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Top of the class?
Finland has repeatedly been rated top of the class in international comparisons of educational standards, even though spending on education is low, and Finnish children spend much less time in school than kids in other countries. Is the Finnish school system really so effective, or can its enviable results be put down to the nature of the comparative tests?
by Fran Weaver
Educators from around the world have been rushing to Finland to find out the secrets behind Finland’s top rankings in the PISA 2000 and 2003 surveys, organized by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to compare educational standards. Finland also expects to do well in the PISA 2006 survey, whose results will be published in December 2007.
Foreign educationalists are particularly interested because Finland’s success does not seem to be related to money: OECD statistics show that Finland spends just 6.1% of its gross domestic product on education, significantly below the OECD average of 6.3%, and well below spending levels in many similarly wealthy countries.
Another factor to discount is the amount of time children spend in the classroom. For a start, Finnish kids only graduate from the kindergarten sandpit to the primary school at age 7. Their schooldays remain short, often ending as early as midday or one o’ clock, and their 10-week summer holidays must be the envy of kids all over the world. All in all, Finnish pupils spend an OECD record low total of some 5,523 hours at their desks, compared to the average of 6,847 hours, or Dutch children’s unenviable 8,000-hour detention in the classroom. Surveys also suggest that Finnish kids spend less time doing homework than schoolchildren in many other countries.
These paradoxical figures make Finland’s much vaunted achievements hard to credit. But a closer look at the PISA tests and the workings of the Finnish educational system can give some idea as to why Finland scores so highly.
Professor Jarkko Hautamäki from Helsinki University’s Centre for Educational Assessment stresses that the PISA tests are set and marked in exactly the same way all over the world. This leaves no room for the uniquely generous standard Finnish grading system that gives pupils a minimum score of four out of ten just for turning up!
“The PISA test results could reasonably be said to indicate that Finland’s education system seems to be the most effective in the OECD,” explains Hautamäki. In terms of average PISA scores, Finland rates highest overall among a group of well-performing countries including the other Nordic countries, Japan, Korea, Belgium, Holland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Hautamäki feels that the PISA tests are neutral, aiming to mirror standards in different countries, rather than trying to make any ideological point, although he suspects that the OECD may originally have had a hidden meritocratic agenda in setting up the tests, aiming to show that the early streaming of pupils by ability would lead to improved results.
In fact, Finland’s high overall ranking suggests that the opposite may be the case. The results of Finland’s brightest students are not significantly above those from other successful countries, but where Finland really shines is in the scores of the lowest performing students. This means that very few Finnish schoolchildren are falling fall through the educational net.
Looking after low achievers
The Finnish system is designed along egalitarian principles, with few fee-paying private schools, and very little streaming of pupils into different schools or classes according to their exam results.
“It’s a historical feature of the Finnish system that schools were set up as part of efforts to form an autonomous Finnish nation, with no regard for any social class system. The whole of society participated in building up the schools, including villagers and farmers, and our public schools have always been equally intended for everybody,” says Hautamäki.
This kind of equality is perpetuated by the homogeneity of Finnish society, and the absence of any major immigrant communities or socially deprived groups who could easily be marginalised educationally. According to Hautamäki, children from better-off socio-economic backgrounds generally do better at school than kids from poorer families, as would be expected, but such differences are not very pronounced in Finland.
Kaisa Tikka, head teacher of Espoonlahti School, believes that having pupils of different abilities in the same class, rather than creating separate classes for students with learning difficulties, can help raise average achievement levels. “In mixed ability classes the better pupils can somehow carry the others. This might slow down the brightest students a little, but they will still do well anyway.” Tikka can also understand how prospective parents might be very interested to compare schools’ results, which the Finnish system discourages, but she points out that in most parts of Finland parents have no practical choice other than to send their children to the nearest public school.
Untested weaknesses
Another factor behind Finland’s success could be the narrow focus of the PISA tests. Levels of reading literacy are extremely high in Finland. Many children learn to read before they even start school. Although many foreigners find Finnish hard to learn, the language is so phonetically logical that words are always simple to read and write correctly. Spelling tests are unknown in Finnish schools. The well-stocked children’s sections of free public libraries encourage early reading, as do the subtitles used on many foreign children’s TV programmes.
The other PISA focus areas, maths and science, are emphasised in Finland’s basic education system. Finnish children also spend many hours learning foreign languages. This leaves them little time for subjects related to general knowledge or creative subjects like arts and music, which Kaisa Tikka particularly regrets as a music teacher. Most kids only have two hours of sport a week at school – and some experts fear this is a factor behind the poor physical condition of young men entering military service these days.
Parents who wish their children to enjoy such activities more often have to fork out for after-school lessons or clubs. Professor Hautamäki agrees that art, music and sports are neglected in Finnish schools: “It’s a pity that there are not more clubs set up in the empty schools after hours, especially since the short school days gives parents serious practical problems. It’s really not nice to leave young children alone so long after school before their parents come home from work. There used to be more clubs in schools before the education spending cuts made in the early 1990s.”
