Finnish Teachers and the American System

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Finnish Teachers and the American System

by What Do you think?

Dec 31, 2016

Many times the US teachers are compared to the Finnish teachers. Is it the teachers or is it the system? Interesting read. theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/11/when-finnish-teachers-work-in-americas-public-schools/508685/?utm_source=atlfb

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interested lurker Like AM, I've done some reading on the Finnish school system and I agree with AM's post. Like she mentioned, they focus on the child from birth. All parents are given paid maternity leave (which can be split between the mother and father or taken by both simultaneously), and daycare is free starting at eight months if, for example, the parents choo...See MoreLike AM, I've done some reading on the Finnish school system and I agree with AM's post. Like she mentioned, they focus on the child from birth. All parents are given paid maternity leave (which can be split between the mother and father or taken by both simultaneously), and daycare is free starting at eight months if, for example, the parents choose to go back to work that early. All babies are given a free "starter set" of basic supplies such as several outfits of clothing, some diapers, a toothbrush, a mattress, a picture book, and the box it all comes in is large enough and sturdy enough to use as the newborn's first crib. It is very much "it takes a village to raise a child" and that mentality continues throughout the child's years of school. Primary schooling doesn't start until age 7, but nearly all students attend preschool. Everyone has free (for most services) or low-cost (for some services) good-quality healthcare. The impact this has on the child is that the mother had good prenatal and maternity care and the baby had good health care from birth. Teacher education is so rigorous that only about 7&37; of applicants are accepted into the program. All teachers have master's degrees (I know that's true in some parts of the US as well but not all). All teachers hired must also be highly qualified upon hire: no temporary or emergency or internship certifications. All teachers have completed the five-year program. Like AM mentioned society is not as homogeneous as is sometimes assumed; overall the country is fairly homogeneous on average but there are certain areas of Finland with much higher diversity and schools in those communities are just as successful. In Helsinki to give an example 18&37; of the population speaks a language other than Finnish as their native language and there are schools where more than a third of the student population comes from an immigrant background (the areas with the highest number of immigrants to Finland are Russia, Estonia, and Somalia). Plus of course they have the same diversity as any other country in terms of students with special needs and so on. Regardless of demographics schools across Finland tend to get similar results. Teachers are given a lot of autonomy regarding their teaching and students do not take much in the way of standardized tests, aside from university entrance exams (and the occasional international test such as PISA). The university entrance exams also serve as a strong motivation for students to study hard, though - think back to that 7&37; acceptance rate for teacher education. Also, as a profession education is highly respected. I highly recommend Tim Walker's writing (he has a blog as well as some books recently published in Europe and/or coming soon in the U.S.); he's an American teaching in Finland. Another I recommend is Anu Partanen a journalist from Finland married to an American, who writes about the similarities and differences (not just in education but in other aspects of life as well) and Pasi Sahlberg a Finnish educator/author who has written about comparative education systems.

On 12/31/16, AM wrote: > Teachers had autonomy here but that didn't work so well for > too many students. This is part of why NCLB came about. I've > read a lot of articles about the Finnish ed system. It > interests me. > > There will be comments that Finnish have a homogenous > population (not true) and all the other reasons they are > successful and we aren't that will be posted here but there > are a couple fundamental differences. > > The Finn's increased pay, cleaned house so only those that fit > their new model remained. Then it is about outcomes both > student and groups. A couple years ago they studied their > special ed pop on how they can better serve those children, > the next year they studied their results with gifted students > all the while focusing on each childs needs as they studied > the bigger picture. > > It is not about competition it is about learning, something I > never understood in our school system. Who cares if my child > only has 10 spelling words while others have 20. The point is > for him to learn to spell words and doing 10 allows that yet > it was a thorn in more than one persons butt. I once stated > that they acted like my child was going to compete against the > children they favored for Harvard. He isn't, so lets stop with > the attitude over it and allow him to learn what he can. > > We have the new thing of the year and it changes before anyone > knows if it is effective or not. No consistency. It's driven > by businesses that profit off text books etc rather than > educators. When was the last time you saw teachers protesting > to improve learning in school and why they should drive the > process and their plan to do that. When was the last time > admin put out anything along the same lines? > > As a country they also focus on the child from birth. That > will not happen here as people worry someone else will get > more than they do or have more kids or whatever. They can't > see the bigger picture that if we took care of each child > those children will grow up to make good decisions for their > life, be educated and contributing. > > > > > > On 12/31/16, What Do you think? wrote: >> Many times the US teachers are compared to the Finnish >> teachers. Is it the teachers or is it the system? >> Interesting read. >> > theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/11/when-finnish- teachers-work-in-americas-public-schools/508685/? utm_source=atlfb >>

Jan 1, 2017

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