with Finland’s reputation for ethnic homogeneity, more than half of its 150 elementary-level students are immigrants—from Somalia, Iraq, Russia, Bangladesh, Estonia and Ethiopia, among other nations. “Children from wealthy families with lots of education can be taught by stupid teachers,” Louhivuori said, smiling. “We try to catch the weak students. It’s deep in our thinking.”

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 competition. 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.”

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.

Still, there is a distinct absence of chest-thumping among the famously reticent Finns. They are eager to celebrate their recent world hockey championship, but PISA scores, not so much. “We prepare children to learn how to learn, not how to take a test,” said Pasi Sahlberg, a former math and physics teacher who is now in Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture. “We are not much interested in PISA. It’s not what we are about.”

Maija Rintola stood before her chattering class of twenty-three 7- and 8-year-olds one late April day in Kirkkojarven Koulu. A tangle of multicolored threads topped her copper hair like a painted wig. The 20-year teacher was trying out her look for Vappu, the day teachers and children come to school in riotous costumes to celebrate May Day. The morning sun poured through the slate and lemon linen shades onto containers of Easter grass growing on the wooden sills. Rintola smiled and held up her open hand at a slant—her time-tested “silent giraffe,” which signaled the kids to be quiet. Little hats, coats, shoes stowed in their cubbies, the children wiggled next to their desks in their stocking feet, waiting for a turn to tell their tale from the playground. They had just returned from their regular 15 minutes of playtime outdoors between lessons. “Play is important at this age,” Rintola would later say. “We value play.”

With their wiggles unwound, the students took from their desks little bags of buttons, beans and laminated cards numbered 1 through 20. A teacher’s aide passed around yellow strips representing units of ten. At a smart board at the front of the room, Rintola ushered the class through the principles of base ten. One girl wore cat ears on her head, for no apparent reason. Another kept a stuffed mouse on her desk to remind her of home. Rintola roamed the room helping each child grasp the concepts. Those who finished early played an advanced “nut puzzle” game. After 40 minutes it was time for a hot lunch in the cathedral-like cafeteria.

Teachers in Finland spend fewer hours at school each day and spend less time in classrooms than American teachers. Teachers use the extra time to build curriculums and assess their students. Children spend far more time playing outside, even in the depths of winter. Homework is minimal. Compulsory schooling does not begin until age 7. “We have no hurry,” said Louhivuori. “Children learn better when they are ready. Why stress them out?”

It’s almost unheard of for a child to show up hungry or homeless. Finland provides three years of maternity leave and subsidized day care to parents, and preschool for all 5-year-olds, where the emphasis is on play and socializing. In addition, the state subsidizes parents, paying them around 150 euros per month for every child until he or she turns 17. Ninety-seven percent of 6-year-olds attend public preschool, where children begin some academics. Schools provide food, medical care, counseling and taxi service if needed. Student health care is free.

Even so, Rintola said her children arrived last August miles apart in reading and language levels. By April, nearly every child in the class was reading, and most were writing. Boys had been coaxed into literature with books like Kapteeni Kalsarin (“Captain Underpants”). The school’s special education teacher teamed up with Rintola to teach five children with a variety of behavioral and learning problems. The national goal for the past five years has been to mainstream all children. The only time Rintola’s children are pulled out is for Finnish as a Second Language classes, taught by a teacher with 30 years’ experience and graduate school training.

There are exceptions, though, however rare. One first-grade girl was not in Rintola’s class. The wispy 7-year-old had recently arrived from Thailand speaking not a word of Finnish. She was studying math down the hall in a special “preparing class” taught by an expert in multicultural learning. It is designed to help children keep up with their subjects while they conquer the language. Kirkkojarvi’s teachers have learned to deal with their unusually large number of immigrant students. The city of Espoo helps them out with an extra 82,000 euros a year in “positive discrimination” funds to pay for things like special resource teachers, counselors and six special needs classes.

Rintola will teach the same children next year and possibly the next five years, depending on the needs of the school. “It’s a good system. I can make strong connections with the children,” said Rintola, who was handpicked by Louhivuori 20 years ago. “I understand who they are.” Besides Finnish, math and science, the first graders take music, art, sports, religion and textile handcrafts. English begins in third grade, Swedish in fourth. By fifth grade the children have added biology, geography, history, physics and chemistry.

Not until sixth grade will kids have the option to sit for a district-wide exam, and then only if the classroom teacher agrees to participate. Most do, out of curiosity. Results are not publicized. Finnish educators have a hard time understanding the United States’ fascination with standardized tests. “Americans like all these bars and graphs and colored charts,” Louhivuori teased, as he rummaged through his closet looking for past years’ results. “Looks like we did better than average two years ago,” he said after he found the reports. “It’s nonsense. We know much more about the children than these tests can tell us.”

I had come to Kirkkojarvi to see how the Finnish approach works with students who are not stereotypically blond, blue-eyed and Lutheran. But I wondered if Kirkkojarvi’s success against the odds might be a fluke. Some of the more vocal conservative reformers in America have grown weary of the “We-Love-Finland crowd” or so-called Finnish Envy. They argue that the United States has little to learn from a country of only 5.4 million people—4 percent of them foreign born. Yet the Finns seem to be onto something. 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.

To get a second sampling, I headed east from Espoo to Helsinki and a rough neighborhood called Siilitie, Finnish for “Hedgehog Road” and known for having the oldest low-income housing project in Finland. The 50-year-old boxy school building sat in a wooded area, around the corner from a subway stop flanked by gas stations and convenience stores. Half of its 200 first- through ninth-grade students have learning disabilities. All but the most severely impaired are mixed with the general education children, in keeping with Finnish policies.

A class of first graders scampered among nearby pine and birch trees, each holding a stack of the teacher’s homemade laminated “outdoor math” cards. “Find a stick as big as your foot,” one read. “Gather 50 rocks and acorns and lay them out in groups of ten,” read another. Working in teams, the 7- and 8-year-olds raced to see how quickly they could carry out their tasks. Aleksi Gustafsson, whose master’s degree is from Helsinki University, developed the exercise after attending one of the many workshops available free to teachers. “I did research on how useful this is for kids,” he said. “It’s fun for the children to work outside. They really learn with it.”

Gustafsson’s sister, Nana Germeroth, teaches a class of mostly learning-impaired children; Gustafsson’s students have no learning or behavioral issues. The two combined most of their classes this year to mix their ideas and abilities along with the children’s varying levels. “We know each other really well,” said Germeroth, who is ten years older. “I know what Aleksi is thinking.”

The school receives 47,000 euros a year in positive discrimination money to hire aides and special education teachers, who are paid slightly higher salaries than classroom teachers because of their required sixth year of university training and the demands of their jobs. There is one teacher (or assistant) in Siilitie for every seven students.

In another classroom, two special education teachers had come up with a different kind of team teaching. Last year, Kaisa Summa, a teacher with five years’ experience, was having trouble keeping a gaggle of first-grade boys under control. She had looked longingly into Paivi Kangasvieri’s quiet second-grade room next door, wondering what secrets the 25-year-veteran colleague could share. Each had students of wide-ranging abilities and special needs. Summa asked Kangasvieri if they might combine gymnastics classes in hopes good behavior might be contagious. It worked. This year, the two decided to merge for 16 hours a week. “We complement each other,” said Kangasvieri, who describes herself as a calm and firm “father” to Summa’s warm mothering. “It is cooperative teaching at its best,” she says.

