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Education in Finland
Education in Finland is an egalitarian system, with no tuition fees and with free meals served to full-time students. The present Finnish education system consists of well-funded and carefully thought out daycare programs . The Finnish government has consecrated 11.1 billion € as an education budget . In Finnish schools , primary languages are : Swedish and Finnish .
Introduction
One-year "pre-school" (or kindergarten for six-year olds); a nine-year compulsory basic comprehensive school (starting at age seven and ending at the age of fifteen); post-compulsory secondary general academic and vocational education; higher education (University and Polytechnical); and adult (lifelong, continuing) education. The Nordic strategy for achieving equality and excellence in education has been based on constructing a publicly funded comprehensive school system without selecting, tracking, or streaming students during their common basic education . Part of the strategy has been to spread the school network so that pupils have a school near their homes whenever possible or, if this is not feasible,
Education System
e.g. in rural areas, to provide free transportation to more widely dispersed schools. Inclusive special education within the classroom and instructional efforts to minimize low achievement are also typical of Nordic educational systems.
After their nine-year basic education in a comprehensive school, students at the age of 16 may choose to continue their secondary education in either an academic track (lukio) or a vocational track (ammattikoulu), both of which usually take three years. Tertiary education is divided into university and polytechnic (ammattikorkeakoulu, often translated into English as "university of applied sciences") systems. Only universities award licentiate- and doctoral-level degrees. Formerly, only university graduates could obtain higher (postgraduate) degrees, however, since the implementation of the Bologna process, polytechnic degree holders can now qualify for further academic study by doing additional courses. There are 17 universities and 27 polytechnics in the country.
Academic degrees
Vocational degrees
Typical ages
PHD(doctor) Employment -Licentiate
Bachelor Polytechnic +(3 or 4)
Master Polytechnic +(2 or 3)
Upper Secondary
School
Vocational School
16-19
Comprehensive School(Compulsory)
7-16
Pre-School 6-7
Both primary and secondary teachers must have a Master's degree to qualify. Teaching is a respected profession and entrance to university programs is highly competitive. A prospective teacher must have very good grades and must combat fierce opposition in order to become a teacher. About only 10% of applicants to certain programs are successful. The respect accorded to the profession and the higher salaries than the OECD average lead to higher performing and larger numbers applying for the positions, and this is reflected in the quality of teachers in Finland.
Teachers
Some amazing
facts about education in Finland
Finnish children don't start school until they are 7
Compared with other systems, they rarely take exams or do homework until they are well into their teens.
The children are not measured at all for the first six years of their education.
There is only one mandatory standardized test in Finland, taken when children are 16.
All students , clever or not , are taught in the same classrooms
30 % of children receive extra help during their first nine years of school
66 % of students go to college(The highest rate in Europe)
The difference between weakest and strongest students is the smallest in the World
Science classes are capped at 16 students so that they may perform practical experiments every
class.
93 percent of Finns graduate from high school (17,5% higher than the U.S)
43 % of Finnish high-school students go to vocational school
Elementary school students get 75 minutes of recess a day in Finland
Teachers only spend 4 hours a day in the classroom, and take 2 hours a week for "professional
development"
Finland has the same amount of teachers as New York City, but far fewer students
The school system is 100% state funded with a huge budget
All teachers in Finland must have a masters degree
The national curriculum is only broad guidelines
Teachers are selected from the top 10% of graduates
The average starting salary for a Finnish teacher is 30,000 €
Teachers are effectively given the same status as doctors and lawyers
In an international standardized measurement in 2001, Finnish children came top or very close to the
top for science, reading and mathematics
The End