Finnish pupils might not fare so well in comparisons on other areas not tested in the PISA surveys, such as creative thinking, the ability to present an argument, and more general social skills. “It does seem to difficult for university students to write essays these days, but such skills are very difficult to measure comparatively,” admits Hautamäki.
Top teachers
In looking for reasons behind Finland’s PISA successes both Hautamäki and Tikka point to the fact that Finland’s teachers are uniquely highly qualified. Most have master’s degrees in their subjects, and class teachers need a master’s degree in education.
“Teachers are quite highly respected, though perhaps not so much as 20 years ago,” says Tikka. “Parents certainly value education and think it’s important that their children go to school to learn.” Teachers sometimes complain that this is not reflected in their salaries, which are roughly at the OECD average level, but all are familiar with the joke that the three best things about being a teacher are the summer holiday months June, July and August.
The atmosphere in Finnish schools is generally informal. Teachers are given considerable freedom to teach as they see fit, without overbearing supervision or bureaucratic reporting. Tikka is pleased that this allows teachers to be themselves and teach in the best way for them. Hautamäki agrees that a high level of trust between the authorities, teachers, parents and the children themselves lies behind the success of the Finnish system. “This trust creates a supportive atmosphere, and reflects a strong commitment on the part of teachers, parents and children to take school seriously,” adds Hautamäki, who believes that the lack of formal exams facilitates continuous learning by reducing stress for both teachers and pupils.
Money problems
Finnish local education authorities and even individual schools are also now fairly free to define their own syllabuses, but Hautamäki believes that schools are slow to diversify after working for so long with a single national core curriculum and a limited selection of text books. Finnish curricula have been criticised by some teachers for overemphasising the learning of facts, rather than more creative thinking.
The Finnish educational authorities have been proud to trumpet Finland’s good results on the PISA tests, as well as Finnish schools’ famously wholesome school dinners. But many teachers are not so convinced that all is well with the school system. Many local authorities have slashed educational spending in recent years. “Teachers have been especially worried about the lack of financial resources for new equipment, books, school trips, and improvements in the condition of school premises,” says Kaisa Tikka.
Tikka also sees worrying evidence of declining educational standards and more widespread behavioural problems among school children: “It seems to take longer every year to teach your classes the same things. There is more need than ever for extra classes for weaker pupils with special needs. But sometimes I feel that the biggest problem today is that parents don’t seem to be acting like parents towards their children any more!”
How the PISA tests work
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a collaborative project run by the OECD to compare the achievements of different countries’ educational systems by assessing young people’s abilities in three “key literacies” of reading, mathematics and science towards the end of their basic education, at age 15. This narrow range of subjects is thought to reflect the most fundamental knowledge and skills students will need in society and their working lives.
“The PISA 2000 and PISA 2003 surveys particularly focused on reading and on mathematics, respectively, and the 2006 tests concentrated on science, involving schoolchildren in 57 countries,” explains Professor Jarkko Hautamäki from Helsinki University’s Centre for Educational Assessment, the academic institute responsible for running the PISA 2006 tests in Finland.
Eurovision mentality
“Fifty schools were selected at random from all over Finland for the tests, with 35 pupils chosen randomly from each school to take part in the tests, including children with special educational needs,” says Hautamäki. “We had absolutely no difficulty persuading all the selected schools to take part in the tests, and the Finnish pupils have also willingly accepted testing. The PISA tests provide a rare opportunity to compare examination results from different schools, as such comparisons are otherwise only routinely made in the matriculation exams at the end of the upper secondary school [at age 18].” According to Hautamäki, other countries sometimes find it hard to persuade schools to take on the extra paperwork for PISA. Finnish schools’ eagerness could also reflect a “Eurovision mentality” common among Finns, who often seem excessively keen for their country to gain favour in international comparisons.
“Each pupil spends two hours completing the PISA tests, which include both multiple choice questions and more open questions,” says Hautamäki. “Half of the questions in 2006 were on science, and the rest focused on mathematics and reading literacy.”
Kaisa Tikka, head teacher of Espoonlahti School, one of the schools involved in the 2006 PISA tests, reports that her pupils found some of the test questions easy, but others quite difficult. “It was no trouble for us to take part in PISA – even though I was worried when I saw the list of randomly selected students that they might not really represent average ability level in our school!”
The questions in the PISA tests are carefully designed by educational experts from different countries to emphasise students’ ability to apply their knowledge and skills in lifelike situations. Marking teams work according to strict guidelines, and samples of marked tests are exchanged between countries for cross-checking. Students and headmasters also have to provide background information for the testers. Results are then compared between schools and countries using complex statistical techniques. “I’m convinced that the PISA tests represent the best organised comparative educational study possible, thanks to the demanding technical standards set by the OECD,” says Hautamäki.
Fore more information on Finland and the PISA tests see the immodestly named website:
Bright Country. FinEland.
http://www.pisa2006.helsinki.fi
School report
teachers comment on Finland’s education system
SixDegrees asked teachers who have taught in Finland and elsewhere to comment on the Finnish educational system. Can Finland’s schools do better, or does their top position really reflect good all-round performance and hard work?