Every so often, principal Arjariita Heikkinen told me, the Helsinki district tries to close the school because the surrounding area has fewer and fewer children, only to have people in the community rise up to save it. After all, nearly 100 percent of the school’s ninth graders go on to high schools. Even many of the most severely disabled will find a place in Finland’s expanded system of vocational high schools, which are attended by 43 percent of Finnish high-school students, who prepare to work in restaurants, hospitals, construction sites and offices. “We help situate them in the right high school,” said then deputy principal Anne Roselius. “We are interested in what will become of them in life.”

Finland’s schools were not always a wonder. Until the late 1960s, Finns were still emerging from the cocoon of Soviet influence. Most children left public school after six years. (The rest went to private schools, academic grammar schools or folk schools, which tended to be less rigorous.) Only the privileged or lucky got a quality education.

The landscape changed when Finland began trying to remold its bloody, fractured past into a unified future. For hundreds of years, these fiercely independent people had been wedged between two rival powers—the Swedish monarchy to the west and the Russian czar to the east. Neither Scandinavian nor Baltic, Finns were proud of their Nordic roots and a unique language only they could love (or pronounce). In 1809, Finland was ceded to Russia by the Swedes, who had ruled its people some 600 years. The czar created the Grand Duchy of Finland, a quasi-state with constitutional ties to the empire. He moved the capital from Turku, near Stockholm, to Helsinki, closer to St. Petersburg. After the czar fell to the Bolsheviks in 1917, Finland declared its independence, pitching the country into civil war. Three more wars between 1939 and 1945—two with the Soviets, one with Germany—left the country scarred by bitter divisions and a punishing debt owed to the Russians. “Still we managed to keep our freedom,” said Pasi Sahlberg, a director general in the Ministry of Education and Culture.

In 1963, the Finnish Parliament made the bold decision to choose public education as its best shot at economic recovery. “I call this the Big Dream of Finnish education,” said Sahlberg, whose upcoming book, Finnish Lessons , is scheduled for release in October. “It was simply the idea that every child would have a very good public school. If we want to be competitive, we need to educate everybody. It all came out of a need to survive."

Practically speaking—and Finns are nothing if not practical—the decision meant that goal would not be allowed to dissipate into rhetoric. Lawmakers landed on a deceptively simple plan that formed the foundation for everything to come. Public schools would be organized into one system of comprehensive schools, or peruskoulu , for ages 7 through 16. Teachers from all over the nation contributed to a national curriculum that provided guidelines, not prescriptions. Besides Finnish and Swedish (the country’s second official language), children would learn a third language (English is a favorite) usually beginning at age 9. Resources were distributed equally. As the comprehensive schools improved, so did the upper secondary schools (grades 10 through 12). The second critical decision came in 1979, when reformers required that every teacher earn a fifth-year master’s degree in theory and practice at one of eight state universities—at state expense. From then on, teachers were effectively granted equal status with doctors and lawyers. Applicants began flooding teaching programs, not because the salaries were so high but because autonomy and respect made the job attractive. In 2010, some 6,600 applicants vied for 660 primary school training slots, according to Sahlberg. By the mid-1980s, a final set of initiatives shook the classrooms free from the last vestiges of top-down regulation. Control over policies shifted to town councils. The national curriculum was distilled into broad guidelines. National math goals for grades one through nine, for example, were reduced to a neat ten pages. Sifting and sorting children into so-called ability groupings was eliminated. All children—clever or less so—were to be taught in the same classrooms, with lots of special teacher help available to make sure no child really would be left behind. The inspectorate closed its doors in the early ’90s, turning accountability and inspection over to teachers and principals. “We have our own motivation to succeed because we love the work,” said Louhivuori. “Our incentives come from inside.”

To be sure, it was only in the past decade that Finland’s international science scores rose. In fact, the country’s earliest efforts could be called somewhat Stalinistic. The first national curriculum, developed in the early ’70s, weighed in at 700 stultifying pages. Timo Heikkinen, who began teaching in Finland’s public schools in 1980 and is now principal of Kallahti Comprehensive School in eastern Helsinki, remembers when most of his high-school teachers sat at their desks dictating to the open notebooks of compliant children.

And there are still challenges. Finland’s crippling financial collapse in the early ’90s brought fresh economic challenges to this “confident and assertive Eurostate,” as David Kirby calls it in A Concise History of Finland . At the same time, immigrants poured into the country, clustering in low-income housing projects and placing added strain on schools. A recent report by the Academy of Finland warned that some schools in the country’s large cities were becoming more skewed by race and class as affluent, white Finns choose schools with fewer poor, immigrant populations.

A few years ago, Kallahti principal Timo Heikkinen began noticing that, increasingly, affluent Finnish parents, perhaps worried about the rising number of Somali children at Kallahti, began sending their children to one of two other schools nearby. In response, Heikkinen and his teachers designed new environmental science courses that take advantage of the school’s proximity to the forest. And a new biology lab with 3-D technology allows older students to observe blood flowing inside the human body.

It has yet to catch on, Heikkinen admits. Then he added: “But we are always looking for ways to improve.”

In other words, whatever it takes.

Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

LynNell Hancock | READ MORE

LynNell Hancock writes about education and teaches at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

Stuart Conway | READ MORE

Stuart Conway is a photographer based in southeast England.

Finland has one of the world's best education systems. Here's how it compares to the US

Coloured pencils are pictured in a wooden box at a nursery school in Eichenau near Munich June 18, 2012. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle (GERMANY - Tags: EDUCATION SOCIETY) - RTR33VKH

Finland is renowned for its approach to schooling. Image: REUTERS/Michaela Rehle

.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo{-webkit-transition:all 0.15s ease-out;transition:all 0.15s ease-out;cursor:pointer;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;outline:none;color:inherit;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:hover,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-hover]{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:focus,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-focus]{box-shadow:0 0 0 3px rgba(168,203,251,0.5);} Abby Jackson

.chakra .wef-9dduvl{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-9dduvl{font-size:1.125rem;}} Explore and monitor how .chakra .wef-15eoq1r{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;color:#F7DB5E;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-15eoq1r{font-size:1.125rem;}} Social Innovation is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;color:#2846F8;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{font-size:1.125rem;}} Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:, social innovation.

Finland is an innovative country when it comes to education, and its innovation yields results.

It's consistently one of the highest performing developed countries on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an important tool for measuring education systems worldwide.

While Finland's ranking dropped to 12 in the most recent PISA ranking, it's still a lot higher than the US ranking of 36.

Here are some things Finland does differently — and arguably better — than the US when it comes to education:

1. Better standardized tests

Finnish students only take one standardized test during their entire primary and secondary schooling.

By contrast, the US, driven by No Child Left Behind and Common Core mandates, requires students in third through eighth grade to take annual standardized tests to track their performance. Critics claim constant testing doesn't make students any smarter but instead creates a "teaching to the test" environment in schools.

Karen Magee, the president of the largest teachers union in New York, went so far as to urge parents to boycott standardized tests recently.

The Finnish test, called the National Matriculation Examination, is taken at the end of high school and graded by teachers, not computers, as Pasi Sahlberg a professor and former director general at the Finland Ministry of Education, explained to the Washington Post in 2014. The test also doesn't shy away from controversial or complex topics.

Here are some typical questions, according to Sahlberg:

"In what sense are happiness, good life and well-being ethical concepts?"

"Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels predicted that a socialist revolution would first happen in countries like Great Britain. What made Marx and Engels claim that and why did a socialist revolution happen in Russia?"

Sahlberg added, in the Washington Post, "Students are regularly asked to show their ability to cope with issues related to evolution, losing a job, dieting, political issues, violence, war, ethics in sports, junk food, sex, drugs, and popular music. Such issues span across subject areas and often require multi-disciplinary knowledge and skills."

