Education in Finland

Education in Finland is an egalitarian system, with no tuition fees and with free meals served to full-time students. The present Finnish education system consists of well-funded and carefully thought out daycare programs . The Finnish government has consecrated 11.1 billion € as an education budget . In Finnish schools , primary languages are : Swedish and Finnish .

Introduction

One-year "pre-school" (or kindergarten for six-year olds); a nine-year compulsory basic comprehensive school (starting at age seven and ending at the age of fifteen); post-compulsory secondary general academic and vocational education; higher education (University and Polytechnical); and adult (lifelong, continuing) education. The Nordic strategy for achieving equality and excellence in education has been based on constructing a publicly funded comprehensive school system without selecting, tracking, or streaming students during their common basic education . Part of the strategy has been to spread the school network so that pupils have a school near their homes whenever possible or, if this is not feasible,

Education System

e.g. in rural areas, to provide free transportation to more widely dispersed schools. Inclusive special education within the classroom and instructional efforts to minimize low achievement are also typical of Nordic educational systems.

After their nine-year basic education in a comprehensive school, students at the age of 16 may choose to continue their secondary education in either an academic track (lukio) or a vocational track (ammattikoulu), both of which usually take three years. Tertiary education is divided into university and polytechnic (ammattikorkeakoulu, often translated into English as "university of applied sciences") systems. Only universities award licentiate- and doctoral-level degrees. Formerly, only university graduates could obtain higher (postgraduate) degrees, however, since the implementation of the Bologna process, polytechnic degree holders can now qualify for further academic study by doing additional courses. There are 17 universities and 27 polytechnics in the country.

Academic degrees

Vocational degrees

Typical ages

PHD(doctor) Employment -Licentiate

Bachelor Polytechnic +(3 or 4)

Master Polytechnic +(2 or 3)

Upper Secondary

School

Vocational School

16-19

Comprehensive School(Compulsory)

7-16

Pre-School 6-7

Both primary and secondary teachers must have a Master's degree to qualify. Teaching is a respected profession and entrance to university programs is highly competitive. A prospective teacher must have very good grades and must combat fierce opposition in order to become a teacher. About only 10% of applicants to certain programs are successful. The respect accorded to the profession and the higher salaries than the OECD average lead to higher performing and larger numbers applying for the positions, and this is reflected in the quality of teachers in Finland.

Teachers

Some amazing

facts about education in Finland

Finnish children don't start school until they are 7

Compared with other systems, they rarely take exams or do homework until they are well into their teens.

The children are not measured at all for the first six years of their education.

There is only one mandatory standardized test in Finland, taken when children are 16.

All students , clever or not , are taught in the same classrooms

30 % of children receive extra help during their first nine years of school

66 % of students go to college(The highest rate in Europe)

The difference between weakest and strongest students is the smallest in the World

Science classes are capped at 16 students so that they may perform practical experiments every

class.

93 percent of Finns graduate from high school (17,5% higher than the U.S)

43 % of Finnish high-school students go to vocational school

Elementary school students get 75 minutes of recess a day in Finland

Teachers only spend 4 hours a day in the classroom, and take 2 hours a week for "professional

development"

Finland has the same amount of teachers as New York City, but far fewer students

The school system is 100% state funded with a huge budget

All teachers in Finland must have a masters degree

The national curriculum is only broad guidelines

Teachers are selected from the top 10% of graduates

The average starting salary for a Finnish teacher is 30,000 €

Teachers are effectively given the same status as doctors and lawyers

In an international standardized measurement in 2001, Finnish children came top or very close to the

top for science, reading and mathematics

The End