Topic
Why are they smartest in the world? Actually their school system is what's super, and BC could learn a thing a two.
Happy flying: Finnish children score highest on global tests and achievement gap between rich and poor is small. 1947 postage stamp image: Shutterstock.
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Everyone agrees that Finland -- a small, cold, northern country with about the population of B.C. -- is, as the BBC once called it, an "education superpower." Only South Korea really matches the Finns on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the accepted yardstick for comparing school achievement around the world.
Even more remarkably, Finland's success isn't just a product of a few elite schools, or a wealthy social class; as PISA notes, "No other country has so little variation in outcomes between schools, and the gap within schools between the top- and bottom-achieving students is extraordinarily modest as well. Finnish schools seem to serve all students well, regardless of family background or socio-economic status. For these reasons, Finnish schools have become a kind of tourist destination, with hundreds of educators and policy makers annually travelling to Helsinki to try to learn the secret of their success."
The envy is worldwide, with media in Britain, the U.S., and Israel all drawing unflattering comparisons between their own schools and the Finns'.
Perhaps the strongest endorsement of all is the major new report "The Learning Curve," by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Drawing on PISA and many other sources, The Learning Curve shows Finland beating almost everyone else -- and not even spending as much as many other countries.
The only jurisdictions that rank with Finland are Asian: South Korea, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan. Yet Finland seems academically lax -- especially by the cram-school standards of the Asians, fixed as they are on exam after exam. The Finns discourage homework and standardized testing. Yet on international tests like PISA, they do brilliantly.
Podium dreams
Canada actually does quite well too, generally standing right behind Finland and the Asians, and well ahead of the Americans. But at sixth or seventh, we're still also-rans. Even if we can't own the podium, we can dream of bronze or silver. What are the Finns doing that we're not?
First of all, they've got a head start: Finland's education policy developed in the 1970s as a consciously long-term project. North American educators and politicians are pushovers for quick fixes and the fad of the week. Who remembers the Cuisenaire rods and New Math of the 1960s, or B.C.'s Applied Academics program in the 1990s? Whatever their political changes, the Finns have stuck to the program.
Second, they both value teachers and make demands on them. As The Learning Curve says: "Respect for teachers... is ingrained in certain cultures such as those in Finland and South Korea. It can also be built in a society through policy choices."
In effect, Finland and South Korea recruit teachers the way armies recruit paratroopers -- from the best and most ambitious. In Finland, teachers come from the top 10 per cent of graduating students. Just to qualify for a teaching position you need a master's degree, and you'll do serious professional development throughout your career -- assuming you land a teaching job in the first place.
Third, Finland treats teachers like professionals, which means trusting their judgment. The government sets the desired outcomes and keeps an eye on teachers, but how they reach those outcomes is up to them. The degree of teacher autonomy in a Finnish elementary or secondary school would look like red revolution in B.C.
While South Korea pays its teachers well above the national average, and expects them to teach huge classes, Finland stays to the average salary, keeps classes small, and doesn't keep teachers or students in class very long. (The Learning Curve says Italian students "go to school three years longer" in class hours.)
Education for the Hunger Games
Here's a critical difference between Finland and South Korea (and Canada): We and the Koreans are training our kids for the Hunger Games, a kill-or-be-killed ordeal. Those who pass the final exam not only survive but maintain or improve their social status. Too bad about the flunk-outs.
This is the foundation of all the Fraser Institute school rankings and Macleans lists of top universities. Their premise is that only the best-educated survive in an individualist, cut-throat world where there is no such thing as society. So good parents feel driven to get their kids into the top kindergartens just for starters, no matter what the cost to their kids or to other people's kids.
Finland imposes that Darwinian process on its teachers, but not on its students.
By contrast South Korea, which was largely illiterate at the end of the Korean War, is now a major industrial power because its leaders made education serve a national economic goal -- a goal imposed by its military rulers in the 1970s, and achievable only by an education forced march that continues to this day.
But as a recent article points out, Finland's high academic scores are just a by-product of its cooperative, egalitarian school system -- not the goal itself. Finland, as The Learning Curve says, made "a commitment as a nation to invest in learning as a way of lifting its commitment to equity. They wish to lift the learning of all people: it is about a moral purpose that comes from both a deeper cultural level and a commitment at a political-social level. In other words, education is seen as an act of social justice."