2. More time for play

Students in Finland spend relatively little time on homework, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). A 2014 study of 15-year-olds around the world by the OECD said that on average, Finnish students spend 2.8 hours a week on homework. This contrasts noticeably from the 6.1 hours American students spend per week.

Finns place a lot of value on free time and play. By law, teachers must give students a 15-minute break for every 45 minutes of instruction.

It's a different story in the US where kids typically get less than half an hour of recess every day .

This "deficit of play" for US students may lead to additional anxiety and other mental health issues, the psychologist and research professor Peter Gray has written.

3. College is free

In Finland, not only are bachelor degree programs completely free of tuition fees , so are master and doctoral programs. Students pursue higher education goals without the mountains of student loan debt that many American students face . And the same goes for foreign students. Tuition is free for any student accepted into a college or graduate program in Finland.

This contrasts greatly with the US, where the average student loan debt now approaches $30,000, according to the Institute for College Access and Success's 2014 report.

4. Elevated teaching profession

In Finland, teaching is one of the most revered professions with a relatively high barrier to entry.

Hours per year teachers required to spend teaching for 2012.

Only one in 10 students who apply to teacher education programs are admitted, according to the Center on International Education Benchmarkin g (CIEB) .

Teachers in Finland are treated like professors at universities, and they teach fewer hours during the day than US teachers, with more time devoted to lesson planning.

They also get paid slightly more in Finland. The average teacher in the US makes about $41,000 a year, compared to $43,000 in Finland, according to OECD data .

And while teachers in the US make less money than many other countries, the OECD found that they work the longest hours of all.

It's easy to understand why America's teachers — who are overworked and get relatively little respect — might not be as effective as teachers in Finland.

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

.chakra .wef-1dtnjt5{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-flex-wrap:wrap;-ms-flex-wrap:wrap;flex-wrap:wrap;} More on Social Innovation .chakra .wef-17xejub{-webkit-flex:1;-ms-flex:1;flex:1;justify-self:stretch;-webkit-align-self:stretch;-ms-flex-item-align:stretch;align-self:stretch;} .chakra .wef-nr1rr4{display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;white-space:normal;vertical-align:middle;text-transform:uppercase;font-size:0.75rem;border-radius:0.25rem;font-weight:700;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;line-height:1.2;-webkit-letter-spacing:1.25px;-moz-letter-spacing:1.25px;-ms-letter-spacing:1.25px;letter-spacing:1.25px;background:none;padding:0px;color:#B3B3B3;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;}@media screen and (min-width:37.5rem){.chakra .wef-nr1rr4{font-size:0.875rem;}}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-nr1rr4{font-size:1rem;}} See all

How these social innovators harness community and collaboration to help create system change

Sophia Otoo and Francois Bonnici

May 1, 2024

The road less traveled: Achieving business success in frontier markets

Lisa Satolli

April 18, 2024

The State of Social Enterprise: A Review of Global Data 2013–2023

AI for Impact: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Social Innovation

These 6 social innovators are unlocking value in marginalized communities

Victoria Masterson

April 9, 2024

3 social economy innovators that are driving change in Brazil

Eliane Trindade

April 4, 2024

LAST STRETCH!

You can still support your source of education news this teacher appreciation week.

The Hechinger Report

Covering Innovation & Inequality in Education

OPINION: How Finland broke every rule — and created a top school system

William Doyle

William... More by William Doyle

Letters to the Editor

At The Hechinger Report, we publish thoughtful letters from readers that contribute to the ongoing discussion about the education topics we cover. Please read our guidelines for more information. We will not consider letters that do not contain a full name and valid email address. You may submit news tips or ideas here without a full name, but not letters.

By submitting your name, you grant us permission to publish it with your letter. We will never publish your email address. You must fill out all fields to submit a letter.

Enjoyed reading William Doyle’s piece on school education in Finland. Am independently developing a flexible, interdisciplinary, interactive, and affordable learning model for K-12 education in India that integrates concept learning, hands- on activities, and life skills. Look forward to read more on new thinking in learning and education!

> But it has identified, often by studying historical educational research and practices that originated in the United States, many fundamental childhood education insights that can inspire, and be tested and adapted by, any other nation.

Can you elaborate on this? Did Finland learn from specific research that originated from the USA or studies from the USA? If so, which ones?

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Sign me up for the newsletter!

Submit a letter

Voices in Education

Recognizing the power of all voices in education

Fulbright Year in Finland
Other Writing

Demystifying the Finnish Education System, Part I: No Tests or Homework?

By Maya Kaul in Uncategorized October 31, 2017

When I asked a classroom full of Finnish 9th grade students how much homework they traditionally get every night earlier this month, they literally laughed at me.

Around the world, there are rumors about the non-existence of homework in Finland, but I assumed this had been exaggerated, at least to some degree. The 9th grade students I was with had been speaking candidly with me about their educational experiences though, so I thought they might give me the truth. I had just shown the Finnish students a video about many American high school students spending three or more hours on homework a night, so I assumed they would tell me they had less homework than a lot of American students–but none?

Earlier this month, I had the chance to spend a day at the Finnish Upper Secondary School, Karjaan Lukio. I was invited to give a talk in the afternoon to the full school on the topics in American history/culture, and in the morning I did a workshop with a combined group of 9th grade English and History classes on the topic: “A Day in the Life of an American Student.” As I reflected back on my own experience as a 9th grade student in the Bay Area, I thought it might be interesting to talk with them to identify what the primary similarities and differences were between our experiences.

After sharing some stories of my own high school experience with them and showing them a video about the pressure the American system can put on students to achieve, the class broke up into smaller groups to talk about what surprised them about the video, and what they identified as different in the Finnish system. Immediately, one of the students who was visiting on an exchange from the US proclaimed that she never wants to go back to the US system. “I started having all of these health issues,” she said, “without realizing that they all had to do to the stress I was experiencing due to school.”

Another group of students reflected, “In Finland, we don’t have to do anything if we don’t want to, and we still graduate (of course, you don’t get a good education [if you don’t do work]), but in America you have to do A LOT of work no matter what.” This is something that has consistently surprised me since being in Finland: students are truly given more ownership on their learning, for better or worse.

I also spoke with a Chemistry teacher at the school after observing her flipped-classroom model earlier during the day. Accordingly, much of her classroom time is devoted towards students working with each other to complete assignments at their own pace on their computers. She showed me a Google Sheet with each of her students’ names and various colored boxes next to each of them. She explained that each line of the document had some concept her students were learning written down, and the colors were entered by the students to express their self-perceived mastery of each given concept. When she saw a student who needed help, she would go to them in class to offer them one-on-one help.

“So, are the students typically pretty honest about assessing their level of understanding?,” I asked, intrigued by the model. She and the teachers in the Teachers’ Lounge laughed. “Well, if they aren’t, it’s not my problem,” she proclaimed. After observing the commitment she had towards her students in and out of the classroom that day, I understood that this statement was not coming from a place of apathy, but rather the expectation that students that want to learn can and will take ownership over their learning.

I imagined what my high school Chemistry class might have looked like under this model, but had a hard time doing so. Even when I was excited about the material, most of the accountability for retaining the material came down to my desire to perform well on the tests and other assessments in the class. Even beyond just wanting to receive a good grade in the class, I always understood tests or essays as the only real proxies that mattered for knowing how well I understood material. So I asked the teacher how frequently she gives her students tests, again suspicious of what I had heard about Finnish students not being tested, and curious how she held her students’ accountable for their self-assessments.

