Finland Education System

Superior Essays
Finland Worldwide education of our children is very important to all. Looking at the country of Finland in comparison with the process used in the United States we can get a better idea of approaches taken by their country which has catapulted them from one of the lower ranked educational countries to the top of the list. The school systems of Finland and the United States vary in many ways. It it is no secret that the United States academics fall well behind internationally when compared not only to that of Finland but most other countries as well. Interestingly however, the US schooling system is often used when conducting studies regarding changes to current educational processes in other countries. For years Finland was considered …show more content…
The applicants have slightly higher than average grades in their upper secondary education and above average scores on the matriculation examinations. Besides the grades the personality, moral purpose and interpersonal skills of each applicant is considered. A career choice of teaching places candidates in a very competitive area. The teachers of Finland are required to hold a Masters degree in education for primary teaching or a Masters degree in the subjects they are going to teach in secondary levels rather than completing a certification test like those required in the United States. This competitive career area as of 2012 in Finland boasts teaching careers which lasts approximately 40 years, while the average time in the teaching career is currently about 16 years …show more content…
The Finnish students are found to be doing less homework than their counterparts in the United States but are achieving much higher ranks in math, reading, science and critical thinking. Interestingly enough these higher achievement outcomes show very little change from one school to another or even between social status within Finland as a whole (Tung, 2012).
In comparison both the United States and Finland United States and Finland have free education available to all students with funding for this coming from the government. However, while Finland’s parliament makes all decisions regarding general principles and funding, in the US it is up to each state to make these same decisions. With the different states making the decisions for students it can vary greatly from state to state while in contrast Finland has on centralized goal and all main areas are run in the same manner across the board. (Siurua,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    While the cultures and school systems of Finland, South Korea and Poland are vastly different from one another, they share clearly identifiable commonalities of a rigorous curriculum held accountable through exit testing, school and teacher autonomy in practices, master teachers, and a school culture which highly values learning. It is my belief that the same factors which led to the high levels of student achievement identified through Ripley’s investigation are integrated into the Xavier Charter School culture and therefore contribute to its academic success. It follows that if those factors can be identified, replicated and emphasized, student achievement can be increased in schools…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In her essay, “Finland’s School Success: What Americans Keep Ignoring,” Anu Partanen brings up the familiar topic of education reform (Partanen 976). Citing the PISA survey, put out by the OECD, Partanen makes the observation that the United States is not top on the list, but rather Finland (976). As a result, the United States invited the director of the Finnish Ministry of Education’s Center of International Mobility, Pasi Sahlberg to come and speak at Dwight School in New York City. Partanen uses the talk to draw comparisons and distinctions between Finn and American teaching philosophies. Partanen feels that most people missed many points in Sahlberg’s Dwight talk, one being the fact that Finland has no private schools (980).…

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After reading Etta Kralovec and John Buell’s essay, “End Homework Now,” I can say that I’m of two minds about their claim that homework has questionable benefits. On one hand, I agree that homework it isn’t as imperative as some parents believe. On the other hand, I’m not sure if homework is completely unnecessary. I agree that that homework isn’t as vital as it’s thought to be, a point that needs emphasizing since so many people still believe that “If our students don't do lots of homework, their test scores will never be competitive internationally” (Kralovec, Buell).…

    • 300 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    That is one of the reasons why Finnish, Polish, and Korean kids all have good study habits and ultimately good test scores, and also, why they are a part of being “the smartest kids in the…

    • 2023 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Puschak makes a comparison between the capitalistic based education system and the socialistic based education system, and states: “Finland’s high quality education is free, and everyone is given the same…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Finland Education Outline

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Name Mohamad Nabil Oueida Kiah Bennett CRS 325 Date Sunday, October 16 Topic: Why the United States of America should adopt an educational system similar to Finland’s. Thesis: The United States should switch to a Finnish educational system due to it causing less stress to students while giving a better education, and life in general.…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Contrary to popular belief, the number one educated country, Finland has a summer break also. Finland’s schools are taught differently but still have the break, Finland’s students don't start school until age 7, it is rare for a Finn to get homework until they are well into their teens, Finland's students have only one mandatory standardized test taken when the student is 16, and all children are taught in the same classroom. With all of these things Finland has the highest percent of students attending college at an astounding 66 percent. Someone may say that we are falling behind in the school department however they are dead wrong.…

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Schneider, Jack. “Why Americans Think So Poorly of the Country's Schools.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 17 July 2017, www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/07/the-education-perception-gap/533898/. In this source, It talks about the high expectations that parents to schools, but the reality does not quite meet the expectations. And it mentions the inequality of the education sources among different school districts.…

    • 327 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many in U.Ss society would feel and believe that this country is probably full of delinquents and to further this feeling the schools in Finland give 40 min of recess which is removed from a student 's vocabulary once entering middle school. To address these feelings are in short the children 's overall test scores. They are ranked around 2nd place in overall education whereas United States is ranked 25 who have…

    • 1469 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She argues that the U.S has the potential for the same educational success as Finland, but “when it comes to the lessons that Finnish schools have to offer, most discussion seems to be missing the point” (Partanen,2011). She highlights that our focus…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In countries like Singapore and Finland, their school systems have a set of ambitious standards that all schools use. The set of standards cover a small number of topics in greater depth, which allows student to truly learn the content before moving on to the next standard. However, the Stewart (2012) describes the U.S education system as having too many unfocused learning standards. The quality of teachers and leaders are different in the school systems of the education powerhouses.…

    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Have you ever wondered why Finland's schools are ranked in the top five in the entire world and are so advanced, in everything? Well it's simple, their school system. They flourish in every way, the students, the teachers and even the structure allow this country to be known for their school system. The Finnish go by this saying “Less is more” where as us Canadians go by the saying “Work till you drop.” Their school systems are built to fit the child's needs where as ours is built for the child to fit the school system's needs.…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    You wake up at six in the morning, get dressed, brush your teeth, and eat breakfast. Your eyes droop as you try to sit through the seven hour school day. Teachers constantly nag at you to stay awake and at the end of the day, assign two to three hours of homework assignments. After an unpleasant day at school you have to go to soccer practice. The coach yells at you because you don 't look alive.…

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In order to adapt to this society, people have to learn how to understand each other’s differences through schooling. For example, especially Finnish education system is that the government provide full support about education expenditures such as school meals, text books and health care from pre-primary to tertiary level. This helps students to focus on study regardless of parent’s economic situation. Also there is little sexual discrimination in Finland compared to other countries because they not only teaching that…

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Also, a lot of research combine the education with United State and Finland that show a lot of different and the way that their thinking about having homework for a student. In 2015, BBC just classify the education rank from the country around the world, Finland…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays