Moi from Helsinki! I was treated to my first school visit yesterday, a "lukio" (which would be like a high school in the US) in a suburb north of Helsinki called Vantaa. I'll post more about my personal reflections on schools when I have more visits to compare, but I thought for now I'd provide a basic overview of Finnish education here for those who are interested.
In Finland kids start compulsory school at age 7 (prior to that, kids are in pre-schools that focus more on play and social skills than the "school readiness" focus of US preschools and Kindergarten). All Finnish kids have nine years of compulsory education (called "peruskoula" or "basic school") from grades 1-9, so about 7-16 years old. After grade 9, they will take exams which will help determine what path they will take next, though officially they are done with mandatory education at this point. Roughly 60% of students go on to a "lukio" or upper secondary school designed to prepare them for University, and the other 40% go into "ammattikoulu" vocational high schools that are designed to prepare them for a trade such as business, construction, nursing, and so on. Both of these paths take about 3 years and feel more like colleges than what we think of as high schools in the US. Kids design their own schedules around 6-7 week courses, so each student has very individualized paths to complete the 75 or so required courses. At the end of this they take nationwide exams to demonstrate their readiness to move on to University or employment. In the vocational schools much of the student's time is spent out of the classroom and in on-the-job training. Both university-focused and vocational-focused high schools are equally respected in Finland and both are quite rigorous. By the end of school nearly all students are comfortable with English and Swedish in addition to their native Finnish.
Basic education is totally free in Finland, and students get free lunch and medical care. Lunches are served like a buffet and they are quite delicious and freshly made. Students in high schools must buy their own books and class materials such as a personal computer.
Here are some pictures from my school visit yesterday (note: students were asked and gave permission for their photos to be used in this blog).
 |
| Train ride in |
 |
| The Vantaa high school from the outside |
 |
| Hallways are open and light |
 |
| Teacher Taru Pohtola who organized our visit |
 |
| Students in a physics class |
 |
| Teacher Pekka Peura helping a student |
 |
| Lunch Buffet served free every day to all students and teachers |
 |
| Vocational (business school) student making a product "pitch" to a panel of judges in a presentation project |
No comments:
Post a Comment