Again, she surprised me: No tests. Just some online quizzes, that the students scored and reported themselves. No tests, no homework–perhaps the rumors about the Finnish system were true after all?

Later that afternoon, before my presentation to the school, the German/English teacher who had invited me to the school gave me a tour of the campus. I had mentioned to him that I had included some stories about the SAT/ACT in my presentation and some of the prevailing criticisms of their model, and he told me that it sounded quite similar to the Matriculation exam in Finland–their version of the high school final exam/college entrance exam. As we walked around the school, he showed me what had become a sort of testing room. “This must be similar to how you take tests in America, too, right?,” he said as we looked into the room.

It was not what I was expecting. After hearing all day about the lack of testing and stress at the school, and observing less structured classroom set-ups in both of the schools I had seen in Finland thus far (i.e. more grouped tables, less lined-up desks), what I saw in that auditorium surprised me. I had just been reading about the non-traditional, open-plan schools in Finland had been experimenting with so I was not expecting to see such a traditional classroom layout in this space.

As we talked more about the matriculation test, the teacher shared how stressful of an experience it can be for students. A students’ performance on this exam is critical in their college application process, and which majors they qualify for.

Granted, this is the only national test in Finland, whereas a recent study found that the average student in the US takes 112 mandated tests between kindergarten and 12th grade. So, the existence of this one test is hardly sufficient to scrap claims that the Finnish education system places less value on testing than systems such as the US. However, it is important to recognize that even this system renowned for their lack of stress and testing is not completely lacking of these features. The question from here becomes: Is Finland facing pressure to shift to a more test-based model of education, or is the matriculation exam the exception to the rule? My experiences so far seem to point to the latter explanation, but it will be interesting to see how the system changes over time.

All of this is to say that there is a lot more to be learned from speaking directly with those who have experienced the Finnish education system than is possible to glean from the myriad of think pieces written idolizing the Finnish system. There are a number of other topics I hope to dig deeper while here, outside of my specific research projects. One of the questions I have been most interested in since I learned about the dynamics of the Finnish system is: How equal is the system, really? Based on my conversations with parents, students, and researchers in Finland, the answer seems to be: Not as equal as we are led to thought. I am still learning more, and hearing more perspectives on the matter, but the consensus so far seems to be that Finland largely lacks a political vocabulary for race (and instead insists on notions of “multiculturalism”). The very topic of racism, in or outside of the school system, is extremely taboo, so this can be a hard topic to breach conversationally. I hope though, that after spending more time here, I might also be able to help demystify one of the other proclaimed characteristics of the Finnish education system and society: Equity.

This goes without saying, but it is necessary to note here that this experience represents my direct observations of just one school in one city in Finland, and therefore is not necessarily representative of every school or students’ experiences within the Finnish system. These observations are, however, consistent with what I have learned from talking to many other Finnish coworkers and colleagues about their experiences either teaching and/or as students within the system.

One Reply to “Demystifying the Finnish Education System, Part I: No Tests or Homework?”

Pingback: Demystifying the Finnish Education System, Part II: Is Finland abolishing school subjects? - Voices in Education

Why is Finnish education still at the top of the world?

No tests, no homework, no punishment, here’s why finnish education is still at the top of the world..

Finland has always been ranked first in math, reading and science in the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) rankings of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Although, Finland has no standardized test. The only “exam” applied nationally is the national entrance exam. At this exam, students are assessed and graded by teachers who have followed them for a long time. Even if students do not want this assessment, students can completely refuse.

Besides, Finnish education does not accept the act of punishing students for mistakes or grades.

As for the homework of students in this country is very little, even none and often very interesting. For example, for a history lesson, students might be asked to ask their grandparents how life in the 1950s was different from today. Children are encouraged to rest and spend time with their families instead of doing homework.

No pressure for grades or homework, so why is Finnish education always admired by the world?

1. Teachers must meet high standards

The standards set for teachers in Finland are very high. All teachers must have a master’s degree to teach. To teach students in grades 1-6, teachers must have a master’s degree in education or higher. In order to teach students in grades 7-9, in addition to a degree in education, teachers must have a master’s degree in the discipline they teach.

The curricula have high requirements and it is not easy to enter the pedagogical schools. In 2014, only 9% of candidates who took the entrance exam to the faculty of teachers of the University of Helsinki were admitted.

In a school, if a teacher is not up to standard or does a bad job, it is the principal’s responsibility to take care of the problem.

2. Students are the center of education

In Finland, the Education Law of 1998 allows student ownership. This educational model puts the student at the center, giving the way to own and take responsibility for all his or her decisions. They can request shorter school hours, less homework, and more nutritious lunches…

In Finnish classrooms, students can choose their seats according to their preferences, freely express their opinions and are encouraged to play to their strengths.

3. Teacher and student “familiar”

Finnish schools usually have very few teachers and students. Each teacher usually teaches a group of students continuously for 6 years. During this time, teachers act as mentors, guides, and even family members. This trust and attachment helps teachers and students understand and respect each other.

No tests, no homework, no penalties, Finnish education is still at the top of the world, why is that? - Photo 1. Each student’s needs and learning style are different, and teachers who understand those things over the years will help them map out the correct orientation for each student, creating conditions for them to achieve their goals.

4. Pressure at school is minimized

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Finnish students enter school from 9:45 a.m. and finish at 2:30 p.m. with the least amount of work and homework in the world, even none. Finnish students also do not have tutors, but excel in knowledge and culture thanks to a low-stress education.

Students here also attend only a few classes per day. A school day has 5 lessons (for grades 1-2) and a maximum of 7 periods for older classes. After every 45 minutes of study, the children will have a 15-minute break to exercise, entertain or relax together.

Teachers, too, have a time and place to relax, prepare for lessons, or simply socialize with colleagues.

5. Students are taught knowledge close to life

During swimming lessons, students will be taught how to spot a drowning person. When learning about house management, children are equipped with cooking, knitting and sewing skills. Nature is also an area of content that is of interest to educators.

It is important in Finnish education to prepare students with the knowledge to be able to adapt in any situation.

No tests, no homework, no penalties, Finnish education is still at the top of the world, why is that? - Photo 2. With a highly autonomous education, schools in this country are required to each develop at least one ‘multi-disciplinary’ semester, focusing on the phenomenon or topic that students are interested in. heart.

Children participating in the above semesters will be taught about the ability to study together with many teachers at the same time, background knowledge, helping to understand the essence of the problem being discussed. This concept is also known as phenomenological learning. Teachers also assess students through interdisciplinary topics.

6. Prioritize the basics

Schools in many countries are so concerned with grades and understanding math and other natural sciences that they forget what constitutes an appropriate, equitable learning environment that keeps students happy and healthy.

Since the 80s of the last century, Finnish educators have focused on prioritizing the following core things:

Education is a tool to balance social injustice.

All students get free meals at school.
Ease of access to medical services and health care
Psychological counseling
Instructions, personalized guidance, tailored for each student

Source: CafeF

No Homework! Why Finland’s school system is the best in the world

Homework is rarely given until students are teenagers.

Our education system is failing our students. There are also a lot of different options presented on how to ‘fix’ it. Everyone has an answer, a promising new way of thinking, a potential magic bullet. Inevitably, we also examine school systems that are working as a part of investigating what to do or not to do with our own. (Infographic)

And one of those that is working and is almost always mentioned is Finland. Their students regularly top the charts on global education metrics despite a lack of homework and more away-from-the-desk time during the school day. No homework is a pretty drastic measure in most people’s minds, so how does it work?

