Lessons We Can Learn

Let's see, Finnish teachers (550), on average, work half as many hours, per year, as their American counterparts (1010). The Finnish school year is a bit shorter than the U.S. one and yet their PISA scores are among the highest in the world and they've been that way for a good period of time.

Here are some other facts that may shed some light on the Finnish success story. Compulsory school doesn't commence until age 7. Science classes are capped at 16 for every school. The children receive 75 minutes of recess per day compared to the U.S. average of 27 minutes per day.

Homework is a rarity as the Finnish educators believe that mastery is achieved in the classroom. In terms of testing, other than the PISA, the students take no other standardized exams throughout their schooling years. Giving grades to students isn't mandatory until the 8th grade.

Schools cooperate with one another rathern than competing with each other. Schools have curriculum autonomy while teachers have classroom independence. By the way, 45% of Finnish schools have fewer than 100 students.

I'll let you decide but, for me, there are certainly lessons that we can glean from the Finnish model. I'll detail some other interesting and thought provoking practices engaged in by the Finns in the next couple of blogs.

Dick