If Australia could benefit from a more equitable education system that narrows the achievement gap between students from different backgrounds, do the Finns have the answer?
In Finland, every child starts school at the age of seven and has equal access to high-quality education. The latter is one of the key principles of Finland’s education system, regardless of socio-economic background, and, along with minimal standardised testing, ensures that no child is left behind.
The focus of those formative years is holistic well-being and learning through play.
Iida Pappinen is the acting head teacher for Sydney Finnish school, Sydneyn Suomi-Koulu, a 35-year-old community language school where children and adults, typically with a family connection to Finland, are introduced to Finnish language and culture through weekly tuition.
Ms Pappinen is Finnish and has the benefit of teaching in both countries – hands-on experience that informs her opinion about what Australia can learn from Finland’s policies.
“I think, in Finland, children have a possibility to be children longer than here. No academic skills are required, teaching is based on playing and games and the assessment is not based on individual tests,” Ms Pappinen told The Bursar. “The school is a safe environment to practise everyday skills for life itself, not only for school.”
Recruiting talented teachers
All teachers in Finland must hold advanced academic degrees, but the nation has garnered a reputation for selecting teacher candidates based on passion for the job rather than skills.
The Finnish education system proactively recruits teachers ‘for life’ and each classroom teacher stays with the same cohort of students for several years – a process known as looping. Rather than forcing newly assigned teachers and students to get to know each other at the beginning of each new school year, it’s a practice – followed by schools in the Steiner and Montessori systems – that helps ensure teachers gain a deeper understanding of each child’s individual needs and support them as they develop.
“Finnish teacher educators don’t think that superior academic performance would necessarily correspond with being a great teacher,” said Finnish educator and scholar Professor Pasi Sahlberg. “Selection to teacher education in Finland focuses on finding those individuals who have the right personality, advanced interpersonal skills, and the right moral purpose to become lifelong educators.”
Ms Pappinen further dispels the myth by clarifying that, as well as passing the national matriculation examination in the last year of high school at 19 years of age, “all applicants to teacher education must have an entrance exam and, in addition, an aptitude test”.
“They may also have to demonstrate their teaching skills in a real classroom situation in order to access training,” she told The Bursar.
“I agree with Professor Sahlberg that students with the highest academic skills are not necessarily the best teachers. We have to find those who have natural passion to teach for life and accept the low salary level. Working as a teacher really requires a vocation.”
Supporting every student
The Finnish education system is based on equality. Almost all schools are public, and while private schools are not prohibited, they are bound to follow the same curriculum as public schools.
“The Finland educational system is not a business, it is constructed for students’ best interests and treats everyone equally with a free school lunch, pupil welfare system, and skilled teachers across the board with a minimum Masters degree. As this system is maintained by the state and municipalities, all schools have somewhat equal resources to operate and to follow the curriculum,” Ms Pappinen told The Bursar.
That free school lunch is prepared in line with government nutrition guidelines – and it’s served to students who are free to roam outdoors as much as possible, with minimal homework and zero annual exams. This nurtures a more inclusive environment, where students are assessed as individuals, by teachers empowered to teach with the utmost flexibility.
“Each teacher marks work when it benefits them or the student, but not for anyone else’s sake,” Ms Pappinen says.
“In Finland, teachers have more freedom. We can go out to the forest to identify trees and flowers, or we can organise a sleepover in the school. Of course, we have a national curriculum, but it is only a framework and the teachers themselves can decide how to follow the curriculum, which makes room for their creativity,” she told The Bursar.
If Australia is serious about embracing a more inclusive approach to education, perhaps pedagogy is not the only factor that needs to evolve.
“I think it is more about the great system in Finland than the individual methods,” she says. “It’s the equitable, well-constructed system that offers possibilities and supports inclusive learning.”
