Finland plans to reform school education
In 2012, Finland's education system ranked twelfth in the prestigious PISA ranking for learning quality. Overall, over the past decades, Finnish education has consistently been among the top quality learning systems. Nevertheless, as Euromag.ru reports, Finnish authorities decided that this is no reason to stand still.
The bill prepared by the country's leaders will bring a real revolution in education if passed. According to the new project, Finnish schools will abandon subject-based teaching in favor of teaching children by topics or «phenomena». This means that from now on, a child will not have to study a full course in physics, literature, or biology. They will be allowed to choose individual topics that will be useful to the student in the future.
According to lawmakers, this project is intended to eliminate the eternal questions 'Why do I need to know this?' and 'What am I studying this for?', as well as reduce the extra burden on students and teachers, since it is no secret that a significant part of the school curriculum turns out to be unnecessary in the future.
Each «topic» will consist of a whole set of familiar subjects - for example, during a course on «working in a cafeteria», teenagers can gain knowledge of languages, mathematics, writing skills, and customer communication. At the same time, the student will sign up for any «topic» based on their perception of its necessity for their future life.
Of course, lawmakers acknowledge that this system will be a serious test for both students and teachers. The number of students in a class will significantly decrease, the immersion in topics will be much deeper, and the responsibility for choice will be much higher. Each «topic» is divided into several lessons with different teachers, whose programs must perfectly complement each other.
The head of the Helsinki education department, Marjo Kyllonen, the author of the reform, intends to attract teachers to the new teaching method with small salary increases, reports The Independent. According to her, schools currently teach children in an old-fashioned way, more suitable for the 20th century. She believes that today the volume of knowledge and the demands of the times have changed significantly, so it is necessary to bring the system into line with the 21st century.
The first tests of the new learning system showed positive dynamics: students are more interested in education if they see direct benefit from each subject. The reform is expected to be completed nationwide by 2020.
In addition, in Finland from 2016, students will be allowed to almost completely abandon pen and paper during lessons in favor of a computer keyboard. Nevertheless, lessons with handwriting practice are not yet planned to be completely abolished.