Finnish Education Forum

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.

Finland earmarks €68m for educational inequality exposed during pandemic

Via Yle Uutiset: Finland earmarks €68m for educational inequality exposed during pandemic.

Finland has released 67.8 million euros in a one-off education equality fund for municipalities to help schools and pupils struggling during the coronavirus crisis. 

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted existing inequalities between children in Finland. Some students learning at home have received an abundance of family support while others have mainly had to manage on their own with some support from school. 

"The same type of disparity is apparent in broader learning outcomes. The coronavirus crisis is a wakeup call to stop the trend of growing educational inequality," Education Minister Jussi Saramo (Left) said. 

Uneven playing field 

On Wednesday the government deployed 68 million euros in education equality funding to help prevent learning gaps from forming between rich and poor areas. The Education Minister said he would like to see this type of funding become an established practice. 

"Equal educational opportunities can’t always be taken for granted," he said. 

Municipalities are able to draw on the fund for specific targets. 

"This special funding can support areas with high unemployment, or areas where residents have low educational levels as well as places with a high proportion of foreign language speakers. All of these factors put children at risk of poorer learning outcomes," he explained. 

International studies indicate that differences between schools in Finland are among the smallest in the world. However, the gap between the best and lowest performing schools in the country is growing. 

"Setting up a permanent form of equality funding would be an important step in further strengthening the Finnish education system’s ability to offer every child and young person the opportunity to learn to their full potential," Saramo explained. 

He also noted that learning deficits had occurred during distance learning periods. He said upcoming budget talks were the time to address education setbacks. He noted that if ignored, these disparities could lead to employment problems later on. 

"That’s why it’s crucial during budget talks to agree on funding to help bridge gaps which have formed in the knowledge, skills and wellbeing among children and young people," he said.

UK: Labour seeks to emulate Finland's school system

Via The Guardian: Top of the class: Labour seeks to emulate Finland's school system. Excerpt:

It’s early afternoon in Lintulaakson school in Espoo, near Helsinki. The younger children are having a snack before starting their after-school activities. Upstairs a group of 12-year-olds are in a craft class, cutting patterns and making clothes on sewing machines. 

Outside, children play in an enormous outdoor space, equipped with climbing frames, football pitches and basketball courts. “Hey, Petteri,” one boy yells casually at the principal, Petteri Kuusimäki. “Next year can we start school a bit later, at 10am?” Kuusimäki jokes with them. It’s all first names here. 

The Finnish education system is the envy of the world. Along with Tove Jansson’s Moomins, Nokia phones and Iittala glassware, it has become one of the country’s most celebrated exports – and it’s easy to see why. 

Its students consistently score well at the top end of the Pisa international league tables, and as Kuusimäki walks me round his school he describes a kind of education utopia – a place where teachers are highly trained, revered and trusted, and children’s wellbeing is paramount.

There are no Ofsted-style inspections, no streaming by ability, no national exams until 18, no school uniforms, no school league tables and no fee-paying private schools.  

At its party conference this week, Labour committed to follow Finland’s lead and not only scrap Ofsted but abolish private schools by forcing them to integrate them in the state sector. Explaining the policy, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, told BBC Radio 4: “In some countries, it is not allowed to charge for education in any form … in Finland, for example.”  

The British Labour party is far from alone in its enthusiasm for the Finnish education system. Every year hundreds of delegations of teachers and policymakers from all over the world pour into Helsinki to see this nirvana for themselves. So popular has it become that international visits are strictly regulated and have to be paid for – a presentation costs €682 (£607) per hour and a school visit €1,240.

In the past two months there have been groups from Israel, Brazil, China and Korea. In the coming weeks there will be visits from New Zealand and Lithuania.

Meanwhile, Finland’s influence is spreading far and wide. Last month a school opened in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam based on the Finnish curriculum and pedagogical approach, with Finnish staff on the teaching team.

Teachers union calls for more consistent grading criteria in comprehensive schools

Via Yle Uutiset: Teachers union calls for more consistent grading criteria in comprehensive schools. Excerpt:

Teacher trade union OAJ has called for better guidelines for grading comprehensive schoolwork in Finland, stating that the current evaluation criteria (in Finnish) issued by the National Agency for Education have proved problematic across all subjects.  

"There are too many criteria and they are too complex. […] We have insisted that they cut them back, as every single one contains many things that are open to interpretation. The criteria should be far more straightforward," says the OAJ's development manager Jaakko Salo. 

A 2015 study of year 7-9 maths competencies from the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre found that "the grades of students doing equally well but studying in different schools could have a systematic difference of up to two points".  

Salo says the spread is probably closer to four different grades for the same skill set.  

