Finnish Education Forum

Researcher: Schools should demand more from the kids in the back row

Via Yle Uutiset, a report that brings back decades of memories: Researcher: Schools should demand more. Excerpt:

Leea Lakka spent a year sitting at the back of the class and found that schools need to expect more from pupils. 

Lakka, a doctoral researcher, set out to find out why pupils sitting in the back row were disengaged from their classes. After observing these teens for a year, she came to the conclusion that schools should not pander too much to what kids want.  

Back-row students aren't interested in studying, according to Lakka. These children have their own little world, which also alarmingly reflects youth inequality," Lakka told Yle Radio Suomi.

For her dissertation, Lakka spent an entire school year sitting in on ninth grade classes at two schools. She wanted to investigate how the students seated at the back were managing.  

Generally, back-row students are those the least interested in schoolwork. During the course of the year, Lakka discovered that these kids actually used a lot of time and energy to avoid doing their work.  

"They were really putting in the effort to slack off. Instead of writing, for example, they imitated the movement of a pen in the air," Lakka explained.  

Avoiding work also had a social component, according to Lakka. It was a way to be part of a friend group. This meant it was also difficult for students to shape up because they would be ostracized by their fellow slackers.  

Avoiding studying is nothing new, Lakka pointed out. Smartphones, however, make it so much easier than it used to be.  

"We've all been distracted in class, but phones now are a source of long-term entertainment. How many of us would have decorated the margins of our notebooks or scratched our desks for very long?"  

Lakka asked. Lakka said that schools shouldn't only consider how phones can be used for learning, but also how they affect the overall atmosphere of the classroom.  

"I feel that we wouldn't lose much by giving up the phones," she said.  

Family matters  

Ultimately, however, smartphones are not the root cause of the problem. Some kids are interested in school, others are not — and these differences are deep seated and concerning.  

Lakka, for example, pointed out that boys living in larger cities read significantly better than those in sparsely populated areas. Many of the back-row boys she met didn't see reading or learning as very important. It was clear to them that they would go on to vocational school after ninth grade. They were not interested in things that weren't directly beneficial to their future jobs.  

That said, Lakka noted that politicians should pay more attention to the varying degrees to which families value and support their kids' education.  

If parents don't value education, that attitude also impacts children. At the same time, not all parents are able to support their children in school to the same extent as others.

The rise and fall of Finland mania

Via Tim Daly's Substack The Education Daly, a very interesting analysis of Finnish schools and PISA scores: The Rise and Fall of Finland Mania. Excerpt and then a comment and a link:

In December 2004, Education Week reported results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), a test that had been given the year prior to a sample of 15 year-old students in dozens of countries.  

While lamenting a “lackluster” performance for the United States, the article took particular note of Finland’s no. 1 math ranking. Just three years earlier, on the first administration of PISA, Finland was tops in reading. These two results suggested that something tremendous was happening in a tiny Nordic country that most Americans couldn’t locate on a map.  

Two things happened next. First, Finland became in short order the most widely celebrated and imitated education system in the world. Admiration eventually grew into a complete fever. Finland was Michael Jackson, educationally-speaking. Everybody wanted to moonwalk. There were breathless superfans screaming at the limousine.  

Then, Finland’s performance tanked. It has declined more than the performance of any other country in the assessment program as of the 2022 test administration, whose outcomes were reported just a few months ago.  

It’s a whale of a story. What happened?  

In this edition of The Education Daly, we’re going to revisit the greatest hype bubble in the history of international education to understand why Finland attracted such intense fascination, what we can learn from it, and wrestle with two uncomfortable questions: Was Finland’s success not real in the first place? Or did genuine triumph rapidly gave way to unprecedented failure?

This is the first of a two-part analysis, and I look forward to seeing the second part. I wrote a shorter piece on the same subject for The Tyee a year ago: The Shine's off Finnish Education. Pay Attention, Canada.

How forest schools boost children's immune systems

Via BBC Future: How forest schools boost children's immune systems. Excerpt:

"Mornings are now easy. When I say 'it's time to leave the house', he picks up his bag and says 'OK, let's go'." says Juho Pietarila, whose four-year-old son Kauko recently started attending the forest group in Hopealaakso nursery in the Finnish capital Helsinki. 

It's a big change, he says. Kauko regularly threw tantrums before he switched groups. 

Kauko is now in the nursery's Samoojat group. 'Samoojat' is an old-fashioned Finnish word for people who forage in the forest.  

Kauko hardly spends any time inside at nursery. He is out in the forest all day.   

"These children are outdoors all the time, exploring nature, even in the winter," says Pietarila. "It doesn't matter if it's raining or snowing. My son says it's always good weather for the Samoojat."   

It's quite a statement from a four-year-old who lives in a city with an average winter daytime temperature is -2C (28F) and permanent snow on the ground for at least two months.  

Throughout the year, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, the Samoojat group of 21 children aged three to five trek for up to 40 minutes in the forest to get to their base camp. They spend seven hours outdoors, eating lunch in an open shelter and taking a nap in a tent before walking back to the nursery mid-afternoon.

Scandinavian-style forest schools and nurseries are spreading all around the world. Outdoor learning is increasing seen as an important way of connecting children with nature.  

A wealth of studies have shown that spending time in natural spaces has many health and psychological benefits for children, such as reduced obesity, improved mental wellbeing, increased resilience and faster cognitive development. It can also encourage the development of environmentally conscious behaviour by fostering an appreciation and respect for the natural world.  

A notable aspect of cognitive development among children who take part in outdoor learning is a sense of responsibility towards local spaces. "These children will understand much more easily why it's important to recycle and pick up trash," says Annina Kuusisto, a professor in early childhood education at the University of Helsinki. "It's a small thing but it's important as it helps build respect for the environment. They will be more likely to take action in the future to protect nature and fight climate change."

Study: Literacy skills declining among Finnish kids

Via YLE: Study: Literacy skills declining among Finnish kids. Click or tap through for a 24-minute podcast on this topic. The article and then a comment:

Finland's fourth-graders dropped down four places in the latest PIRLS international ranking of reading skills.  

Finnish students scored an average of 549 points, 17 points lower than in 2016, which the report noted was statistically "a very significant change."  

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) has assessed the reading comprehension of fourth grade students around the world every 5 years since 2001. Data research for the latest study was conducted in 2021, during the Covid pandemic, with 57 countries participating.  

The top results were achieved by fourth grade students in Singapore (587 points) and Hong Kong (573 points), while the lowest scores were in South Africa (288) and Egypt (378).  

Despite the apparent decline in Finnish reading standards, pupils in Finland still rank among the best in the world in this and other international comparative studies.  

In the  PIRLS study, students' skills were measured by an exam and data was also collected through four questionnaires: addressed to the student, the teacher, the school and the home.  

Research for the study in Finland was carried out by the Institute for Educational Research at the University of Jyväskylä in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Culture. Finland previously participated in the study in 2016 and 2011.  

Number of poor readers nearly doubles  

A series of reports and studies in recent years have pointed to the fact that education standards are slipping in the Finnish system, and this trend was also reflected in the results of the PIRLS study.  

The PIRLS report noted that the number of students in Finland whose reading level is considered to be "poor" has almost doubled since the last, similar survey was carried out in 2016.  

In 2021, 14 percent of Finnish students had a reading level of "excellent", while 16 percent scored a low or very low level. The corresponding figures in 2016 were 18 percent and 9 percent respectively.  

Breaking down the figures further, the report found that the decline in reading skills in Finland was evident across the country, and within all socio-economic groups.  

The decline is explained by a number of different factors, including children's confidence in their own reading skills, the literacy skills they acquired before starting school, and how much parents read with their children.

In January I published an article in The Tyee on falling standards in Finnish education.

