An interview with the country's minister of education, Krista Kiuru
By Christine Gross-Loh
The Atlantic - Mar 17 2014
Finnish education often seems paradoxical to outside observers
because it appears to break a lot of the rules we take for granted.
Finnish children don’t begin school until age 7. They have more recess,
shorter school hours than many U.S. children do (nearly 300 fewer hours per year
in elementary school), and the lightest homework load of any
industrialized nation. There are no gifted programs, almost no private
schools, and no high-stakes national standardized tests.
Yet over the past decade Finland has consistently performed among the
top nations on the Programme for International Student Assessment
(PISA), a standardized test given to 15-year olds in 65 nations and
territories around the world. Finland’s school children didn’t always
excel. Finland built its excellent, efficient, and equitable educational
system in a few decades from scratch, and the concept guiding almost
every educational reform has been equity. The Finnish paradox is that
by focusing on the bigger picture for all, Finland has succeeded at
fostering the individual potential of most every child.
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