The handy infographic below takes a look at why homework doesn’t seem to be a necessity given the structure of the rest of the system. Do you think a Finland-esque education system would work here in the US?

There’s No Homework in Finland

Finland boasts a 93% high school graduation rate (78% in Canada and 75% in the US)
2 in 3 students go on to college
The mean PISA score in Finland is 20+ points higher than the next highest scoring country (Hong Kong)
The ratio of teachers to students is 1:12 (compared with 1:24 in New York city, for example)
There are no separate classrooms for accelerated or special education
1 in 3 students receives some sort of special assistance in school
Standardized testing is minimized: only one test is taken at age 16
Students get about 75 minutes of recess per day
Homework is rarely given until students are teenagers
All teachers have a Master’s degree, which is subsidized by the state
Only the top 10% of students are accepted into teaching programs
Teachers are held in the same esteem as doctors and lawyers

Photo credit: Newsday

Via Edudemic

By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.

Learn More about this exciting program.

Unlocking Finland’s Secret: A Revolutionary Approach to Homework and Testing

June 26, 2023

Did you know in recent years Finland has been hailed as a global leader in education? Well, yes Finland is consistently achieving top rankings in international assessments such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). One of the key aspects that sets Finland apart from other countries is its unique approach to homework and testing. Unlike traditional systems that emphasize heavy workloads and high-stakes examinations, Finland’s educational philosophy promotes a balanced and holistic learning experience. In this blog post, we will explore Finland’s innovative strategies regarding homework and testing, and discuss how these approaches contribute to the remarkable success of the Finland education system .

1. The Role of Homework in Finland:

Finland takes a remarkably different approach to homework compared to many other countries. In Finnish schools, the emphasis is not on the quantity but on the quality of homework. Instead of assigning excessive amounts of homework, Finnish educators focus on promoting meaningful and purposeful assignments that reinforce classroom learning. Homework is viewed as a tool for self-reflection, consolidation of knowledge, and promoting independent thinking. Additionally, the Finnish system recognizes the importance of free time for children to engage in recreational activities, develop social skills, and maintain a healthy work-life balance. Consequently, Finnish students have significantly less homework compared to their peers in other nations, allowing them ample time for rest, relaxation, and pursuing extracurricular interests.

Also read: What is Finnish education System?

2. Assessments in Finland:

Moving Beyond Standardized Testing: Unlike many countries that heavily rely on standardized testing as a measure of student performance, Finland adopts a more comprehensive and holistic approach to assessments. The Finnish education system prioritizes continuous evaluation and formative assessments over high-stakes exams. Teachers regularly assess students’ progress through a combination of observation, classroom discussions, project work, and practical assignments. This student-centered approach allows teachers to understand each student’s unique learning style and adapt instruction accordingly. By focusing on individual growth and providing constructive feedback, Finnish educators foster a supportive and nurturing learning environment, free from the stress and pressure associated with high-stakes testing.

3. The Benefits of Finland’s Approach:

Finland’s approach to homework and testing has several notable benefits. Firstly, by reducing the emphasis on homework, Finnish students experience less academic stress and have more time for relaxation and extracurricular activities. This balanced approach promotes overall well-being and fosters the development of well-rounded individuals. Secondly, the shift away from standardized testing allows for a more comprehensive evaluation of students’ abilities, including their critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaborative skills. This holistic assessment aligns with the needs of the 21st-century workforce, which values creativity, adaptability, and teamwork. Additionally, the focus on formative assessments provides students with regular feedback, allowing them to understand their strengths and areas for improvement, and promoting a growth mindset.

Conclusion:

Finland has revolutionized the conventional notions of education through its unique approach to homework and testing. By emphasizing purposeful homework and prioritizing holistic assessments, Finland has cultivated an educational system that nurtures well-rounded individuals, fosters critical thinking, and instills a genuine passion for learning. While every educational system faces its own challenges, Finland’s remarkable success serves as an inspiration for other nations to reassess their approaches to homework and testing. By adopting a more balanced and student-centered methodology, countries can establish educational environments that prioritize well-being, stimulate creativity, and effectively prepare students for the demands of the future. Finland’s educational paradigm shift stands as a testament to the transformative power of reimagining traditional education systems, emphasizing the vital importance of continually questioning and improving our approaches to teaching and learning. If you are interested in providing your child with a Finnish education curriculum, look no further than finlandeducationhub.com – your comprehensive resource for all your needs.

THE ST. FRANCIS POST

YOUR #1 STUDENT LED NEWS SOURCE

Feb 26, 2022

Finland’s educational system and why is it so successful?

Imagine going to a school where the amount of homework that you had was minimal and you would have almost no exams at all? A school where you can wake up later, arrive home earlier AND have 15-minute breaks after each 45-minute lesson? Seems too good to be true, right? But it IS true, and this is how schools operate in Finland. You must probably be thinking; “I have never heard of a school that functions that way, there must be something there”, funny thing, is that there isn’t. Finland has an educational system very different from what we are accustomed to, but that doesn’t mean that children won’t learn because they practically have no work to do. In fact, Finland is considered the most well-developed education worldwide nowadays; and I’ll tell you why.

For decades now, Finland has initiated several simple changes that have revolutionised its educational system; and as a consequence of all these large-scale changes, it has become the 8th most educated country in the world, and has the highest ranking in High School Completion Rate. Yet, their immense success has not come only from limiting the number of tests and homework and making teachers have less time for work. Their success came from profound research. They were inspired by other educational systems, listened to the voice of the parents and teachers, but most importantly, always kept in mind their main goal: to stay consistent so that all children are provided with equal opportunities and learning . The nation is well known for its holistic teaching environment and common-sense practices that aim for equality rather than excellence. Due to this way of education, Finnish students have an extremely healthy balance between school and personal life, allowing them to participate in more extra-curricular activities. Many factors differentiate Finland’s educational system from other systems worldwide and though they may seem small, they created extremely strong and talented students who have both a high reading proficiency and life satisfaction. Let’s take a look at them!

The schools are publicly funded

The people in the government agencies that are running Finnish schools aren’t business people, politicians or military leaders; they are educators and know what they are doing. All over Finland, all schools have the same national goals and extracts from the same pool of university-trained educators; that way, a teenager that studies in a rural area is receiving the same education as a teenager living in the urban zone.

They have no standardized testing

In most schools around the world, students are much more worried about having excellent grades on exams than actually learning the subject. Because of that, students will learn how to cram just to pass the test and actually learning is out of the question for them. Finland has no standardized test, the only mandatory exam is at the end of compulsory school when the pupil is 16. Students are graded on an individual basis and the grading systems are set by their teacher; they formulate their grading systems for the students rather than relying on exams. Instead of taking tests, the pupil’s learning is assessed through various qualitative methods which focus on their overall development rather than their memorization skills and quantitative results. Learning is different and personalized for each student; teachers do that by empowering students’ strengths and supporting their challenges. The students are deeply encouraged to follow their personalized learning path through a system that deeply helps them.

How Finnish people recognize their teachers

In Finland, the teachers are extremely respected and valued; their “status” is at the same level as doctors and lawyers. The teachers are always extremely educated and committed to their work. Finns pay very high respect and trust to the teachers. What is also different in Finland are the requirements they need to have in order to become a teacher. All teachers must have a master’s degree before exercising their profession. Teaching programs are the most strict and selective professional schools in the whole country, and only 10% of the applicants to the teaching programs are accepted.

