We have just completed a collaboration
with students from TAMK and Staffordshire University (England). The purpose the project was for Finnish and English
undergraduate education students to learn about similarities, differences, and possible
future developments in each other’s education systems. We feel that we have a great deal about not
only education in different countries but also broader aspects of society and
culture as well.
In the first meeting, the
coordinators introduced us to each other, we discussed the timeline of the
project and what task needed to be done by both parties. Initially, the meeting
time was challenging because members of the Finnish team were in different time
zones as shown on the map below, but our coordinators were able to reschedule
meeting times to suit every participant. This shows how technology enables teaching
and learning for participants across time zones and borders.
The following week,
questions covering topics on school system and curriculum, early years
education and special education needs, financing, staff, and assessment were
presented by both of Finnish and English students. We discussed the correctness
of the questions and our understanding of it, to be able to give the right
answers. In the next meeting, we discussed the answers. The answers were
sourced online and checked by the coordinator before we presented it. We also
had the opportunity to ask more questions for clarification on what we did not
understand or needed to know more about. The international project lasted three
weeks, then we worked on our conclusions in the Finnish team. The summary of
what we learned is below.
In Finland, the government, education ministry and society trust the
teachers to do their work in a very independent way, having professional
autonomy to facilitate learners’ development throughout the compulsory school
system. All teachers must have a Masters degree, so they trusted to assess the
students properly. The students only have a standardised national test at the
end of their compulsory schooling.
In England, school teaching is an all-graduate profession but self-governing
schools called free schools, academies and independent (fee paying) schools are
allowed to employ teachers without an additional teaching qualification.
Teachers may have less professional autonomy than in Finland. Their students who are regularly assessed through
nationally based tests which are used to measure the quality of teaching,
schools and the overall system. From these, schools are positioned within
league tables based on the results. Teachers have to report and review with the
head-teacher in case the results are not good and a decline in standards may
lead to a visit by Ofsted, who are responsible for measuring quality within
schools and nurseries.
There is a relevant difference between the two countries regarding the age
of school starting age. In England, compulsory schooling starts at five, in
Finland at seven. In Finland, there is a voluntary play-based preschool for younger
children. In Finland from year 2016 on the preschool in kindergarten at the age
of six is compulsory.
Regarding the curriculum, in England only local authority maintained
schools have to follow the National Curriculum.
Other publically funded schools such as free school and academies do not
have to follow this, but the emphasis on national testing leaves limited room
for autonomy. Fee paying schools do not
have to follow the National Curriculum and also can chose how they participate
in national assessments. In England, the
assessment focus is on mathematics and literacy. However, many critics of the curriculum have
argued that this has devalued the importance of creative subjects. In Finland, the curriculum is children based,
supporting first the well-being through comprehensibility, manageability and
meaningfulness.
The atmosphere of teaching is very different in the two compared countries.
Finnish schools are less formal and more relaxed than in England. This
cost-free, student-oriented system makes the social mobility much easier.
However, it is fair to point out that the number of students in England is
almost ten times more, so the system naturally cannot be the same.
There is a big difference between the countries regarding the finance of
education. In Finland, there is no tuition fee for domestic and EU students. In
England, there are also free elementary and secondary schools. However, the
families can have their children educated in fee paying private schools at
every education level.
Since the questions addressed different issues, and they are not directly
comparable, we felt the best way to present our findings is to summarize them
via a self-explanatory table for each country. We hope this way our report
might be easily understandable and of benefit to those who would like to know
more about the educational system of Finland and England.
EDUCATIVE SYSTEM IN ENGLAND
|
School system primary (5-11) +
secondary (11-18)
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State funded schools
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Free, inspected, subsidized, 93% students.
|
Independent sector schools
|
Fee-based, perceived as more “prestigious”,
lower teacher-student ratio, self-regulated (no inspection by education
authorities), tax exempted, 7% students.
|
Similarities and differences across the
educative system in the Uk
|
Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England have
their own education system and curricula.
|
Support for learners with higher capacities
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Publicly funded Grammar schools,
which are only available in some parts of the country and Independent (fee
paying) schools may select students on the basis of academic ability. The government is currently proposing to
expand academic selection across England.