Finns’ learning outcomes have declined exceptionally rapidly, says ministry

Well, this is alarming and discouraging news. Via The Helsinki Times: Finns’ learning outcomes have declined exceptionally rapidly, says ministry. Excerpt:

Learning outcomes in Finland have declined at a particularly rapid rate in global comparison, reveals a so-called bildung review published by the Ministry of Education and Culture.  

Simultaneously differences in learning outcomes have increasingly become attributable to the social backgrounds of learners and differences between genders have widened to become “exceptionally large” in international comparison.  

The Ministry of Education and Culture admitted that the reasons for the deterioration of learning outcomes are largely unknown and underscored the need to identify them.  

“As learning outcomes continue to decline, it is necessary to critically evaluate both the development and our previous assumptions about the reasons for good learning outcomes,” Anita Lehikoinen, a permanent secretary at the Ministry of Education and Culture, wrote in the preamble of the review published on Thursday.  

“Many of our traditional strengths, such as the widespread autonomy and high education level of teachers, have only improved in the 2000s, but learning outcomes have declined.”  

The Ministry of Education and Culture pointed out that the national education sector underwent strong growth between the 1960s and 1990s, with learning outcomes topping industrial countries. The long-term positive development came to a halt by the end of the millennium, however, after funding for the sector had begun to decline during the recession of the 1990s, falling from 4.6 per cent of gross domestic product in 1990 to 4.4 per cent in 2020.  

While Finnish pupils received the highest score for reading in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2000, their reading proficiency has declined by an amount that equals almost a full year of learning since 2006.  

The decline in learning outcomes has coincided with a decline in educational attainment. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in October published a report revealing that Finnish young adults are less educated than the average among its member states, with the share of 25–34-year-olds with a university-level degree falling below 40 per cent.  

The percentage leaves Finland between Chile and Turkey. Finland has adopted the official objective of raising the share of 25–34-year-olds with a university-level degree to 50 per cent by 2030.

Growing divide in literacy among Finland's population

Via Yle Uutiset: Growing divide in literacy among Finland's population.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) surveys have shown that the gap between high and low achieving students in Finland has widened over time. The survey measures pupils' performance in science, mathematics and reading skills. 

According to Johanna Kaakinen, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Turku, the reason behind this is because the weaker students are doing worse, while the highly-performing ones are doing just as well as before.  

Indeed, the proportion of youngsters with excellent literacy levels, measured at 14.5 percent in 2018, had not changed much from 14.2 percent in 2009.  

On the other hand, the proportion of poor readers had increased markedly. In 2009, 8.1 percent of all pupils achieved a level below 2. However, in 2018 this figure had risen to 13.5 percent.  

Pisa has established level 2 as the baseline for literacy, where students can successfully comprehend, use, reflect, and engage with written texts. At this level, students demonstrate the skills necessary to function as a student, worker, and citizen effectively and productively.  

According to the Ministry of Education, this means that Finland has an increasing number of young people who are not literate enough to study and participate in society.  

Socio-economic background clearly linked to literacy  

In 2018, the literacy gap between students was the widest in the history of Finland's Pisa surveys.  

The latest Pisa survey in 2018 found that while on average, the reading literacy of 15-year-olds in Finland is still at a top level compared to other countries, socio-economic background was more clearly linked to reading literacy than ever before in the history of Pisa surveys.  

In Finland, the average difference in literacy scores between the top and bottom socio-economic quartile was 79 points. This is equivalent to up to two years of schooling.  

This result is due to the fact that the scores of students belonging to the lowest socio-economic quartile have worsened between 2009 and 2018, while the scores of those in the top quartile have stayed relatively the same.  

Students' socioeconomic background, measured by parental education, occupation, and household wealth, was linked to their literacy in all Pisa-testing countries. Young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds were less likely to read books, if they did so at all.  

Literacy has declined in the 2000s  

The Finnish National Board of Education also acknowledges that students' literacy levels have differentiated. As a result, some students are able to read long texts fluently by the time they are in primary school, while others still struggle doing so in upper secondary.  