Cooperation and NOT Competition

In Finland, the schools do not care about “artificial merit-based” systems; there are no lists of top teachers or even top schools and no rankings or comparisons. They state that “ it is not a competition, cooperation is the norm ”.

Making the basics an opportunity

As previously mentioned, the educational program in Finland aims to make the schools a more equitable place. They go by the saying that “ Education should be an instrument to balance out social inequality ”. Their priorities are:

All students receive free school meals;

Ease access to free health care;

Psychological counselling;

Individual guidance;

And taxi service if needed.

Starting school at an older age

Pupils start compulsory school at the age of seven. There are only nine years of obligatory school for Finnish students. After the age of 16, it is optional. Finland’s education system is sorted into:

( Optional) The ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care), combines education, teaching, and a goal-oriented manner.

Their goal is to promote children’s development, health and wellbeing as well as to improve children’s opportunity for learning.

Kids learn through playing.

( Optional ) Pre-Primary Education (1-year duration for 6-year-olds)

( Mandatory ) Basic Education (9 years duration for children aged 7 to 16)

( Optional ) Upper Secondary Education

( Optional ) Higher Education

( Optional ) Adult Education And Training

Covers education leading to a qualification, degree studies, training preparing for competence-based qualifications, degree studies, and further continuing education updating and extending the professional skills, etc.

Students wake up later in the morning

Studies have shown that early starting times at school can be detrimental to the student’s health and well-being. Schools in Finland usually start at 9:00-9:45 and end at 14:00-14:45! Honestly, this is a dream come true. As if it couldn’t get better; there are 15-20 minute breaks every 45-minute lesson; isn’t this the BEST?

Consistency of teachers in classes

Students tend to have the same teachers throughout their school years; by doing that, the teacher is able to create a bond with their students and take on the role of a tutor or even a family member. The teacher learns the positives and negatives of the students and how to specifically work with them. As much as I like this, imagine being stuck 6 years with a teacher you can’t get along with? In a blink of an eye, the dream switches to a nightmare.

A more relaxed atmosphere

Students only have a couple of classes a day, and a lot of time to enjoy recreational activities and relax. As explained previously, the 15-20 minute breaks have the aim to make the students relax a bit, get some air and stretch. Children spend much more of their time playing outside even in winter times, that is because Finland strongly follows their “belief” which is “ learning through play ”. All the activities are planned around the holistic wellbeing of being a child, supporting their learning journey. The teachers also work in a relaxed atmosphere; they only spend around 4 hours a day teaching. They spend their extra time building curriculum and assessing their students. The Finnish teachers also have their own rooms where they can relax, socialize or prepare for the day.

Less homework and outside work are needed

According to the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), students in Finland have the least amount of outside work and homework than any other student in other countries around the world. According to the same source, the differences between the extremely talented and strong students to the ones that still require some help or development is the smallest in the whole world. 93% of Finnish students graduate from high school while only 75% of students in the USA graduate. Students in Finland spend around half an hour at night working on school activities; the pupils are getting everything they need to get done in school without adding the pressures that come with excelling academically. By not having to stress about grades and a ton of homework, they can focus on their true task: learning and growing as human beings.

To conclude, Finland, even with a crazy educational system that we are not accustomed to, managed to be one of the countries with the best education. This system has brought a lot of success to the students, and all of them receive the same amount of education. All Finnish students speak 2-3 languages and have opportunities to learn new things such as baking, poetry, and music. It seems weird how a school can operate like this, and it would be interesting to see this system spreading throughout the world. I believe that with this “policy”, students wouldn’t have that many emotional problems and suffer from stress with the amount of work and time they stay at school. Yet, this reform is complicated and may take time. In addition to that, there are many reforms that must be done not only in the educational sector for this to happen, so it is very complex to make all countries function this way. But, fingers crossed; we can never lose hope!

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/09/10-reasons-why-finlands-education-system-is-the-best-in-the-world

https://okm.fi/en/education-system

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-are-finlands-schools-successful-49859555/

https://www.newnordic.school/news/blog-finland-education-system

https://leverageedu.com/blog/finland-education-system/

https://in-finland.education/homework-in-finland-school/

https://lead-prep.org/2017/08/there-is-no-homework-in-finland/

https://theprint.in/india/education/20-hours-a-week-no-homework-thats-the-finland-school-system-rss-chief-wants-in-india/278603/

20+ Cool Things to Know about the Finnish Education System

Finland’s education system fascinates most people interested in the best approaches to learning. Our schools are known for high-quality teaching and inclusive learning environments and aim to offer each student the same opportunities to succeed, whatever their background.

In this article, I will explore some of the features that have set the Finnish education system apart and what is so cool about it that people worldwide want to study it.

Table of Contents

What makes Finland’s education system successful?

What is the finnish approach to early childhood education, what is the finnish approach to education in comprehensive school, how long is the school day in finland, what is the typical school day like in finland, do finnish students really have little to no homework, what is the role of standardized testing in finnish education, how are students assessed in finland’s education system, what subjects are taught in finnish schools, what are the differences between finnish and american education systems, how do finnish schools accommodate students with special needs, is education free in finland, how are finnish schools funded, how much do finnish teachers get paid, teacher training in finland, what is the dropout rate in finland’s education system, what is the literacy rate in finland, why is finland’s education system considered one of the best in the world.

The idea that Finland’s education system outperforms many others in the world comes from excellent outcomes like success in the international PISA test.

In previous years, Finnish pupils and students have done remarkably well in these tests despite the lack of standardized testing in Finnish schools. At the same time, they enjoy more freedom and less homework than many of their counterparts.

This has been a subject of a lot of debate. Is the success because of well-trained and motivated teachers who are valued? Is it because of the national curriculum?

According to the World Economic Forum, Finland’s education system is the best in the world , at least partly because of

No standardized testing
Teacher training and requirements
Making the basics a priority
Starting age

You can dive deep into the topic as there are a number of books available and countless expert opinions you can explore. But these things are something most Finns can agree are good about the Finnish system.

One of the things many Finns remember from their early school years and kindergarten is playing outside.

Serious school work starts relatively late in Finland, and early childhood education (ECEC) focuses on the right to play, learn, and participate.

Children usually start their first school year at the age 7. They then continue to attend comprehensive school between the ages 7-16 through classes 1-9.

All municipalities in Finland offer preschool education, which consists of at least 700 hours of learning skills in creativity, language, and other areas that will help at school. There are no specific subjects or tests but different competence areas. 4 hours of preschool education a day is provided for free at kindergartens for every 5- and 6-year-old.

Learning at this level differs greatly from countries where school starts at ages 4-5. For example, in the UK, 6-year-olds take part in national curriculum assessments, while Finnish children don’t generally take part in national tests during comprehensive school.

In Finland, all children must receive comprehensive education, and this consists of years 1 to 9 of comprehensive school.

Recent changes now require students to also attend school until they either complete their secondary education like upper secondary school or vocational training in a vocational college, or turn 18, which ever comes first.

The vast majority of schools in Finland, including around 80 private schools, follow the national core curriculum. Pupils attend a local school in their assigned catchment area, and “school shopping” is harder and less common than in some other countries.

The purpose of basic education is “to enable pupils to evolve into humane and ethically responsible members of society as well as to provide them with the knowledge and skills needed in life”, according to the ministry of education and culture . Comprehensive school covers a total of 20 subjects, and learning some languages is also compulsory.

How does Finland’s education system compare to other countries?

In general, the Finnish education system stands out because of

Master’s level teacher training
More chances to play and take breaks
Shorter school days and less homework
No fees, free meals and free books

There are also downsides. Since students learn in the same groups regardless of being talented in a subject, some find there are no opportunities to make fast progress. It is often possible to attend a weighted-curriculum education emphasizing languages, maths, music, or arts, for example.