As expressed in the schools, that act of social justice seems shocking to educators in other systems. Finnish kids don't start school until they're seven. In elementary, they get 75 minutes of recess every day, and free hot lunches (for teachers too). They aren't really tested for their first six years in school, but three out of 10 get extra help when their teachers see they need it. The only mandatory standardized test they take is at 16, which qualifies them for college. The high school graduation rate is 93 per cent, and two-thirds of all grads do go on to college -- which is free.
No pedagogue's paradise
Finland is not a pedagogue's paradise. Opettaja, the professional teachers' magazine, reports that teachers and administrators often battle over who can speak publicly about school issues. Google "teachers" on the English-language pages of Finnish news agency YLE, and you'll find stories about unruly and hungry students, unprofessional teacher behaviour, the problems of teaching in poor neighbourhoods, and protests from the teachers' union over funding cuts.
One Finn recently dismissed The Learning Curve, saying Finnish success is based on the language's phonetic spelling and a relatively homogeneous culture; the Finnish model is therefore not exportable.
Never mind the spelling and the culture; importing such a model to B.C. would be politically explosive.
Political show-stoppers
After all, it would have to be a long-term project, not fully operational until perhaps the 2040s. Every government between now and then would have to leave it alone. Good luck with that dream of social justice.
Today's teachers would have to be grandfathered into the new system. But many of the old-timers would choose early retirement rather than put up with the brainy, aggressive young MAs coming into the schools. Those young teachers wouldn't be attracted by the starting pay, but by the freedom to meet the general curriculum goals set by the government. Like doctors and engineers, they'd work without the supervision of senior bureaucrats.
Today's parents would have to give up their vision of school as competitive arena; the local school would be the only school, and it would be as good as any other in the province. Without endless tests, they'd have to accept the teacher's judgment about how their kids are doing.
A little-noted aspect of Finnish education is that a single teachers' union represents everyone, from kindergarten to university. In North America's academic caste system, our university Brahmins would reject the idea out of hand.
Similarly, education policy is set at the national level (by the Ministry of Education and Culture) and municipalities look after their local schools. No B.C. school boards would welcome their own dissolution, and few municipalities would want the chores of school administration.
Still, B.C. educators can dream. If Finland could change its education culture by changing its education policies, then maybe we could, too -- and if we changed our political culture at the same time, so much the better. ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
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Okanagan Orchardist
16 weeks ago
Here are some additional details....
Why BC will never be a Finland:
-- different political system:
1. President elected for 6 years.
2. Proportional representation (I wish).
3. Since 1980 coalition parties have ruled for the whole election term. That's 30+ years!
4. Parliament has multi-seat constituencies.
5. Three major parties, the most popular is the Social Democratic Party.
--Different social system:
1. Women are as well educated as men.
2. 75% of women work outside the home.
3. Free universal day care from 8 months to 5 years, then free kindergarten at age 6.
As Crawford suggests, the educational system will require the whole co-operation of the government. Unless we can keep the NDP in power in BC for the next 20 years, we will never have the social system needed to ever achieve the educational standards of Finland.
Hakuin
16 weeks ago
So,
You are saying it could be done
Markerbuoy
16 weeks ago
Solution:
Let's all move to Finland.
Seriously, we have much to learn from the Fins, not just in educational matters but politically and socially also.
Right now, egalitarian is just a medium sized word, AWOL in BC and Canada.
Mark B
nicksmith
16 weeks ago
Thanks for an enlightening
Thanks for an enlightening article, Crawford. Your points about teacher autonomy and cultural regard for the profession are well-taken.
You state that Finns do not choose the school that their children attend. Part of this picture is the absence of private schools.
Another part of this is the "teaching schools" for lack of an English term. Much like teaching hospitals that we have in Canada, some schools are set up so that pre-service teachers can learn the art of education.
We don't need to import the whole system, but can choose the essential parts that will suit our situation.
rantnic
16 weeks ago
The Finn's have a "SOCIETY"
Aren't the Finns lucky? They have a social democracy within which they can administrate their own educational system.
We on the other hand have a "CORPTCRACY" wherein only those who can afford it (not necessarily those who deserve it or want it) can get a decent education.
@Okanagan Orchardist
All of your list!