Due to OFSTED inspections schools some
critics have found that some schools focus on ensuring weak students to
fulfil minimum national standards.
|
|
Curriculum primary + secondary
|
Authorities responsible
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Office for Standards in Education, Children
Service and Skills, OFSTED
|
Official learning/teaching methods
|
In theory freedom to teach, though the government
has explicitly stated its preference for teacher led, fact-based education. However,
the national inspectorate, OFSTED, clearly state in their inspection handbook
that they have no preferred teaching method.
Their inspections are informed by the National Curriculum Test results. These are commonly known as SATs (by which
they are known in America where the policy came from)
|
Minimum subjects taught
|
Focus on mathematics, literacy, science. Religious education (multi-faith) is also
mandatory.
|
Teaching
|
Qualification for teaching in a
primary/secondary school
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Degree and minimum C grade in English,
Maths and Science GCSEs test. Also Qualified Teacher Status is required in some
cases. Prior to training, teachers also
have to complete maths and English skills tests to check that their skills are
still current.
Primary school teachers are not required to have a subject specific
degree but secondary school teachers usually have a degree in their specialist
subject.
|
Teachers diversity in the school system
|
Female dominated in primary school
Diverse in secondary school
|
Teachers role on supporting learner’s
value/principles building
|
Yes, via the so called Fundamental British Values:
democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance.
|
EDUCATIVE SYSTEM IN FINLAND
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Areas of focus for teaching in early years education
|
Child well-being, education and teaching: joy
of learning
|
Pedagogy within early years classrooms
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Child-centered
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Type of learning focused
|
Play-based
|
Mandatory ratios of adults to children
|
1 adult for 7 children (3-6 years), 1 adult
for 4 children (0-3 years)
|
Well-being support early years children
|
Yes, it includes all levels of education
|
Support Staff
|
Teaching volunteering opportunities
|
Yes. More info at: maailmanvaihto.fi
|
Classroom assistants training
|
Yes, It requires 1 year of teaching assistant
vocational training (40 weeks)
|
Lunch-time supervisors
|
Yes, activity performed by classroom
assistants
|
Special
Education Needs Disability (SEND)
|
Training required
|
Basic teacher (5 years) training allows basic
knowledge to deal with SEND children.
But to provide individual or group assistance
to SEND children a teacher must “Specialize”, this training is voluntary and
requires an extra course.
|
Diagnosis considerations
|
All starts noticing if something is wrong,
then discussing with parents, then depending of the issue involving
specialized teacher, pediatrician and or a psychologist mainly.
|
SEN classification
|
In terms of support: General support, deeper
support, special support.
In relation to children: talented, normal,
weak, need special curriculum
|
Responsible for the delivery
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Education provider, usually the concerned
municipality
|
Assessment
|
Children assessment
|
Yes, both formative and summative. BUT
presented as a “learning experience”. No numerical assessment
|
How often it takes place
|
It is meant to take place daily verbally and
numerically from 4-10.
|
Assessment moderation
|
No, the teacher remains as main responsible.
|
Assessment
revision by principal
|
No needed, it is rather self-regulated by
trust.
|
We learnt a lot
about the 2 education systems, which are very different. The students of both
parties were communicating fluently, and both students’ group were well
prepared for each meeting; the information was very accurate and very
completed. We would like to thank Jori and
Duncan for their pedagogical approach for this course. We really feel have learned and benefited
from it.
Small Group work:
TAMK : Adrian, Clement, Victor and Florence
Staffordshire University : Claire, Lisa, Myfanwy, Nazmeen, Rebecca and Samantha
