Why is Finnish teacher education excellent? | University of Helsinki
Вставка
- Опубліковано 19 вер 2024
- Finnish teacher education is renowned for its excellent quality.
Teachers in Finland are highly trained and the profession is respected. All teachers are required to have a Master’s degree.
Karoliina Salonen, a class teacher trainee and Sirkku Myllyntausta, who works as Lecturer and Teacher training Coordinator, prepare a training lesson together. Apart from theoretical studies, several training periods form a part of the teacher education programme in the Faculty of Education at the University of Helsinki.
The teacher practice takes place in the Viikki Teacher Training School in Helsinki, which serves as the teacher training school for future teachers.
Special thanks to Karoliina Salonen and Sirkku Myllyntausta and primary class 5A in the Vikki Teacher Training School.
Read more: www.helsinki.f...
Music: Lee Rosevere - Where Was I
International studies once showed that Finnish student performance was below average. The Government wanted improvement and sent educators around the world to see what worked in other countries. The government decided to abolish their selective system and grammar schools were replaced with comprehensive schools. The Government decided to have mixed ability classes with no streaming or setting.
The Government introduced a law so that all children have a 15 minute break after 45 minutes of teaching. This prevents cognitive overload for pupils and teachers. Pupils value their frequent breaks and are reluctant to lose any through misbehaviour.
The work ethic and discipline are excellent in Finnish primary and secondary classrooms and these allow good teaching and learning to be achieved. Teachers insist on quietness while the teacher is speaking. Pupils are also taught to respect each other. In primary schools a cuddly toy is given to a pupil and this allows only one pupil to speak in the discussion circle. The other pupils listen in silence and wait for their turn to speak.
The Government sets out a curriculum that is short with only a few pages of text per subject. The curriculum is not overwhelming, leaving time in the year for teachers to plan local activities and test national innovations. The Government set out the number of hours of study per subject per year after a consultation process with teachers every ten years.
The Government works with Universities to implement teacher training. Teacher training stresses the implementation of active learning strategies, problem solving, monitoring, feedback and the idea of the teacher as a researcher.
Early childhood education (kindergarten) has a focus on socialisation. Pupils are not taught how to read and write because Finland believes it is too early for these activities. Fees are based on parental income. Basic education starts when a child turns 7. Continuous assessment involves tests and feedback and each child is asked to be self critical about their progress through proformas. They then set new targets to improve their study skills. ‘Learning to learn’ is a primary objective in the national curriculum.
‘Class teachers’ are trained to teach pupils between the ages of 7 to 13. They teach all subjects (Finnish, Swedish, Maths, Music, PE, Art, RE, Science and English) in a mixed ability class with less than 20 pupils. They keep the same class from year to year and soon know the pupils that need extra support.
Science is taught to very young pupils as environmental science. This allows the opportunity for outdoor education and integration with geography. The national curriculum for older primary pupils directs them to study the basic concepts of biology, physics and chemistry.
‘Subject teachers’ teach pupils aged 13+. Teachers on exchange visits comment that lessons are not drastically different to those in their countries and comment that Finnish teachers are not ‘super teachers’ but are very involved with individual pupil learning and pupil progress.
Lessons have various activities with a focus on checking that learning has been successful. Teacher talk (passive learning) is balanced by active learning (e.g. reading, summarising, quizzes and questions from the textbook. Problem solving is also common and pupils work individually to solve the problem set. This could involve practical work). The Finnish lesson often ends with a short written test. Peer to peer discussions are sometimes used as this requires reflection about learning and a bright pupil is paired with a less able pupil. Each has to explain what they have learned in the lesson. Homework is very brief. Science theory lessons are balanced by practicals designed to encourage problem solving.
Continuous assessment for an older secondary school pupil using a textbook involves a range of assessments:-
1. Attendance and behaviour ...10%
2. Homework ...20%
3. Short tests at the end of each textbook chapter (one page of questions) ...30%
4. An end of term test includes one question from each chapter (or an essay) and an extra ‘problem solving’ question. The latter is very difficult for pupils and it tests the ability to apply a concept in a novel situation ...40%.
Teachers enjoy their jobs and few leave teaching. Girls and boys state they are very satisfied with their wellbeing in PISA studies. Finland is consistently towards the top in PISA tests for educational attainment.
The Government approves science and mathematics textbooks for older pupils that have been tried and tested in schools. Textbooks have teacher guides and these provide lesson plans for teachers for every term. They also contain extension material, printouts and projects. Textbooks are supplemented with free internet material. Parents pay for these textbooks. Parents also pay for laptop computers for older pupils. These pupils do projects and research on the internet. Other pupils and the teacher comment critically on their progress at weekly presentations and a project may last for three weeks. It is assessed on a scale of 10 (excellent) to 4 (fail) by the teacher.