Comprehensive schools in Finland follow a somewhat illogical 10-point system in which there are actually only seven grades: 10 is the highest possible grade for excellent work, followed by 9 (very good), 8 (good), 7 (satisfactory), and 6 (fair). 5 is the lowest passing grade and a grade of 4 indicates that the pupil has failed. 

Benchmarking against fellow pupils 

National Education Agency evaluation criteria lay out the performance necessary in each subject to achieve a "good" grade of 8. The teachers' union says this is part of the problem. 

"We feel that criteria should also be at least drawn up for a grade of 5, or minimum competence. It has apparently already been decided that new criteria for grades of 5, 7 and 9 should be outlined," Salo says.  

He says using only grade 8 as a reference puts too much emphasis on comparing the pupils on a classroom or school-wide basis, making grading decisions highly relative. 

"The rest of the student body becomes the teacher's benchmark. At its worst, this means that schools with poorer overall performance divvy out better grades for weaker competencies. This should not be happening," Salo says.

Finnish education system for Sri Lanka

Via LankaWeb, a Ceylon Today report: Finnish education system for Sri Lanka.

The education system of the Scandinavian country, Finland, currently considered as the world’s best education system, will be introduced to Sri Lanka through the newly initiated ’compulsory 13-year education for all students’ programme, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said today (21).  

While participating in the launching ceremony of the programme, at Temple Trees, he added that the Government of Finland is also supporting the programme.

"I am grateful to Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam for initiating this programme after coordinating with the Government of Finland,” he said. 

He noted that it would be applied to 800 Government schools in the beginning as a pilot project. 

"In Sri Lanka, more than half of the students drop out from the Ordinary Level exams, the 11th year of their education, however, in countries like Japan, India, Malaysia, China and South Korea, they have 13 years of compulsory education,” he said.  

The Premier emphasized that education should generate academics, scientists, researchers as well as technicians, artists and sportsmen. 

"Skills of the various people are diverse. Education should give shelter for all. Some are good in academics, while others in music, drama and sports. In Sri Lanka, there are 300,000 job opportunities for technicians, but we only have 100,000 technicians, while 200,000 opportunities remain vacant. Everyone should not try to go to universities, and in the new education system we will try to provide opportunities for students to select the career path of their choice within the school system and follow it.”  

According to Wickremesinghe, the new system will be an employment oriented one.  

"In ancient Sri Lanka, our treasure was paddy, cinnamon and various agricultural products. But, currently, our treasure is human resources. If you empower the children through education, the country will have a better future,” he added

Malaysian education sector to benefit from cooperation with Finland

Via the New Straits Times: Malaysian education sector to benefit from cooperation with Finland.

PUTRAJAYA: Finland is ready to help Malaysia strengthen its education system by deploying experts from their education sector. 

Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik said the commitment to help had been conveyed by Finland National Education Agency general manager Olli-Pekka Heinonen during a bilateral meeting held on Wednesday.  

“In the meeting, Heinonen said if Malaysia cannot send its officers to Finland due to financial constraint, Finland is prepared to send over their people to Malaysia," Maszlee said in a statement today.  

He expressed hope that the cooperation would translate into Malaysia learning from the experience and good practice of the Finnish. 

This, he said, would elevate Malaysia's own standard of the education system. 

Yesterday, the Education Ministry together with the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) organised a seminar on the 2018 Finnish Education System in Gombak.  

The seminar was organised following a previous discussion held between Maszlee and Finland Ambassador to Malaysia Petri Puhakka on July 13.  

Maszlee said the seminar had become a good platform for Malaysian educators to learn from Finland in line with the government’s aspiration to raise the standard of Malaysia's education system. 

Starting from 2000, Maszlee said the education system in Finland had developed by leaps and bounds, which was obvious based on international assessment which qualified Finland to secure the top rank in the world’s education competitiveness.  

Finland’s success story, he said, should be emulated by Malaysia as it strived to impart high quality education and ensure that the country could be among the top three in international assessments such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

Finland mulls adding snack to free school meal offering

Via Yle Uutiset: Finland mulls adding snack to free school meal offering.

Agriculture and Forestry Minister Jari Leppä said Saturday that he has commissioned a study into how to improve free school meals. Speaking on Ykkösaamu, Yle’s Saturday morning discussion programme, Leppä said that he was concerned by reports that many pupils are skipping school lunches.  

The minister said that the report would also consider whether or not municipalities should provide a snack in addition to the free meal currently offered in schools. 

“Working life has become more intense and perhaps children are alone more with other children on afternoons. Should there be elements to curb the current snacking culture?” the minister said. 

The minister said that decision-makers must consider what steps to take to ensure that school food is tasty. However he did not comment on how much money would need to be spent to provide more palatable meals. 