The same goes for children requiring more time or attention to help them learn. In many cases where the child has special needs, they can get a personal assistant.

The maximum length of a Finnish school day is determined by grade. For 1st and 2nd grade, when the children are 7 and 8 years old, they can have a maximum of five hours of school a day. From there on, the maximum is 7 hours a day, with a little extra allowed if they attend a class that follows a weighted curriculum.

There are also guidelines for the minimum amount of teaching each student has the right to receive weekly.

Each lesson consists of around 45 minutes of teaching. There are breaks between learning, but they can have different lengths. 15-minutes between lessons is common, and the lunch break is at least 30 minutes long.

For your 15-minute break, you always head outdoors – unless it’s -15 degrees Celsius or colder. I have fond memories throughout the primary school of how fun the breaks were. Playing outdoor games or soccer until the bell rang.

A typical school day usually starts sometime between 8 am and 9 am. After some lessons and a few short breaks, a free lunch is served, usually between 11 and 12. Lunch breaks are usually long enough for the children to play outside after lunch.

Lessons continue into the afternoon before it’s time to go home. Cities provide after-school activities for young pupils.

If you live far away from your school, the school provides you with free bus or group taxi rides that take you closer to home.

Despite what you might have heard, Finnish pupils get homework.

It may be a little less than in some countries, with some studies citing an average of 30 minutes of homework a day. Since the days are relatively short, there is plenty of time to get it done before hobbies and play.

Finnish students usually take their first standardized test, the matriculation examination, at 18 and only if they attended an upper secondary school and in their chosen topics.

Together with subject-specific entrance examinations, the results from this examination are used to apply to study a University degree.

That doesn’t mean that pupils have no tests, though.

Since the schools follow the national core curriculum, students have regular tests and exams based on learning goals.

Students get grades on each subject they study based on their performance throughout the year from 4th grade onward. For the youngest pupils, the teacher usually writes notes on how they did at regular intervals.

At the end of year 9, students get a final grade for each subject they studied. These grades are used to apply to upper secondary schools and vocational training.

All pupils in Finland study

Finnish or Swedish (mother tongue and literature)
The other national language (Swedish or Finnish)
At least one other foreign language
Environmental studies
Health education and physical education
Religion or ethics, history, and social studies
Mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, and geography
Music, visual arts, crafts, and home economics

These differences are often mentioned about Finland:

Finns start school at age 7
Less homework and shorter school days
Goal of testing is to see if the child needs help with learning, not comparisons
No great differences between schools
Schools are publicly funded and free to attend
Schools follow the national core curriculum
Books and free lunch provided

Some other differences that might be interesting include that teacher requirements in the US vary from state to state. In contrast, Finnish teachers need a specific Master’s degree and most people value the profession. Only 34% of US teachers feel the general public values their profession.

How does Finland’s education system promote equity and equality?

Finland’s education system is based on the idea that everyone should be able to have a basic level of skills and learning regardless of their background.

That’s why schools are publicly funded, and students get books, free school meals, and, in some cases, even devices they might need for their studies. Finnish schools don’t have school uniforms.

There are guidelines for what the schools and cities need to provide to help children with special needs, but each case is assessed based on the circumstances. The aim is to provide support while the child attends normal classes. Different levels of support can be arranged depending on what the situation calls for.

Primary education is free in Finland. Higher education is also free, but students have to do well in the matriculation examination and often take an entrance examination to be accepted to study for a degree. Students from outside the EU have to pay fees for higher education programmes.

Finnish schools are publicly funded through the government, municipalities, and the European Union (mostly higher education).

What is the role of teachers in Finland’s education system?

Finnish teachers are valued professionals with Master’s degrees and meet the requirements to teach their subjects. The degree focuses on skills for independent problem-solving.

Teachers design the classes they teach according to the national core curriculum. Their role is to support and advance the development, learning, and skills of children and young people.

The average salary of a teacher in Finland ranges from 3680 to 4090 € depending on what grades they teach. The number of years they have worked affects how much they are paid, and 10% make 2990 € or less a month.

Most teachers in Finland have long paid vacation times: 14 weeks annually.

There are two routes to becoming a teacher in Finland. You can start studying the subject matter at University and add pedagogical studies to become qualified to teach that specific subject or you can apply directly to study to become a subject teacher.

The same Master’s level education is required to become a classroom teacher for a comprehensive school. To teach at the preschool level, teachers must have a bachelor’s degree in educational science.

Finland’s education system became well known after success in the PISA surveys from 2000 onward. While the results have declined since then – some say partly due to challenges like digitalization which takes some time to adapt to – there are still many positive outcomes worth pointing out.

For comprehensive school, the number is below 1% compared to 25% in the US.

Finland’s literacy rate has been 100% for over 15-year-olds. Finland has also been ranked as the most literate nation in the world.

Do you have more questions about Finland’s education system? I will answer them in the comments!

Here are some other facts about Finland that you might find interesting:

Finnish Culture: Discovering Everything You Need to Know

50 Cool Things Finland is Known for

Moving to Finland: Living in the 20 Largest Cities

Ready to speak finnish?

Join my praised free class and speak Finnish words in 20 minutes!

About Varpu I’m the founder of Her Finland. I love cultural tidbits, aha moments, Finnish folklore, and cinnamon buns. My newest interest is learning bird songs. Read more about me..

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Saturday 15th of July 2023

Congratulations, Varpu! I'm excited for you, and I know your students will be lucky to have you as a teacher. It makes sense that the frequent and lengthy breaks outside would be conducive to learning - our brains need relaxation time in order to really absorb new information. Sadly, here in the U.S., our students don't get as many or as lengthy breaks, especially in areas where principals/administrators are afraid long breaks might give students time to start fights or misbehaving. I think our students' brains might be a little stressed out.

I'm a science teacher myself, having taught science in elementary school, middle school, and high school (biology), and I have a master's degree. I was wondering whether my degree would transfer over there. However, I am more interested in teaching younger kids these days, and I'm working on my multiple subject credential, as well as taking early childhood education (ECE) classes. Do you think the Finnish government would accept this kind of training from the U.S.? I would love to know your opinion!

Wednesday 12th of July 2023

I know several Finnish teachers and every one one of them were of good reputation and wanted the best for their students.Here in the United states,many states have looked at the Finnish school model,but I can bet the teachers union would not go along with it.

17K+ students! 🔥My most popular Spoken Finnish course ➤

Featured Posts

What Time Does Marshalls Close-Open?

You think to yourself, “Do I have time to run into Marshalls quickly?” You check the clock and see that it is already 6:30 pm. “Oh no, they are probably going to close soon. So, “What Time Does Marshalls Close-Open?”

Does Target Take WIC? Let’s find out

Target is a retail powerhouse. With stores all across the country, it is a one-stop shop for everything from clothes to home goods to food. But what about people on assistance programs? Does Target take WIC?…

Does UPS Deliver on Sundays?

As customers continue to demand from retailers and shipping companies to post their package sooner rather than later, have UPS hopped on the bandwagon offering 7-day deliveries? Let’s find out …

15 Places to Sell a Broken TV

You accidentally dropped your flat-screen TV, and it’s completely broken. The good news is you can still get some money out of the broken television. But knowing where to go to get the best deal can be tricky…

Gas Stations That Take Apple Pay

Apple Pay is a digital wallet service that allows users to make payments with their Apple devices. It can be used at a variety of merchants, including gas stations. So, let’s take a look at the Gas Stations That Take…

Ralphs Holiday Hours Open/Closed

If you are having the family round for the holidays, then a trip to Ralphs is in order. With plenty of delicious food and treats available, it is the perfect place to do all your grocery and holiday shopping …

As Featured in

Career Resources

You will discover tips on crafting resume, cover letters, job applications, and valuable career advice from experts.