Early reading
“When I was working in Barcelona I noticed that children’s reading skills developed slower there – and I don’t think it was the heat or too much football! Some of the good results in the reading comprehension can be explained with the subtitles read by Finnish children on TV, and because the structure of the Finnish language makes reading easier.
Here the differences between schools are not big, whereas in Spain there are very good schools and schools which are totally rubbish. Finland’s good results are difficult to understand as the curriculum doesn’t seem to be very demanding, and the school hours are so low that it’s part-time work for the kids! I tend to think that even if schooling in Finland is not very good, it seems to be even worse in other countries! Also here in Finland teachers take those PISA studies seriously, not like in some Mediterranean countries, where teachers don’t care about international ratings.”
Pekka Tukonen, Pajala School, Järvenpää
Inclusiveness
“Education is highly valued in Finland, and teaching staff are well qualified. The matriculation exam curriculum is designed to be inclusive. It requires a good standard of general education, and provides for mixed abilities. But one weakness is a bottleneck between schools and higher education.”
Hugh Fitzpatrick, Eira High School, Helsinki
Fresh air
“If I compare the Finnish schools with Dutch schools where I’ve worked, the kids here spend much less time at school and doing homework. Finnish students may be more capable of focusing because they have short days and they are forced to go outside the school building during the breaks to get fresh air!
I’ve also noticed that the Finnish education focuses mainly on the basic teaching. The time spent on more “theoretical” subjects (maths, science and languages) is very high here compared to the “doing” hours (physical activities, handwork, technical work, music, arts). In my opinion the good Finnish results in the PISA tests are due to the homogeneity of Finnish society and the many hours spent doing maths and Finnish language at school. In the middle school, classes include students of all levels (in Holland pupils are streamed after primary school), so the better students pull up the weaker ones. On the other hand the good students sometimes lack challenges. With this system the worse become better, but the best become worse.”
Petrus Grimbergen, Meilahti School, Helsinki
Trust
“The strengths of the Finnish school system are your freedom as a teacher in planning and using your professional judgement, with trust from parents and school management. Here in the UK you feel you are constantly observed. The school ethos is totally exam mad! It’s like teaching dogs to jump through a hoop, with no room for individualism.
Another plus in Finland is a free, hot and nutritious school meal. Here in England you have children not having anything to eat all day, or filling themselves up with junk food to keep going. This affects their concentration level in lessons!
The PISA studies are not really discussed here. Teachers are so stressed and overworked that they don’t have energy for such things - only trying to survive to the next weekend and holiday! I feel that if you tested Finnish kids for social skills and tolerance for other cultures, they might have less favourable results.”
Hanna Vehviläinen, St Thomas’s School, Bedford, England
Less stress
“Here the culture encourages students to sit and listen and learn, so I can cover more material per hour than would be possible in the UK. In my previous job in a British comprehensive school, a lot of time was wasted due to bad behaviour. I think average class sizes are smaller throughout the education system here in Finland. Also, the fact that there is more trust by all concerned makes a huge psychological difference here. Everything was accountable in the UK, and more stressful. But I would also suspect that the high end of education here is not as high as that of the UK, where the unequal social class system is reflected in greatly varying educational standards.”
Steve Pilz, Eira High School, Helsinki
Personal attention
“I feel that Finland is a mostly homogenous country which has comparatively few foreigners and few major ethnic groups. Finland deals with most newcomers right away so that the children are integrated as soon as possible. Other countries have much larger ethnic groups where children’s home languages are other than those used on the PISA tests.
Classrooms and schools have been until recently fairly small, allowing Finnish teachers ample time and space to give extra attention where needed. But recent budget cuts have forced larger and larger classes resulting in less personal attention, and the closing of smaller schools altogether.”
Cynde Sadler, Espoo schools
Short-term memory
“The many ‘tests’ held in Finnish schools (as opposed to ‘formal exams’) do contribute to stress. The reason Finns do well in a PISA-type test is because they have similar tests every week. These ‘test’ their short-term memory, but otherwise have little use - apart from a statistical one. Tests are also used as teaching ‘tool’ and to impose class discipline: even the most unruly of classes will succumb to the silence of the lambs when they hear the magic word ‘test’!”
Glyn Banks, Mattlidens Gymnasium, Espoo
Overqualified teachers
“I suspect that teachers’ ‘over-qualification’ could be behind the good results. Also because the school day is not too long, pupils can concentrate better. In Finland we concentrate on pampering the weaker students, to make sure that everyone learns the basics. But this means that the good pupils get little attention, and can get bored going at the pace of the slowest.”
Matti Pellinen, Munkkiniemi School, Helsinki
Limited in creativity
“The strengths of the Finnish system are that it is focused, inclusive and not obsessed by rank and status as in the UK. It is not driven by a desire to weed out those who do not belong. However, in such strengths lie weaknesses: it is sometimes limited in creativity, not challenging enough to motivate innovative and talented pupils, and encourages an uncritical consumption of set opinions. These areas are more difficult to test.”
Leslie Hyde, Eira High School
— Fran Weaver
Six Degrees
2007-02-21
http://www.6d.fi/index.html/page.2007-02-21.9993404054
INDEX OF NEWS ITEMS Pages: 24
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