Hakuin
16 weeks ago
Finns have other qualities too
Pure bloodymindedness in the face of certain doom being chief among them. I think BC could learn from that. If we want the same educational results as Finland just ask a Finn. All they will say is " So you want it? Shut up and do it then". Try a little "sisu".
Hakuin
16 weeks ago
I wonder about Korea though
http://www.hancinema.net/students-and-parents-suffer-from-korea-s-educational-environment-49579.html
Finland's got more than its share of adult laconic, morose drunks prone to flashes of murderous violence, but I always put that down to them having real snow, not like that pallid Canadian stuff. Korean "han" may partly account for their high marks, like Finnish sisu, Japan has always done comparatively well with their spirit of "gaman" (though I doubt many kids tie on hachimaki on their heads any more before sitting down to study), but what have we got these days?
hg
16 weeks ago
System
Please do not blame the "system". We get exactly the system we deserve. To begin with our voting system corrupts the elections. But besides that, the biggest problem are the citizens that do not vote. We are the problem. The voter turnout is pathetic.
From earliest education on, a class in citizenship, geared to the age of the pupils, must be taught. Not only the rights but also the obligations an responsibilities of being a contributing citizen.
That would be a start and a chance to prevent the subservience of our politicians to special interest groups, and force them to actually govern for the people to the benefit of the people.
Hakuin
16 weeks ago
I thought
all the little Socredlieberals came from Socredlieberal parents? Who else could warp them so young?
hg
16 weeks ago
Hakuin
That is exactly why we need a public school system teaching citizenship to give those poor wretches a chance to be productive citizens.
Okanagan Orchardist
16 weeks ago
Another point of Interest...
Crawford says: "a relatively homogeneous culture" may also be responsible for the higher learning level in Finland.
This doesn't apply to BC, I don't think, as it is the Chinese and East Indian students who almost always appear at the top of the list, at any level.
Also, I read somewhere, that Japan doesn't allow Muslim immigrants, so it's society is probably highly homogeneous -- as would South Korea's.
Hakuin's website on South Korean education is a sad commentary on their system.
I think we would be wise to promote a free educational system through the university and technical levels here in BC as in Finland.
Van Isle
16 weeks ago
A few other details have got
A few other details have got to brought up. 1) Most children finish their formal schooling at about age 15, then can get an apprenticeship if they want and what they have aptitude for. 2)The students who do finish high school are the bright ones who could go on to be lawyers, doctors etc. 3) All post secondary education is free but again the student must have an aptitude for what they want to be educated in. I have a niece in Finland who finished formal schooling at 15, went into nursing school, and at the age of 18 she was working in a hospital as a fully qualified RN. Most 18 year olds here in Canada are still fucking around in high school doing 'busy-work'. And Haukin I do know what 'sisu' means and at times I wish Canadians and politicans could have a little more of it too.
edward01ca
16 weeks ago
As a Teacher Recently Retired
I can't stress enough that the population homogeniety of the Finnish population is likely the key factor in them doing so well in the PISA tests. This is the same for the Chinese, Korean,and Japanese cultures. Japan actively restricts immigration and treats its indigenous Korean population very poorly. You also have to realize that standardized tests use multiple choice questions called objective questions, NOT essay type questions which are subjective questions. While I am not aware of the Finnish situation, the Asian education system relies almost entirely on regurgition of facts and so if you drill and practice the same problems constantly, you will constantly get the correct answer. That is why in BC students can get 100% on the Physics or Math 12 exams, but it is extremely rare to get 100% on the English 12 exam. In actual fact, comparing the Asian/Finnish systems with Canada is a non-starter, but this does appeal to the likes of the Fraser Institute and other neoconservative groups.
Rog
16 weeks ago
As a retired teacher I did
As a retired teacher I did enjoy Crawford's article....Thanks!
I started teaching in BC in 1968 and I noticed a great change in the whole level of education when the private schools were publicly financed and the public schools lostthe children of doctors,engineers ,pharmacists, lawyers. The pressure on class size did not help and the severing of the administrators from the BCTF was not helpful.
As an Enlish immigrant I was horrified to encounter the cultural anti intellectualism prevalent in Alberta and BC schools.....very bright students were derided and the ones with common sense kept a low profile. I also noted that Asian students were serious students ....many of the canadian students were "relaxed".
