Finnish education sector offers invaluable lessons

[webfact]

Finnish education sector offers invaluable lessons

By Chularat Saengpassa 
The Nation

 

 

Local educators attend summit to learn how Finland tops in rankings.

 

THAILAND HOPES to learn and perhaps implement the highly successful educational reform of Finland, where nearly a third of the adult population was uneducated a mere six decades ago. 

 

Today, Finnish education unarguably ranks among the world’s best. 

 

 

More than 100 Thai teachers and educators attended the Educa 2018 Pre-Conference Finnish Teacher Education Forum at Kasetsart University yesterday in the hope of learning exactly how Thailand can improve its educational quality. 

 

For much of the 21st century, Finland has been one of the very top performers in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa), a study administered every three years that tests the reading, maths and science abilities of 15-year-olds in developed nations.

 

Low scores

 

 

Thailand has not fared well. Thai students’ scores in 2015 PISA showed a drop despite the fact that the country has been pumping more and more funds into its educational sector and trying hard to implement educational reform. 

 

At yesterday’s forum, Professor Hannele Niemi from the University of Helsinki told participants that the idea of “free school for everyone” was solidified in her country in 1968 through the Comprehensive School Framework Law. 

 

“That law also stipulated that all citizens shall have an equal opportunity to receive basic education regardless of age, domicile, financial situation, sex, mother tongue or residence,” she pointed out. 

 

Niemi, who is also research director for Unesco, said the law also engaged municipalities as local providers of education. 

 

Finland’s educational sector has since gone from strength to strength. In 1970, a new law was passed to prescribe massive in-service training for all teachers. 

 

During the 1980s, Finland’s educational sector started placing a strong emphasis on mixed ability groups, special-needs education support, inclusion and assurance that a learner can always continue in the system. 

 

“Our school law of 1998 then accorded importance to responsibility, civilisation and connection to national development,” Niemi said. “Pupils are groomed for growth into humanity and into ethically responsible membership in society.”

 

She added that Finnish education also sought to provide pupils with knowledge and skills needed in life.

 

Sanna Vahtivuori-Hanninen, adviser to the permanent secretary of Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture, believed teacher education was a key success factor in Finnish education. A high percentage of Finnish teachers hold a master’s degree. 

 

“Because we have highly qualified  teachers, we can produce excellent students,” she said. 

 

In Finland, teachers are well respected and the profession is popular. Very few teachers jump to other fields. A survey by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development reflects that Finnish teachers are happy with their profession. Findings show that more than 80 per cent of Finnish teachers say they would choose to become teachers if they were told to decide again. 

 

“Teachers and high-quality teacher education are the core of the Finnish education system,” Vahtivuori-Hanninen said.

 

She added that Finland was also supportive of teachers’ life-long professional development.

 

“We also support their collaboration and networking,” she added. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30356568

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-10-17

[Chang_paarp]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Finnish education sector offers invaluable lessons

 

Yes, but will they learn.

[Lunchbob]

You can't just fire 256,000 Thai teachers across the country and replace them with better ones.

[certacito]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

special-needs education support

 

This already happens at my university. I have 3 deaf students in 1 of my classes and every week a Thai teacher turns up and signs what I am teaching for them. Very professional and the only way those students would be able to learn in my class.

[Esso49]

27 minutes ago, certacito said:

 

This already happens at my university. I have 3 deaf students in 1 of my classes and every week a Thai teacher turns up and signs what I am teaching for them. Very professional and the only way those students would be able to learn in my class.

That's commendable but special needs also includes those with learning difficulties which this country does not provide for in the manner of other developed countries.  

[scorecard]

And I have a downs syndrome student who has mastered spoken and written English, she occasionally asks for a repeat explanation of the learning points, her course grades are around B to B+.  

[Emdog]

“Because we have highly qualified  teachers, we can produce excellent students,”

   Wow. I wonder if anyone in Ed ministry ever thought of that as possible solution?

[scorecard]

And no mention about class room teaching methodology - pedagogy. And more to the point no mention about student participation in the process.

 

 

[Srikcir]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Finnish education sector offers invaluable lessons

Lesson #1 - operates well in a parliamentary representative democratic republic.

Any further lessons are irrelevant.

[SEtonal]

In order to improve test scores, Thailand should look a better performing country that is more similar economically, racially/ethnically, culturally, and religion-wise -- Vietnam.   Vietnam scored 495 in math, 487 in reading, and 525 in science.  Vietnam's science score was 8th best in the world.

Edited October 17, 2018 by SEtonal

[manhood]

Thailand and thais are very resistent in changes! I visited couple of times Vietnam and there you can see the young people really WANT to change and WORK for it! Thais wait that the tasty fried chicken just fall from the sky.

And thats not only the problem of the youngsters. THE OLDER generation is the problem. Mothers and fathers, teachers, monks and all sho are involved into the education. And on top of it is the Government and the Education ministry! Too many people who have not a glue of an idea and wont like to let any changes done as most of them have to resign and leave their jobs due to stupidness!!!!!!!!!!