The Government directs examination boards to set questions that assess the understanding of concepts and their application in novel situations rather than just factual recall. The application of knowledge (problem solving) is a higher order of skill in Blooms Taxonomy of Learning. There is a minimum reliance on multiple choice questions as these are viewed as only useful for testing factual recall. The possibility of guessing also reduces the reliability of this type of test.
The Government introduced several layers of accountability. Pupils are made accountable to teachers through continuous assessment. Continuous assessment involves short tests periodically and end of term tests for all subjects. Copies of marked papers are sent home and parents have to sign a document to say they have read the report. Teachers input grades into a national database called WILMA. Teachers discuss pupil progress, behavioural problems and innovations with the headteacher every term. Parents can be invited to the school to discuss issues and the school psychologist and school social worker may be involved. The headteacher is made aware of their own school progress through external government tests. These do not occur every year for every school. Tests only examine a 10% sample of Finnish schools when pupils are 12 (end of primary school) and 15 (end of middle school). Pupils are informed of the test on the day and not before. For example English may be tested at 12 and Mathematics may be tested at 15. The school results are not published.
The Government is now reviewing the curriculum to periodically introduce topics that require strategies which are needed in modern industry, such as working together, confidence with IT and creativity. It is compulsory to have one cross curricular project in each class in each year. Environmental studies are popular.
The Government spends much less on education than many other countries despite having small class sizes and insisting that schools intervene quickly to support the less able in the classroom. They also provide free school meals and snacks. Schools also employ a psychologist and a social worker and these may be shared in rural areas. Finland does not have the enormous expense involved in SAT testing and the cost of hundreds of Government school inspectors. Finland does not have the huge costs involved for a national test in all subjects at 16. Parents pay for examination entries at 18.
There are a few international private schools in cities in Finland. They follow the national curriculum and they are directly accountable to the Government.
The results of continuous assessment are used at 15 (end of middle school) to decide whether a pupil will follow an academic route (58%) or a vocational route (42%). Counsellors meet with pupils to discuss their options. Borderline pupils can opt to take some nationwide examinations in a few subjects to try to improve their grade. This could allow them access to the academic route or to a very popular school in a city.
Vocational studies include Technology and Transport, Business and Administration, Health and Social Services, Tourism, Catering and Home Economics, Culture, Natural Resources and Physical Education. Work experience is part of each course. 25% of the course is in the core curriculum subjects. Skills and a project are assessed by an evaluator.
The first mandatory national examinations for ‘academic’ pupils are at the age of 18 (end of upper secondary) and these allow entry to a university. Continuous assessment grades from their school for the six subjects studied are also considered in applications. Some universities also set their own examinations.
‘Vocational’ pupils can opt to attend a polytechnic (University of Applied Sciences) or go into full time employment.
The Government in Finland has abandoned the idea that the curriculum should be written by a University academic and a Government team and then sent out for approval. Instead the Government relies on many hundreds of teachers to input ideas. They comment on what actually works to promote learning. The curriculum is rewritten every ten years and this involves focus groups and national trials.
Finland uses continuous assessment while many other countries use multiple SAT testing. Singapore has been an advocate of regular SAT testing to monitor and hopefully drive up results but has recently decided to abandon two statutory tests for young primary children and will stop two more tests at primary and two at secondary within the next three years. Singapore has been a world class leader with regard to PISA results but in 2015 there were 27 suicides among secondary pupils.
I appreciated this. My country would NEVER in my lifetime but this is mindset is something to have when I *hopefully become a teacher myself
It was very interesting and informative to read about all the measures the Finnish government has in place to ensure student success.
What would be really interesting would be if Finland were to absorb a large number of at-risk students (immigrants, for instance-who lack such features as universally highly-educated, high socioeconomic-level parents who are fluent in the language of instruction), and see how the children do.
Let’s face it: Finnish children have all the advantages. What would be interesting would be to see how children who don’t have all these advantages fare in the Finnish school system.
@@HBCALIF92646 ...They do now have an influx of refugees and immigrants are are integrating them.
Helen Caldicott, “Teachers, I believe are the most responsible and important members of society because their professional efforts affect the fate of the earth.”
Teaching has always scared me…
Teachers have the power to affect their minds.
Producing young people for life-ready to achieve the life purpose on their life
Hey how to join Finland education system i am from india.