Hakuin
16 weeks ago
how about free post secondary for everybody?
On the condition that those who can't or won't do well get flunked out after the first two years?
Hakuin
16 weeks ago
seems the Finnish system itself, learns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CLdY9AAqI4
Hakuin
16 weeks ago
fighting government corruption also matters:
http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2012/results/
RickW
16 weeks ago
Hakuin
Education in Canada should be free (monetarily), but conditional (as you mentioned), and with "compulsory service" on graduation. Of course, the student could go to school without conditions - providing she or he pay their way in it's entirety.
Hakuin
16 weeks ago
our universities
should be full of smart, poor kids and dumb, rich kids. All I see these days is rich kids.
Charmancreek
16 weeks ago
Ooops- historic Korean literacy rates
The Korean alphabet, hangul, can be learned by a Korean speaker in a few short hours. The 24 letters perfectly match the spoken sounds- one sound per letter and one letter per sound! The use of Chinese characters for Chinese words integrated into the language is more difficult but still, a Korean speaking child can learn to read very quickly and has ever since the alphabet was invented by still revered scholars in 1443! The letters of the alphabet can all be traced on the traditional pattern found on sliding doors and windows of traditional homes.
Hakuin
16 weeks ago
most Finns
speak at least three languages
eduspeak
16 weeks ago
Finland SuperKids
A number of observations about Finland's system have already been discussed. What wasn't mentioned was that the population is very homogenous, and that at least in past years kids came to school being able to read, it was a requirement. That was a carryover from religious training; that is, kids needed to be able to read the scriptures. The language is very unique as well, it is regular but significant features are very different from English.By 1880 some 98% of the population could read.
OwlRol
16 weeks ago
Systemic
Immigrant families that moved here from Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong, etc. seem generally pleased with their secondary school kids' progress, not all, and many would like more from some classes and the system in general. But many of their kids do (hate that word "perform" except in its original theatric, acting or showmanship sense) exceptionally well over a period of time, not just in math and science, but history, geography, drama, culinary skills, technical literacy, English Lit., leadership, etc.
Not so for international students promised a Dogwood after only three years of immersion. Nearly as big a scam as some of the so called private ESL "colleges".
It's not so much the cultural differences (although there are some odd outliers there), as much as a lack of consistency in the education systems, here in BC, and surely across Canada.
Why is it that BC tends to do better than Ontario overall on the PISA and other similar student tests (for some time now, prior to 2001) ?
Surely not the cash ? Maybe fewer urbanites overall ? Influence of Asian protocols and sensibilities ? Cleaner air and more natural environmental links and activities ?
But Ontario has similar demographics of age, sex, etc., although on a larger scale. Must be a systemic issue, perhaps going back to (and before) the Conservative Mike Harris "Common Sense Revolution" of the 90s.
The Tory opposition (Ontario Conservative Party) supported the McGuinty government's legislation, Bill 125, "but only after demanding that it be more severe." (Herman Rosenfeld)
No 10 year contracts here, very likely toast :-) (Curious, the Min. of Ed. must have known what was going on between teacher and district admin. groups, but kept pushing their 10 year contract "framework").
A Finnish single standardized test at (seemingly early) graduation, likely not aimed at comparing schools and districts, rather to help students select their best options on graduation, surely makes a ton of sense.
Yup, teachers should have post graduate degrees and still more experience. No guarantees, but the odds get better.
A tremendous workload and often demanding home responsibilities can make it exceptionally tough, even if extended over longer years.
The Finns got it right. No fees. To lay a financial burden on teachers or secondary graduates, willing to give that extra effort to improve their practices, not only extends socio-economic separation, but worse, reduces general productivity in a considerable number of ways.
Seems family honour and rugged individualism can get in the way of real progress.
Worse yet are the control freaks who see only skills and worker ants, but deeply fear autonomy and professionalism. Can't last.
Hakuin
16 weeks ago
It was imbecile worker ants
That voted in the control freaks
anne cameron
16 weeks ago
really?
You think the corporations, and the politicians they control, would make any real move toward providing a good education to the average person?
The "dumbing down" has been going on for years. They want as many of us as possible as ignorant as is possible so we continue to vote in a majority government which then sets about stripping us of everything we used to think was "canadian". They want us barely literate; as long as we can hold down some minimum wage minimum skilled job they're happy.