According to the board, while the average reading literacy rate in the country is high, the level of proficiency also varies across age groups. Particularly among young people, reading literacy has declined in the 2000s. Nearly 14 percent of youngsters lack sufficient reading skills to cope with everyday situations, according to the 2018 Pisa results.  

The board therefore launched a national literacy initiative in 2021 to address the differentiation and counterbalance the effects of the underlying factors. These include family background, learning difficulties and time spent reading in leisure time.  

The 2021 Pisa survey had to be postponed until spring 2022 due to the Covid pandemic, and its results will be published in 2023.

OAJ: School and kindergarten closures likely if omicron projections are accurate

Via the Helsinki Times: OAJ: School and kindergarten closures likely if omicron projections are accurate. Excerpt:

The trade union of Education (OAJ) has warned that schools and kindergartens will likely have to be closed due to staff shortages if the omicron variant spreads through the population at the rate projected by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).  

“Schools haven’t taken any precautions, nor have kindergartens,” Olli Luukkainen, the chairperson at OAJ, stated to STT on Sunday.  

“There’s already a major staff shortage especially in early-childhood education. This will unfold very rationally: schools will stay open as long as there’s enough staff.”  

Experts at THL on Friday presented a projection suggesting the number of coronavirus infections could surge and the demand for hospital capacity double from the current levels until early February, according to Helsingin Sanomat. The projection is based on the assumption that the wave of infections that began roughly a month ago will last roughly 12 weeks and that the omicron variant will infect most of the population during the wave.  

Some 80 per cent of the population, the newspaper wrote, would have either an asymptomatic or symptomatic infection during the wave. About 60 per cent of people in other age groups would contract the virus.  

Luukkainen told STT on Sunday that if the projection is accurate, it will be “very likely” that at least some schools, education institutions and kindergartens will have to shut down due to staff shortages.  

“On the other hand we have no choice but to admit that if we’re faced with that kind of morbidity, there isn’t much we can do either,” he recognised.

OAJ: Over 50% of Finnish teachers have considered career change

Via the Helsinki Times: OAJ: Over 50% of Finnish teachers have considered career change. If it's happening in Finland, which has had a relatively easy pandemic, it's likely happening in many other education systems.

OVER A HALF of Finnish teachers have mulled over a career change during the coronavirus epidemic, finds a survey conducted by the Trade Union of Education (OAJ).  

The survey found that as many as 57 per cent of teachers, including 63 per cent of teachers in early-childhood and 59 per cent of teachers in basic education, have mulled over a career change in the past year.  

Over four-fifths (83%) of the 2,619 respondents cited the burdensome nature of their work, over two-thirds (67%) their increased workload and half (50%) their wage level as a reason for considering a career change. Olli Luukkainen, the chairperson at OAJ, on Tuesday demanded that policy makers take immediate action to tackle the problems that are driving teachers away from the field.  

Only roughly a third of teachers said they were considering a career change in June.  

“It appears that a really dramatic change has taken place in a couple of months. This is frankly an emergency. Every decision-maker and employer must stop to consider how harsh the consequences will be for the entire society if teachers, headmasters and kindergarten instructors start changing careers in high numbers,” said Luukkainen.  

The coronavirus epidemic, he estimated, has exacerbated malaise among teachers by stretching the learning and well-being gap and adding to what was already an unreasonable burden at work.  

“Teachers and superiors in the field hung in there for a long time and kept schools, kindergartens and education institutions open also during the state of emergency. Teachers, who are already shouldering an enormous workload, have noticed this autumn how much additional work it will require to bridge the learning and well-being gap arising from the coronavirus era,” analysed Luukkainen.  

“They are simply out of energy and their feeling of control has dwindled. That is why many teachers are considering whether they can keep at this and want to continue in this field.”  

Solutions to the problems exist, as long as employers and decision-makers have the willingness to adopt them, according to OAJ.

