The Finish Education System - Case Study Example

Why is Finish school better than American school? Introduction The Finish education system is way better and more successful compared to the US education system and it uses less money that what is used by the US. Finland has transformed its education system over the last 40 years and its efforts have finally borne fruits as is evident from the high performance in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which test over 57 nations globally. As it emerges among the top in maths, science and reading, America takes the middle position in all the three subjects. The success of the Finish education system can be based on hiring of highly qualified teachers, focusing much on creativity in the school’s curriculum, using less standardized tests as well as engaging in more activities outside than inside the classrooms. The success of the Finish education system over the years is based on the fact that they treat teaching as a human aspect and not only as a measure of statistics which is what the American education system is all about. Hiring high-level teachers Teachers in Finland compared to those in United States are taken from the best performing graduates and taken in the educational field. All teachers hired in Finland have completed a Master’s degree as opposed to those in the US whose highest level of qualification is a Bachelor’s degree. Teachers in Finland are hired as highly recognized and qualified professionals such as doctors or lawyers while those in the US are just taken as middle-level professionals and this reflects on the teaching outcomes as well. In Finland, teaching profession is not for educational losers but is rather for the top academic crème de la crème of the university. There is no undergraduate teaching program that is present in the US. Teachers even of primary education are chosen from the top 10 percent of all graduates and taken to complete a Master’s degree in education before they can be hired as teachers (Hancock 2011). This has ensured that the teachers being hired are overly qualified to handle the students’ educational needs. This can however not be said to be the case for teachers in the US. When teachers are hired in Finland, the government entails its trust on them to carry out their work with little or no supervision. They are trusted that their treatment of each student as special will enable transform their lives for the better even if it means taking them under their wing and offering them royal tutoring. This is not something teachers in the US do and hence the differing results. The hiring of high level teachers has been taken to even the officials of the education boards and departments. These are the people who make educational policies that have continued to positively transform the educational field. The highly qualified teachers who have worked for a minimum of four years are hired on in the Ministry of Education, in the Education Evaluation Council and even the National Board of Education (Abrams 2004). They take their human aspect with them to focus on even during making of policies rather than focusing on the statistics like it is the case in the US. Zhao provides a comparison with US education system which “lacks qualified teachers (Zhao 58).” Creativity in a school’s curriculum (such as less homework, less test) The school curriculum in Finland is the total opposite of what it is in the US. While American schools places much emphasis on more work and little, play, Finish schools places emphasis on more play than work. The same can be said for homework where Finish school children are given less homework while the US children are laden with homework. According to research by CNN, the school curriculum in Finland does not start until a child is 7 years old which is when they start their education. This enables them to have passed the harder developmental stages which not only hinder progress but which tires children out rather than make them more curious and interested in their learning. US children start earlier and hence children tend to be tired early. When it comes to recess which is play time, the children in Finish schools have extended recess time. Recess is also given to students for 15 minutes after every lesson. This is in addition to the main recess time. Statistics by Abrams (2004) indicate that in Finland, combined daily recess time is 75 minutes while that in the US is only 27 minutes. The difference is what contributes to the overall difference in educational performance between the two nations. The school curriculum in Finland is made in such a way that children are given less homework at the end of the day. Their homework is also highly concentrated on arts and crafts while their education in school is focused on reading, science and maths. In the US, it is the opposite. After a hard day of schooling, the children are given a lot of homework as well meaning they have less relaxation time even at home. The Finish curriculum is successful because it is balanced and focuses on professionalism more than testing but this cannot be said for the US curriculum. How is the test in the education of two countries? Tests in the US are standardized and they heavily lean towards statistics and competition by teachers more than students. In Finland, there is only one standardized test and which is done at the end of the high school senior year. Teachers design their own course as well as exams based on their established curriculum. This is a major difference with the US teachers explaining the education standard differences. The tests in Finland similarly to their education are focused not on statistics but on the human aspect. They carry out an all rounded examination and when it comes to results, they do not focus much on the grade but rather what the grades indicate about the individual and what can be done about it (Tung 2012). This presents the major difference between the performances in the two nations under discussion. The standardized tests in Finland are also not carried out because they cause too much unnecessary tests among the students to an extent that they underperform. Their tests scores therefore do not reflect their true educational ability but rather some ill statistics. In the US however, they see tests and test scores as a means of earning extra money. This is because of the “race to the top initiative” which gives money to teachers based on their test scores. The initiative leads to teachers solely drilling answers to students in order to pass the standardized tests rather than focus on true learning and this eventually leads to the lower performance in the US compared to that of Finland. Lastly, Finns educational policy makers based on research concluded that investing in broader curricula, smaller class sizes and the welfare of the teachers was way important than testing. They therefore do not spend millions of their money on preparation and printing of tests and dwelling on test scores but rather spend t in building more educational facilities and teaching students about academic excellence without the pressure of examinations looming in the background (Abrams 2004). This has contributed largely to the reduction in numbers of students being left back and the success in the final standardized test results. American teachers and education system in general is stated by Zhao (2009) as having increasing faith in testing hence the explanation of the increased standardized tests. How do activities outside help students to study before learning new lessons in the education of two countries? Children in Finland learn more as a result of their outside activities which largely involve playing, arts and crafts. The outside activities help them to be creative, relaxed and ready to learn what is being taught indoors. This is the opposite of what happens in the US where outside learning other than the mandatory physical exercise and minimal recess time is seen as a waste of learning time. Finish schools divides their inside and outside learning in half during a school day. Children are left to develop their creativity through engaging in outdoor activities such as playing. Some can also be seen painting and creating models. This facilitates them to be all rounded students later on in life something the children in the US are not able to achieve. The outside activities help children relax their minds and prepare themselves for another classroom session of learning. With relaxed minds, they are better able to understand concepts being taught easily and very fast without drilling or being coerced. The play outside also reduces the day dreaming capacity which is common in American classrooms as the students’ minds are alert (Tung 2012). Children love to play and they have the energy to do that which is bottled up inside. When they do not get enough time to play, they become very restless in the classroom. They keep on fidgeting and checking time looking forward to recess time or even lunch breaks. This minimizes their concentration levels and hence minimizes their learning in general. Finland educators have done their research throughout the 40 years and have realized that more learning is carried out when children have more recess time (Sahlberg 2014). This system should be adopted by the US teachers. Conclusion-reiterates, significance of thesis The success of the Finish education system over the years is based on the fact that they treat teaching as a human aspect and not only as a measure of statistics which is what the American education system is all about (Hancock 2011). This has been evident through the numerous recess times and study breaks, the lack of standardized tests, the creativity in the school curriculum as well as hiring of the best and most qualified for the teaching career. These are all things which are lacking in the American education system leading to their less than appealing results globally. America should emulate the Finish system in order to improve their education system for the better. Work Cited Abrams, Samuel. The Children must play. New Republic, 2004. Retrieved from http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/82329/education-reform-Finland-US Hancock, LynNell. Why Are Finlands Schools Successful? Smithsonian Magazine, September, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why- are-finlands-schools-successful-49859555/?no-ist Sahlberg, Pasi. Why Finlands schools are top-notch. CNN, October 6th, 2014. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/06/opinion/sahlberg-finland-education/ Tung, Stephen. How the Finnish school system outshines U.S. education. Stanford Report, January 20th, 2012. Retrieved from http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/january/finnish-schools-reform-012012.html Zhao, Yong. Catching Up Or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization. New York: ASCD, 2009. Print. Read More