I have grandchildren in the school system. At times (not always, but sometimes) I wonder if they aren't being conditioned to sit on their asses playing video games and not agitating for decent employment. Jobs seem to be going the way of the Dodo bird, and a highly literate, well educated population would never stand for the current mess. It seems as if, increasingly, manufacturing jobs are being "outsourced" to struggling countries where heartbreakingly low wages are the norm...now we're allowing the arstles to bring in "guest workers" who seem to live in slave conditions doing work too many unemployed canadians never got the chance to apply to do...
"who benefits?"
"is it an accident?"
The big dogs want us all as vulnerable as possible.
Kreditanstalt
16 weeks ago
Hardly Objective.
It all comes down, as always, to Higher Salaries For Teachers, doesn't it, Crawford?
If more government spending could actually solve anything, it would have done so.
Crawford
16 weeks ago
No, it doesn't come down to higher salaries
Kindly note that Finnish teachers are paid at about the average Finnish salary. It's not about salary; it's about teachers' professional autonomy.
If government spending didn't solve things like health problems, the need for education, and winning wars, you and I wouldn't even exist. If we did, we wouldn't be communicating in this medium, created by government spending.
Or do you believe in the theology of the free lunch?
Hakuin
16 weeks ago
it's also about Finland
being a country. They know who they are, they know where they came from , they know where they are going.
Chris Keam
16 weeks ago
The proof is in the prick
"If more government spending could actually solve anything, it would have done so."
How many people do you know who have contracted polio in Canada in the past few decades?
Kreditanstalt
16 weeks ago
If we expected and demanded
If we expected and demanded more of both our students and teachers, the disparity between the performance of B.C.'s students and those of Finland, South Korea & Japan might actually diminish.
South Korea's education system is something similar to that of Taiwan. It features many private schools, some academically excellent (and demanding) and others terrible. There is, literally, a school and a diploma, for EVERYONE. As a result, the only thing that counts later in life is the name of the school on your certificate.
I'm not saying this is all good. It isn't, unless you are a high-achieving and driven student. Moreover, within both private an government schools, students are sorte on the basis of ability into classes of varying levels: in Taiwan, the 'lowest' (easiest) classes were colloquially termed "fang niou ban" ("herd cattle class") because in anccient times that was all low-achieving students were deemed good for. (But the monicker has stuck.)
Most students are relegated to third-rate private schools and get pieces of paper with the name of that institution on them when they finish. Meaningless pieces of paper, but they "graduated".
That system does effectively 'stream' students of high-calibre into challenging school environments and avoids throwing every student in a class together and dumbing-down the curriculum so that everyone is "able to keep up", which is the route we have taken here. The result is that South Korea's TOP students excel, while the majority may be no different in terms of performance from those here.
On the other hand, we're burdened with a education system which actively discourages excellence in the name of "inclusiveness", resulting in mediocrity and lack of competition. Which is not all bad; still you can't have it both ways.
Tara Ehrcke
16 weeks ago
You missed one important factor...
There are no private schools in Finland. They have a "one tier" education system. We have a "two tier" system. Perhaps our private schools match Finland's public schools - they certainly have much better learning conditions. But part of the project has to be to eliminate the better schools that parents who can pay have and instead insist on equal access for every single student through a public system. See: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success/250564/
trulib
16 weeks ago
proportional representation.
According to recent polls, we now have a federal party in power which is the last choice of 70 % of the population.
eduspeak
16 weeks ago
Our system is in statis
Go to the Ministry of Eduation website and look at the statistics for the province. The FSA scores for reading, writing & numeracy have been the same (a straight line on their scaled scores chart)for the past five year (2008-2012). Many teachers have had five years of experience increments. The number of students in the province has decreased, the amount of money students receive per student has increased. About 1/3 of students don't achieve at the expected levels.
What does that tell us?
Hakuin
16 weeks ago
Could tell us a whole bunch of things
I can think of multiple explanations for each point. What's your theory?
eduspeak
16 weeks ago
What's one theory?
Yes, there are many explanations, but I'd like to hear yours!
Hakuin
16 weeks ago
Your post
You fiirst
eduspeak
16 weeks ago
One theory
Inputs all change but outputs stay the same.