A great deal of interest in Finland’s  educational system has been generated over the last couple of years around the world due to the system’s success in Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results. For this reason, many educators have been looking at Finland to understand what is at the root of the country’s success.  Even in Malta, educators and policy makers are striving to see what makes the educational system in Finland so successful.

‘Collaboration instead of competition’ and ‘learning is for life’ were recurrent themes mentioned during a week-long study tour in Tampere, Finland, last month organised by Learning Scoop Finland with the support of the European Union Programmes Agency (EUPA) through funding by the Erasmus Plus programme.

Participating in the study tour were five educators from Mater Boni Consilii St Joseph School, Paola – Maria Cristina Mifsud, Julie Tabone Valetta, Stephanie Saliba, Elisa Saliba and myself – as well as other educational leaders and teachers from the US, Australia and Abu Dhabi. This was the second group of teachers and educators from our school to take part in such study tour as last year another group of teachers and educators had participated in a similar tour following an agreement that the school headmaster Dr Kenneth Vella reached with Learning Scoop Finland in February 2016.

The Finnish experts, who accompanied and participated with the Maltese educators in discussions throughout the week, made it possible for us to visit, observe and interact with Finnish educators and teachers and gain an in-depth look at the Finnish system of education. Among the themes discussed were Finnish pedagogy in general with special focus on basic education, cooperation in Finnish education, curriculum and assessment, educational support, comprising inclusive education, guidance, counselling and student welfare services, as well as leadership and management in Finnish schools.

The Maltese educators visited five schools in various settings, ranging from pre-primary to comprehensive schools, as well as the Tampere University of Applied Sciences. The setting and environment varied from school to school, as did their resources; however the basic principles and curricula are the same whatever the school.

The lessons focused with the learner in mind, and group work and a collaborative effort is expected.  The learning and teaching that takes place is mainly for life, and learning does not only happen in the classroom.

The Finns do not believe in teaching for a test – they teach the skills that a person needs to get on in life, to be productive and independent. For this reason, students are left to get on with it.

The teachers are there to offer instructions or guide those who get stuck on a task. Their mind-set is: if there is a problem, you find the solution!  If you fail at something, you have learnt not to do the same mistake again and you try and find another way. The students are encouraged to collaborate, in pairs or in groups, to complete tasks.

The Finns teach the skills a person needs to get on in life

The teachers explained that they try to follow  a student’s natural path of development. So they do not force a pupil to read or write before they are ready to do so. If a student is struggling, the educators change their teaching method and try and find another way. They often have the support of a special education teacher to help them to develop resources or try new methods.

Learning and teaching away from the classroom is also encouraged.  For this reason, the teachers often develop project-based tasks around a theme and do it across the curriculum. They conduct their teaching in a nearby forest or take a bus ride to a city in search of a museum.

Movement is also highly regarded so often you see students having movement breaks between lessons, or else movement is incorporated in the task itself to help the students stay focused. The teachers are highly qualified graduates, generally at master’s level and they are regarded as experts in their field. Only five to 10 per cent of graduates ever make it to the teacher’s course as it is very highly regarded and only the very best make it.

The teachers are responsible for a year group, but they may join and plan lessons with another year group. The planning and resources are exchanged and worked upon together. They do not compete, but rather draw upon the strengths of each teacher.

One principal said that when recruiting a teacher he is often on the look-out for someone with the right attitude to work collaboratively. This is essentially very different from our culture and mind-set which so far has rested heavily on certification and individual competition.

During the visits with older students we observed that the students write in books and they also have quizzes and ongoing tests. They are also assigned homework or tasks and these become more challenging according to their age. They also conduct self-evaluations. It seems that the Finnish way of teaching and learning has managed to strike a balance between hands-on learning and pen and paper tasks.

Throughout the week, the Finnish educators also highlighted the challenges they face and for which they are working towards a solution. They mentioned that although in Finland both boys and girls are given the same basic education irrespective of their gender, boys seem to have fallen behind in reading because of the distractions of technology. They also feel the need to focus more on education for sustainability and wish to incorporate it in their curriculum.

I believe that in Malta we have many great educators who are already doing amazing work with their students and that we can learn a great deal from the Finnish system. However, we have to be mindful we cannot adopt it lock, stock and barrel as there are a great deal of cultural issues and mind-sets that need to be shifted first.

The participants would like to thank the directors of Learning Scoop Finland and the head of school Dr Kenneth Vella for this great learning opportunity and the European Union Programmes Agency (EUPA) for its support and funding from the Erasmus plus programme.

Ruth Mansueto is assistant head of Mater Boni Consilii St Joseph School, Paola.

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