One third of the territory of "Santa's hometown", "the country of thousands of lakes" and "the place where Nokia was born" is in the Arctic Circle. There is also a unique "SISU spirit". SISU is a part of Finnish culture. This word is difficult to translate into other words. It can be understood as will, determination, perseverance and rationality in the face of difficulties.
In the past, Finland was poor and its resources were inferior to those of its neighbors. Historically, Finland experienced the long-term control of Sweden, a powerful country, and the occupation of the neighboring Soviet Union. Because there are not many resources to export, we have to "convert gray matter into GDP" and attach great importance to talents, making education an important part of Finland.
There are not many books about Finnish education, but The Secret of Finland's Education in the World by Taiwan Province writer Chen Zhihua is the most representative one, which is easy to understand.
In the Pisa (programme for international student assessment) test conducted by the OECD, Finnish middle school students were ranked first in the world.
Finnish education is the most balanced education system in the world, with the smallest gap in students' performance.
Almost every World Economic Forum has rated Finland's higher education as the best.
Finland has the least class hours, the shortest review time after class and the longest holiday in the world.
If a subject or skill is compared to a forest, the common education mode in most Asian countries is to start with learning a tree, such as learning to swim, perhaps starting with a standard movement, and repeatedly kicking and practicing basic movements on the water beside the pool after a class. Education in Finland is different. For example, in the basic teaching of "Figure Skating Class" in Finland, the teacher first demonstrates and teaches several postures and techniques in a class, and teaches one action for 8- 10 minutes at most, and then changes to the next one. For Asian parents, it may be felt that how can teachers continue to teach new ones without fully practicing a detail?
This is the educational feature of Finnish education "seeing the forest first, then seeing the trees". The purpose is to stimulate students' interest in learning, rather than mechanically practicing and repeatedly emphasizing standards, so as to achieve immediate results. This method adopts a diversified and people-oriented method, which has the advantage of stimulating children's interest in learning and understanding the whole subject or skill. And pay attention to cultivating children's lifelong learning ability and achieve the foundation of lifelong education.
In the PISA test, the average proportion of students from 57 countries who participated in the evaluation failed in the PISA test was over 20%, but the failure rate of Finnish students was less than 5%.
There are no so-called "fast and slow classes" or "gifted classes" in Finland. Seven-year system, the school has no inspectors, does not flaunt elite training, has few exams, does not rank, and teachers do not conduct performance appraisal.
Today, the education system all over the world is advocating elite education, teachers and students have all kinds of anxiety, and competition has become the norm. However, Finnish education belongs to the most fundamental humanistic thought, which is natural, relaxed and indisputable. Finnish education experts have repeatedly stressed that highlighting outstanding students and elite education will not bring the best results to the overall education. On the contrary, as long as students with excellent qualifications are encouraged and used to help ordinary or underachievers, gifted students can understand the differences between people and contribute to the equal development of group society.
In Finland, you can't see all kinds of extracurricular cram schools, and people respect the right to rest during holidays and private time. The teaching hours of basic education should be at least 30 hours per week and not more than 35 hours at most. The summer vacation lasts for two and a half months, and there is little homework in the summer vacation.
Only 2% of middle school students in Finland spend more than four hours practicing mathematics after class every week, while the figure in the United States is seven times that of Finland, reaching 14%, not to mention Asian countries where cram schools are everywhere.
Cancel inspectors and teachers' performance evaluation, so that local government autonomy and teachers' autonomy are supreme. Primary and secondary school teachers have master's degrees, and kindergarten teachers have bachelor's degrees. Try not to compare and grade. Students and teachers are the same. The official of the educational institution said, "Our teachers are all equally good!"
Teachers will receive different opinions and satisfaction data, so that teachers can have a comprehensive understanding and reflection on the reactions of schools, parents, students and other parties, and also know what effects and repercussions their teaching methods and contents will cause. Instead of using a single "A level" or "B level" for performance appraisal, or conducting performance appraisal according to the proportion of people. This respected and trusted social status makes teachers the first choice for Finnish middle school students.
Finnish education has always emphasized "equality, quality and fairness". In the teacher's mind, there are no backward classes, only guided classes. Scholars in educational research institutions in various professional fields have repeatedly stressed: "A small country like ours cannot allow learning gaps and imbalances in society!" ?
Not only that, in Finland, there is also education tailored for vulnerable groups, such as children with diabetes or children with congenital physical defects. Teachers will learn how to take care of such children and let them participate in normal classes. The school facilities will also make it easy for all such children to move around, and they will not miss any education link because of physical defects.
The basic educational concept of "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude" has been put into practice in Finland, a small Nordic country.
In different towns in Finland, whether it is a big school or a small school, the teaching equipment and equipment of family economic technology courses are unambiguous! It is not only perfect, neat and novel, but also attaches great importance to the safety protection of students. A group of students cook together, or step on a sewing machine, knit clothes and wool. Men and women blend together. Or saw the wood with a chainsaw, and the little girls won't be afraid to fall behind. Craft and knitting, housework and cooking all let children learn by themselves in class.
Reading is a common habit in Finland, and we attach as much importance to reading as to mathematics and science. One of Finnish children's daily homework is "at least half an hour of self-reading", which encourages children to read their own books and immerse themselves in the world of books.
The library design in Finland is also original. There are thousands of large and small libraries in the town alone, not including schools, research institutions and companies. Finland's humanistic spirit has been fully demonstrated in terms of architectural pattern, equipment for borrowing and returning books, barrier-free space design, professional quality and the concept of * * * *. The library has become a cultural landmark in Finland. Moreover, the Finnish government has set up nearly 200 mobile libraries in various places. Residential areas and schools with buses as the main carrier and relatively remote trips.
All schools in Finland do not have uniforms. The typical Finnish answer is: "We never thought about uniforms!"
In Finland, a real welfare country, according to the constitution, basic education is free of tuition fees, nutritious lunches and textbooks are provided free of charge, and children living in remote areas are also provided with transportation expenses by the government. If uniforms are provided, they must be paid for by the government. The government and the public believe that the money should be used in places that are really meaningful to education. If the school uniform is only for the convenience of management, then the educational purpose of the school will not become to seek good management first and then pay attention to students' learning.
As the headmaster of a small town in Finland asked, "Excuse me, what is the essence of education? Is it a uniform? Still studying? "
Finally, I have to mention that it is the Finnish society's attention and attitude towards education and the major educational reform that took place in 1970 that made Finland's educational concept deeply rooted in people's hearts. The good family education derived from this is the cornerstone of building the first competitiveness of education in the world.