“The goal should absolutely be for more students to eat their school meals. If that requires a financial investment then it must be done,” Leppä declared.  

Last week, Yle reported that in some parts of Finland up to 60 percent of students skipped a school meal and that there were vast variations in the kinds of meals provided by municipalities. 

Finland launched the free school meal concept 70 years ago in 1948.

Up to 60 percent of schoolkids in Finland sometimes skip free school lunch

Via Yle Uutiset: Up to 60 percent of schoolkids in Finland sometimes skip free school lunch.

Up to 60 percent of eighth and ninth graders leave their free midday school meal uneaten at least once or several times a week, according to the results from the National Institute of Health and Welfare’s (THL) latest school health survey of 70,000 pupils aged 14 and 15 throughout Finland. 

There are large variations among municipalities in terms of how many pupils eat their school lunch. In many small municipalities almost all students partake of the daily school meal. In larger cities, however, it’s more common for youngsters to bypass the school lunch in favour of other options. 

For example, in Kerava, 60 percent of eighth and ninth graders say that they don’t eat the school lunch every day of the week. The situation is similar in Ruovesi and Keuru where the amount of money -- it varies from municipality to municipality -- that goes into the meal per child is higher than the average in Finland. 

In Tuusula, Lohja, and Akaa and Helsinki, 42 percent of respondents also said that they don’t school lunches every day. 

"These figures are worrisome," says Marjaana Manninen from the Finnish National Agency for Education.  

Food for thought 

"The purpose of a free meal at school is to ensure students have the energy to make it through the school day and learn better. If a student doesn’t eat, then they are restless during the afternoon , and they doesn’t necessary focus on reaching the educational goals that can be reached by eating a proper meal. In the end it affects educational performance and overall wellbeing," says Manninen. 

Finland launched the taxpayer-funded free school meal concept in 1948, exactly 70 years ago. Despite the anniversary, school food doesn’t always appeal to students. 

"Students say that one of the most important reasons that they don’t like school food because of the taste, or because they’re not hungry," say researcher Susanna Raulio from THL. 

Peer pressure is also a significant factor in deciding whether or not to eat school meals, especially among older students.  

If there’s a grocery store or a fast food restaurant near the school, then a group may prefer to head there for lunch -- even if they’re not supposed to leave the school grounds during the school day. 

School lunch is a lesson too 

The Ministry of Education views school lunches as part of the education system. 

"School lunches are about learning about food and eating together," says Manninen.

The Ministry is unhappy with the current situation and has set a goal of having all students partake of the school lunch by 2020. One option it is considering to reach this goal is to include students in the meal planning.

Tim Walker: My journey inside the Finnish school system

Tim Walker has launched a YouTube channel: My Journey Inside the Finnish School System. It's off to a promising start!

Chaotic classrooms as school year starts

Not all is well in Finnish education. Via Yle Uutiset: Friday's papers: Chaotic classrooms, limited company leg-up and more thunderstorms. Excerpt:

School started on Thursday in most areas of Finland and local paper Vantaan Sanomat features an article on a poll carried out last spring that found that teachers and parents in the capital region city of Vantaa agree that teachers and pupils need more support in the classroom. 

Some teachers responding to the parent association/teacher union survey said that classrooms these days are very restless, even chaotic. Among primary school teachers, 36 percent said that classroom support was not sufficient, while 60 percent of secondary school teachers said pupils were not being given the support promised them by Finnish law. 

Comprehensive education in Finland follows the principle of inclusivity. All children are taught together in the same classroom, with a system of three tiers (general, enhanced support and special needs education) designed for pupils that might need more help. 

Teachers' time limited 

VS interviewed two teachers who wished to remain anonymous. They say that the idea of a shared classroom meeting all of the kids' needs is a great idea in principle – and an illusion in practice. This is because the teachers are alone with the children for more of the school day. The school's few special teachers and assistants are spread thin; they only have a few hours of time a week to help the teachers in the classroom. 

"It works if there are two adults in the classroom. It would be incredible if we teachers could always work with a partner," said the first teacher. 

The second teacher says that of the 20 children in her classroom last year, one-quarter needed either enhanced or special needs support. Both agree that the number of children in school that need more support in the classroom is on the rise. In their 30 years on the job, they have seen major changes in the Finnish school dynamic. 

"Yelling, getting up and wandering around, breaking pens and pencils, throwing things, swearing… We often have to tell the pupils that they are not allowed to speak to us that way," they say.  

The teachers tell VS that penny-pinching in basic education will end up bringing a much higher price tag for society in the future. 

"Savings will mean more marginalization. Average and bright pupils will also lose their interest in studies because we don't have the resources to pay attention to their needs and so they are forced to underperform."