Explore opportunities to earn money online and offline, freelancing skills, and smart financial strategies.

Top articles on the most affordable and safe places to live, areas to avoid, Near Me Locator guides, property rentals, home sales.

Shopping Advice

We share smart shopping tips, product reviews, and recommendations on how to save money while shopping.

Discover exciting travel destinations, tips for planning your trips, and insights on making the most of your adventures.

Top articles about companies, competitors, alternatives, business owners, their assets, and related industries.

OUR MISSION

Our mission is to empower individuals with knowledge and practical guidance, helping them navigate the complexities of modern life. We are dedicated to providing valuable resources on a diverse range of topics, fostering personal growth, informed decision-making, and an enriched lifestyle.

Our team is a passionate and diverse group of experts in various fields, committed to delivering high-quality content and insights to our readers. We take pride in our collaborative efforts, ensuring that our audience receives well-rounded perspectives and information across all our featured topics.

Our vision is to create a vibrant and engaged community of lifelong learners, where individuals come to seek wisdom and share knowledge. We aim to be the go-to destination for those looking to expand their horizons and make informed choices in a rapidly evolving world.

IMAGES

There’s No Homework in Finland. Which countries have the best education
There's no Homework in Finland
Why do Finnish pupils succeed with less homework?
There’s no homework in Finland
There Is No Homework In Finland [Infographic]
No Homework at Finland schools

VIDEO

@Onabudgetplumbing
Spacewalker Nightmare
Why there no ship husk x husk🥲😭
why there no gacha club:(😭😭😱😱
Destiny 2 Xur lacking loot, Location and extra 3/8/2024
Low Tuition Fee University in #finland for January 2024 Session

COMMENTS

The truth about Finland's great schools: Yes, kids do get homework, and
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.
No Tests, No Homework! Here's How Finland Has Emerged As A Global
Finland schools begin from 9.30 am as research in World Economic Forum has indicated that schools starting at an early age is detrimental to their health and maturation. The school ends by mostly 2 pm. Lastly, there is no homework or surprise test given to students in Finland.
Homework in Finland School
Though not in Finland. The truth is that there is nearly no homework in the country with one of the top education systems in the world. Finnish people believe that besides homework, there are many more things that can improve child's performance in school, such as having dinner with their families, exercising or getting a good night's sleep.
Why Are Finland's Schools Successful?
Finland has vastly improved in reading, math and science literacy over the past decade in large part because its teachers are trusted to do whatever it takes to turn young lives around. This 13 ...
10 reasons why Finland's education system is the best in the world
Education should be an instrument to balance out social inequality. All students receive free school meals. Ease of access to health care. Psychological counseling. Individualised guidance. Beginning with the individual in a collective environment of equality is Finland's way.
Why the U.S. can't replicate Finland's educational success
No. When people triumph Finland's education system, they enumerate a laundry list of reforms aimed at radically altering the country's scholastic approach: no homework, no standardized tests ...
Finland has one of the world's best education systems. Here's how it
Students in Finland spend relatively little time on homework, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). A 2014 study of 15-year-olds around the world by the OECD said that on average, Finnish students spend 2.8 hours a week on homework. This contrasts noticeably from the 6.1 hours American students spend ...
Opinion: Finland's education system breaks every rule
The homework load for children in Finland varies by teacher, but is lighter overall than most other developed countries. This insight is supported by research, which has found little academic benefit in childhood for any more than brief sessions of homework until around high school. Related: Demark pushes to make students graduate on time
Demystifying the Finnish Education System, Part I: No Tests or Homework?
Around the world, there are rumors about the non-existence of homework in Finland, but I assumed this had been exaggerated, at least to some degree. The 9th grade students I was with had been speaking candidly with me about their educational experiences though, so I thought they might give me the truth.
Why is Finnish education still at the top of the world?
No tests, no homework, no punishment, here's why Finnish education is still at the top of the world. Finland has always been ranked first in math, reading and science in the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) rankings of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Although, Finland has no standardized test.
No Homework! Why Finland's school system is the best in the world
The handy infographic below takes a look at why homework doesn't seem to be a necessity given the structure of the rest of the system. Do you think a Finland-esque education system would work here in the US? There's No Homework in Finland. Finland boasts a 93% high school graduation rate (78% in Canada and 75% in the US)
Unlocking Finland's Secret
In this blog post, we will explore Finland's innovative strategies regarding homework and testing, and discuss how these approaches contribute to the remarkable success of the Finland education system. 1. The Role of Homework in Finland: Finland takes a remarkably different approach to homework compared to many other countries.
Finland's educational system and why is it so successful?
After the age of 16, it is optional. Finland's education system is sorted into: (Optional) The ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care), combines education, teaching, and a goal-oriented manner. Their goal is to promote children's development, health and wellbeing as well as to improve children's opportunity for learning.
There's No Homework in Finland
There's No Homework in Finland. Which countries have the best education system and why? Arpin Gajjar · Follow. Published in. Students For The Future · 3 min read · Oct 17, 2016--Listen. Share ...
Misconceptions About Homework in Finland : r/Finland
So not really homework. It took maybe 5 minutes per class. Also this is the reason why Finnish kids suck at mathematics, they don't get enough repetition in the basic stuff to learn it properly. There should be so much excercise that you know it without thinking before moving on.
Schools In Finland Succeed With No Homework And Fewer Lessons
No homework and less time spent at school has been every kid's dream at one point or another - but for the lucky students in Finland, it's a reality.Finnish ...
Is there homework in Finland?
The truth is that there is nearly no homework in the country with one of the top education systems in the world. Finnish people believe that besides homework, there are many more things that can improve a child's performance in school, such as having dinner with their families, exercising, or getting a good night's sleep.
Pros and cons of finland's education system? : r/Finland
For instance,it is often said that there's no homework and standardized testing in Finnish schools,but I've come to learn that there actually are. They are just very minimal in comparison to traditional educational models. (and I consider that a very good thing,hitting that middle ground between no homework and excessive homework..)
20+ Cool Facts about the Finnish Education System
In general, the Finnish education system stands out because of. Master's level teacher training. More chances to play and take breaks. Shorter school days and less homework. No fees, free meals and free books. No standardized testing. There are also downsides.
Is it illegal to have homework in Finland?
Finland. There is no homework in Finland, and hasn't been for years. Do kids in Finland do homework? Finnish teachers have the liberty to determine the need for homework individually. Required subjects are most often covered during the school day, which reduces the need for homework. Homework is seen more as a recap of what has been learned ...
Is that true that there is no homework in Finland
No. I keep seeing the statement that there's no homework in Finland every year smh. Yes, we do get homework. Time spent on them is very low compared to most countries though. No. My kids do homework almost every day they go to school. They don't get much homework though, maybe 30mins each day at most.
Finland Long Believed It Could Tame Russia. Now Moscow Is Enemy No. 1
ONTTOLA, Finland—Armed Finnish border guards on cross-country skis patrol the country's eastern flank, NATO's newest and longest border with its main adversary, Russia. Helicopters and ...
"There's No Homework in Finland" : r/Finland
39 votes, 34 comments. 225K subscribers in the Finland community. Welcome to r/Finland, the English language Subreddit dedicated to all things…