Finland’s education system is renowned for being one of the greatest public education systems in the world. In praise of the Finnish system, I often hear wild claims like, “Finland has no homework and they have the best education system in the world! We shouldn’t have homework!”
I attended school in Finland for a month during my second semester of eighth grade – and students do in fact receive some homework. What is true is that Finland is consistently ranked as having one of the best public education systems in the world, and they must be doing something right.
While test scores dropped in 2015, an international ranking test still ranked Finnish students twelfth in math, fifth in science, and fourth in reading. To compare, American students were ranked fortieth in math, twenty-fifth in science, and twenty-forth in reading. No matter their geographic location or socioeconomic status, all Finns receive the same high quality public education: according to international rankings the difference between weak and strong students is the smallest in the world. Furthermore, 93 percent of Finns graduate academic or vocational high school, 17.5 percentage points higher than in the U.S.
What, exactly, makes the Finnish education system so good? Finnish high schools have high quality teachers who emphasize learning instead of grades, allowing students to develop extracurricular interests that help them learn.
Finland’s education system is set up completely differently from our own. First, all Finnish schools are public and free; every school receives the same amount of resources, and all schools are considered “good.” Students enter grade one at age seven; school is mandatory through grade nine. After grade nine, students can go to a vocational high school or an academic high school. Academic high school is the primary path to university, though there are also ways for vocational students to attend university. Acceptance to university is very competitive and based on the test scores from the exams students take at the end of their third (the last) year of academic high school.
A student’s acceptance to university, which is also and always public and free in Finland, is dependent on their test scores. Much of the difference in the life of a Finnish high schooler and a Lick student stems from that fact. Finnish students’ stress less, because grades in school don’t ultimately matter – actual learning does. Emotional and intellectual growth are enphasized in school, with the chief measure of each being the pre-college test score. Finnish students’ stress focuses on the big tests for university, which they have plenty of time to prepare for.
Robin Borgström, a 17-year-old second year high school student in her second year, explained the impact of a Finnish style school program on hislife, noting that in “Finland we don’t have that much homework, compared to the US where you just have tons of work… I rarely do homework.”
It’s not just Borgström who does less homework. A 15 year study of students around the world that was published in 2014 found that American students spend an average of 6.1 hours a week on homework, while Finnish 15-year-olds spend an average of 2.8 hours a week doing homework.
Instead of worrying about homework, Borgström and his best friend Sebastian Motelay run the successful startup Pals, which makes promotional products for a variety of businesses across Helsinki. He runs Pals for the experience it gives him, not to support his resume for his university applications. Since university applications only take into account test scores, students don’t choose activities because they will look good on an application. Borgström says that he and his friends’ motivation is simply because they’re passionate about the things they do. “In Finland we don’t have [school clubs]. Many people have individual hobbies like football [soccer], and tennis.”
The differences in day to day life are deep-rooted. Tim Walker, an American teacher working in Finland facilitated an exchange between Finnish students and American students. In the article“American Students Inspired by Less Stressed Finnish Teens” that he published in his blog, he describes the pressure American students are under to get grades, study for SAT’s and do community service to gain entrance to colleges. Walker writes, “As these Californian teens describe the realities at their school, my Finnish colleague turns to me and whispers, ‘It’s a different world.’”
Not every student in Finland, however, has enough free time to run a company. At Ressu High School in Helsinki, one of the most prestigious high schools in Finland, first year student Eevi Paasivaara says she has encountered more work than at her previous school in her small hometown. Her school year is divided into five sections each with eight classes, each section ends with a test week. While the day-to-day homework is less than in the United States, the tests matter more. However, even the grades you get at the test week don’t matter for university admission.
What does matter are the national standardized tests, called “matriculation exams.” There are three major matriculation exam days during the second and third years of high school. While these exams are standardized, matriculation exams aren’t like the SATs. In Finland most of the questions are essay questions in which students must justify their answers. The tests are lengthy, emphasizing thorough, complete thoughts and analysis. For example, a student has six hours to finish a long essay for the Finnish language section. Pasi Sahlberg, former Director General of the Education Administration, In 2014 told The Washington Post, “Students are regularly asked to show their ability to cope with issues related to evolution, losing a job, dieting, political issues, violence, war, ethics in sports, junk food, sex, drugs, and popular music. Such issues span across subject areas and often require multidisciplinary knowledge and skills.”
While doing well on standardized tests is the eventual goal, above all, Paasivaara says, “everyone at my school is here to learn.”
Despite the amount of work at her new school, coming into the Finnish system in the fifth grade after going to an American school in Kuwait for most of her life, Paasivaara felt Finnish school was much more “laid back” and that they didn’t have “tons of homework.” To compare, at Lick, Joni Lee ‘19 says that she does homework from 6-10 p.m. every night, with some nights working until 11 or 12.
Student relaxation and reflection is prioritized at all Finnish schools. Similar to Lick-Wilmerding’s frequent breaks throughout the day, at all levels in Finland there is a 15 minute recess to recharge between every 45 minute period. Borgström says that it’s, “super nice because you concentrate for 45 minutes, then you go and can talk about the things you want to talk about. Then come back, and it’s 45 minutes again and you can concentrate.”
The vast majority of teachers in Finland are well equipped to address students in the classroom. They are knowledgeable about subject content and learn the skills to work with students and engage them in their learning process. Teachers in Finland are highly valued and admission to university for a teaching program is very competitive. According to Juulia Oksaharju, a Finnish teacher who teaches English, the university acceptance rate to become an English teacher is only 10 to 15 percent. Once admitted into a program, one most do a five year masters program, complete with real life teacher training and writing a 80 to 100 page master’s thesis in the last year.
In the classroom, classes are dynamic and experimental, as they are at Lick. Borgström described his Civics class, in which students frequently debate politics while simultaneously learning about the systems of politics and how to look at issues critically. English teacher Oksaharju emphasized that sticking to the book isn’t always exciting or conducive to critical thinking, so she frequently branches out.
Finnish schools put more emphasis on life preparation than American schools like Lick. In ninth grade, Paasivaara, along with the rest of her class, took a weekly course in which they discussed life options – such as deciding between vocational and academic high school, voting, and other important things for being an engaged citizen. In mandatory school (grades one to nine), Paasivaara, along with the rest of her class, was required to take Home Economics, in which she learned to cook and clean. Her school also required students to go to work for a couple of days a year and learn what it’s like to have a job. Finnish schools hold mock elections so students learn to vote at a young age. Borgström’s favorite class is Civics, in which he is learning how to vote and be civically engaged.
While it is great that students are there to learn and Finnish schools take measures to prepare students for life outside the classroom, there are some obvious drawbacks to the Finnish system, particularly the university application process. Testing doesn’t work for everyone, and doesn’t take into account the intricacies and passions of an individual as the American college admissions process does. It’s a lot of pressure to have your entire future determined by the three tests. While Borgström has gained much real world business experience, that won’t help his admittance to a Finnish university undergraduate business program.
That said, an education system set up to teach students to love learning and stress less sounds ideal. Low levels of homework, well equipped teachers, and standardized testing focused around critical thinking are all great innovations of the Finnish system. In the United States, a country that struggles with equal access to education and anxious high school students, it’s important that we observe others successes and learn from countries, like Finland, that educate their children well.