My review of In Teachers We Trust

The Tyee has published my review of a good new book on Finnish education: What If We Truly Put Teachers in Control of Educating? Excerpt:

In Teachers We Trust: The Finnish Way to World-Class Schools By Pasi Sahlberg and Timothy D. Walker W.W. Norton (2021)  

 A book on improving trust in public education is very timely, precisely when the pandemic has eroded trust in most public institutions — including the schools. 

The authors of this book describe how effectively Finnish schools responded to the COVID-19 pandemic a year ago: “On Monday, March 16, the Finnish government decided to close all school buildings and university campuses just two days later. Schools were advised to organize remote learning using alternative methods.… Educators had one full day to make plans so that no child would suffer and be left behind.” 

They carried through on the decision, because the government trusted the teachers and the teachers trusted the government. As the authors say, “Trust — in both teachers and students — is a key condition for self-directed learning in Finnish schools.” 

Pasi Sahlberg and Tim Walker are dedicated evangelists for Finnish education: Sahlberg has taught in Finnish schools and helped frame policy for them, and he’s written an influential book on what we can learn from Finland. Walker, an American married to a Finn, experienced culture shock when he began teaching in Finland. He soon realized he’d left a system that values stars — individual super-teachers who redeem both their students and their schools — and entered a system that considers educating children as a team effort. 

That’s a major difference. North American culture has glorified the star teacher, from Glenn Ford in The Blackboard Jungle to Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society, rescuing kids when their schools can’t or won’t. The Finns argue that it takes a whole school to educate each kid, and turn each into an educated and competent person. 

Sahlberg and Walker explain that Finland wasn’t trying to create a world-class education system when it reformed its schools 25 years ago. It was just trying to save money in the recession of the early 1990s. Instead of axing programs and increasing class sizes, the Finns looked at the well-paid bureaucrats who’d been running their mediocre system. Why not ditch them and let local teachers decide how to meet national curricular goals? 

That was a question few education systems would dare to ask, because in most countries, including Canada, there always seems to be a ready platform for critics portraying teachers as feckless layabouts who must be bullied into “accountability” by education ministries relying on standardized exams to judge student progress. 

But the Finns already respected their teachers. So school reform made them as professional as doctors, lawyers or architects: highly trained, taking guidance from one another instead of from government bureaucrats, and trusted to teach and assess their students with little reliance on standardized exams.

Study: Children born later in year more likely to be diagnosed with a learning disability

Via Yle Uutiset: Study: Children born later in year more likely to be diagnosed with a learning disability. Excerpt:

A study carried out by the University of Turku has suggested that younger children in each age cohort are more likely to be diagnosed with a learning disorder, and that children born in December are almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with a learning disorder than those born in January. 

The research initially included nearly 400,000 children born in Finland from 1996 to 2002, excluding twins. The follow-up focused on over 3,000 (or 0.8 percent of the original sample) children that were diagnosed with a specific learning disorder, such as with reading, writing and maths. 

"From a clinical point of view, the mounting evidence of relative age effects on psychiatric, cognitive, and other health‐related adversities indicates that children's relative age is an important factor to consider in paediatric care," the report's authors wrote in the conclusion. 

"From an educational perspective, increased flexibility in the time when less mature children start school might be justified, but further research on the topic is warranted." 

In previous studies, children born later in the year, and therefore younger than their classroom peers, have been found to be at increased risk of psychiatric disorders, low academic achievement, and being bullied. 

However, there have been no previous studies of the association between clinically diagnosed specific learning disorders and relative age. 

Over- and under-diagnoses 

The study compared children with both a learning disability diagnosis and ADHD separately from children with learning disabilities but without ADHD, as ADHD was found not to affect the association between month of birth and the likelihood of a learning disability diagnosis. 

The data also found that children born later in the year were more regularly sent to be tested for possible learning disabilities, which the authors suggested may mean that older children within a classroom may not be getting the diagnosis they need. 

"It appears that relatively younger children are more likely to be referred to specialist care," PhD student and medical doctor Bianca Arrhenius said in a statement.