Poor Thailand and sorry for the young generation loosind against all the others in the world

[My Thai Life]

Finland has a tiny population floating on oil reserves.

 

PISA has been discredited by leading academics all over the world.

 

Never mind, let's just jump on any bandwagon for Thai bashing. 

[Stargeezr]

Thailand is a 3rd World Country, Finland Is not. My simple answer.

[simoh1490]

9 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Thailand is a 3rd World Country, Finland Is not. My simple answer.

Political allegiance or alignment has nothing to do with this subject!

[Stargeezr]

A third world and a first world country also has nothing to do with

Political allegiance or as you say alignment, yes?

[simoh1490]

32 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

A third world and a first world country also has nothing to do with

Political allegiance or as you say alignment, yes?

The term, "third world country" is obsolete in modern times, it used to define whether a particular country was aligned with Nato or Communist Bloc countries and has no meaningful relevance on the subject being discussed.

[Stargeezr]

Well if you think that Thailand is not third World, I am curious

what country you are from?

[simoh1490]

3 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Well if you think that Thailand is not third World, I am curious

what country you are from?

the UK but with 15 years spent in the US.

[ozmeldo]

On 10/17/2018 at 6:39 PM, My Thai Life said:

Finland has a tiny population floating on oil reserves.

 

PISA has been discredited by leading academics all over the world.

 

Never mind, let's just jump on any bandwagon for Thai bashing. 

Totally agree. It's tiny as well and willing to throw money at keeping this reputation afloat.

 

PISA is a pantload.Some schools do it, others don't send from my experience its almost who can get the students to sit for the exam, during break...

 

Want better PISA scores? Just force the top 25 schools to sit. We know the rest are a joke anyway.

[ozmeldo]

12 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Well if you think that Thailand is not third World, I am curious

what country you are from?

This term is outdated, from the cold war. Regardless, Thailand is not a third world country. Africa is third world. Philippines is third world.

[certacito]

On 10/17/2018 at 6:39 PM, My Thai Life said:

PISA has been discredited by leading academics all over the world.

 

Any links to this?

[Stargeezr]

Thailand will be a third world country in my book until it is truly a democratic

country, and not ran by the military.

Geezer

[BritManToo]

43 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Thailand will be a third world country in my book until ........

It either joins NATO or the Soviet Bloc!

[starshiptrooper]

Finland has a tiny population floating on oil reserves.
 
PISA has been discredited by leading academics all over the world.
 
Never mind, let's just jump on any bandwagon for Thai bashing. 

What oil reserves are you talking about...?

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[Scott]

Post with a direct link to a site has been removed.   The link is not permitted and it leads to a "Page Not Found" 404 error.

[My Thai Life]

On 10/21/2018 at 11:57 AM, starshiptrooper said:

What oil reserves are you talking about...? 

oops yes, I saw Finland and thought Norway. Apologies to any Finns here.

 

To the more substantive point of the PISA tests themselves, as per my earlier post the PISA methodology has been discredited by leading academics all over the world.  An earlier poster asked if there were any links to support this - yes there are, including on the history of this forum where PISA pops up every few years. The Guardian had probably the best article on the methodological shortcomings of PISA, endorsed by a long list of academics if memory serves; the link is on the history of this site. Easily googleable as well I shold think.

 

PISA is run by the OECD. The OECD's influence on national curricula worldwide has some arguably quite negative consequences, but now we're moving into MA Education territory.

 

Last year or so the OECD announced it was going to introduce a "creativity" element to its PISA tests. I'm not sure if the specifics of how this might be achieved have been published. I certainly haven't seen them, but then I have't been looking very hard. Obviously this would introduce even further bias.

 

One of the interesting results of the PISA tests is that the USA's performance is lacklustre, ranked 40 out 73, compared to Thailand's 56 out of 73. Also, The US's PISA results have steadily declined most years. Now, I'm not an expert on the US system, I've worked in the US for a few years (not in education), but I studied in the UK, however I can't believe that the PISA results properly represent the US.

 

Of course, none of this should be taken as me trying to justify the challenges of the Thai education system. But PISA isn't helping; it's actually creating more knee-jerk educational policy reactions in many countries.

Edited December 13, 2018 by My Thai Life

[DavisH]

On 10/17/2018 at 1:16 PM, SEtonal said:

In order to improve test scores, Thailand should look a better performing country that is more similar economically, racially/ethnically, culturally, and religion-wise -- Vietnam.   Vietnam scored 495 in math, 487 in reading, and 525 in science.  Vietnam's science score was 8th best in the world.

Much of that is the Vietnamese work ethic. The same applies to Singaporean students. One would think Australia, the UK and the USA, where a lot of educational research is done, would make them more pedagogically advanced (let's assume this research is applied in the classroom). Apparently, this is not the case. Look at the HSC (Higher School Certificate) results from NSW, Australia. Many of the top scorers (even in English language subjects, and especially the sciences) in the state have Asian heritage. I believe work ethic and cultural factors play an important factor in the results we see.