Finland is Not an “Education Wonderland” (I)
Preface
When I was applying my exchange qualification, I browsed the website of the University of Turku to collect more information about this university, and there was a quote on the first page:
“Although we are ranked as the best education system in the world, we are still struggling to discover and solve problems in classrooms of our daily life.”
Upon seeing this quote, I was astonished. “How could a school culture be so humble!” Even though known as the best in the world, Finnish educators still demonstrate of growth mindset and learning with humbleness! Hence, at the moment I knew that “I am going to Finland!” (I can still remember how excited I was), I told to myself: “I gotta manage to enter at least a Finnish school to see what is the real scene of ‘the best’ classroom and education system in the world.” The first-page quote became the very first impression of Finnish education before I come to Finland. And it echoes in my mind during my school experience course in Turku Teacher Training School (TNK) and Turku International School (TIS).
Before getting on board as an “international teacher trainee”, I expected to get more understanding about “the phenomenon-based learning”; what does a Finnish learning environment look like; how pre-service teachers are trained in Finland; and how do roles in school life collaborate with each other, including students, teachers, pre-service teachers, managers and administrators, parents/ families, and school staff.
In this report, I try to weave a picture of my school experience with a material of my learning diaries/ notes in TIS and TNK. Those notes were from guiding lectures/ seminars, classroom observations, school events, assistant teachings and teaching practices. First, I analyze the similarities and differences the educational system between Finland and Taiwan within my previous expectations based on my experience in TNK and TIS. Secondly, I further explore the cultural differences that I discovered. And at the end of this article, there are my reflections and thoughts to rethink my school experience and what to take away from Finland. Also, imagine what are our common challenges and possibilities for future education.
Introduction
Turku International School and Turku Teacher Training School are affiliated to the Faculty of Education, University of Turku which means they are both public schools (same as most of the Finnish schools). Not only provide primary and secondary education for students from over 30 countries, TIS and TNK offer a real-life place for pre-service student teachers in University of Turku to practice their educational theories in a multicultural environment. The school buildings were just nicely renovated two years ago so the school facilities are all well-equipped.
“Here is not a wonderland.”
“Welcome to the world rather than the ‘wonderland’!” said by my main instructor Tuija Niemi, a senior teacher of Turku Teacher Training School at the very beginning of the first class. Dear teacher, You must be kidding me. We just finished a campus tour and everything is so wonderful. The whole school environment is nice and neat, bright and spacious. There are a professional remix studio and 24 classic guitars in the music classroom; drilling machines in fancy-looking craft classroom; and each classroom equips a 70-inch monitor with Apple TV, e-board, another TV, whiteboards, movable multifunctional desks and chairs, and even sofas. Most importantly, students all look enjoyed and engaged in their learning! Not to mention that between each lesson, there is a 15-minute recess for students to have outdoor activities. And I was informed that the schools are supported by public resources. Students basically don’t have to pay any tuition or material fees or a warm lunch meal, and even each of them can apply for an iPad (after 7th grade a laptop) for learning personal use. Yes, although I know that this is all from the taxes of the public. But this is still amazing. “This is a wonderland for education,” I told myself.
Similarities and differences between the Finnish educational system and the system of Taiwan
With the fact that it is definitely not an easy task to compare educational systems in several paragraphs, I try to compare Finnish and Taiwanese educational system in four dimensions based on my previous expectations: the curriculum and the phenomenon-based learning; How pre-service teachers are trained in Finland? what does a Finnish learning environment look like?
- The Curriculum and the phenomenon-based learning
The Finnish curriculum starts with the ensure of everyone’s human rights to learning. Although the core curriculum is centralized, Finnish teachers have a high autonomy to practice teaching under the goals, values, objectives written in the curriculum. In 2016, a new update of curriculum was released. The core spirit of the curriculum is “development as a human being and as a citizen”, following the goals of thinking and learning to learn; cultural competence, interaction and expression; taking care of oneself and others, managing daily activities, safety; multiliteracy; ICT competence; competence for the world of work, entrepreneurship; participation and influence, building the sustainable future. Moreover, in daily teaching, the new curriculum encourages teachers to develop interdisciplinary learning by doing projects based on authentic context for students to cultivate real-life competences.
With the effect of educational reform since the 1990s, curriculum in Taiwan endeavours to improve students’ competence to apply knowledge into daily life. The new curriculum released in 2017 and implemented in 2019 is called “Empower Each Child Curriculum” or “108 curriculum”. The revision of the curriculum refers to UNESCO, OECD, EU education hardcore and global education trends including Finnish experience. And the new curriculum is an important element of realizing 12 years of basic education.
The “Empower each child” curriculum endeavours to nurture individual potential and facilitating lifelong learning. Emphasizing on learning in authentic life context, the new curriculum expects future citizens equipped with abilities and knowledge to solve real-life problems, hence also known as “competency-based learning curriculum”. (For more understanding of competency-based curriculum, please refer to my previous article: Understanding Education Issues in Taiwan and Rethinking How Teachers “Learn to Lead”)
In comparison, there are no apparent differences in curriculums between Finland and Taiwan. Both emphasise the goal of education is to cultivate fully developed human being, outline the importance of cultural competence, expect future citizens with real-life competencies etc. However, the curriculum, in reality, is always a far-fetched blueprint of education. How to put the theories into practice and to what extent teachers understand the meaning of the curriculum become a critical factor for fulfilling the goals. Hence a focus on pre-service teacher training and in-service teacher development support is undoubtedly essential.
- How pre-service teachers are trained in Finland?
In Finland, a process of applying to teacher can be competitive, and the profession attracts numerous talents of the country. Although the requirement can be different due to different educational phases and working contents, the characteristics of the Finnish teacher training program are (1) requires a master degree (2) immersive teaching practices. The requirement of a master degree ensure every teacher equips with problem-solving skills and scientific procedure of inquiries. Immersive teaching practice provides student-teacher
the process of training can be rigorous and demanding. However, the system is designed to support student teachers to become qualified teachers instead of designing to fail. Senior mentors play an important role in supporting student-teachers’ training. What’s more important, in order to cultivate student teachers multicultural competence in the world of globalization and immigration, linguistically and culturally responsive teaching is emphasized in teacher training programs. And the teacher training schools are usually combined with local international schools. Hence, student teachers have opportunities to learn how to work with students from diverse cultural backgrounds while they are still in training.
In Taiwan, teacher training programs are not as rigorous as Finland. The requirement of becoming an officially licensed teacher is graduated from teacher training departments or programs. After graduating from university, student teachers need to pass an examination and later work as an unpaid intern in schools. Moreover, although our student demographic is also changed dynamically, linguistically and culturally responsive teaching was usually absent or less emphasized in teacher training programs. Even some parents and politician claimed that learning a native language at school is “a waste of resources”. School should only teach “competitive knowledge and skills”. Fortunately, our educational policies are working on the right track. Nowadays, multicultural education and are getting more resource and attention than before with the implement of the new curriculum. But a multicultural and culturally responsive oriented teacher training module is needed to be developed immediately.
- What does a Finnish classroom look like?
How do students learn in a Finnish classroom? At first, to my surprise, the difference of some classes are not obvious from “traditional teaching” Actually, classrooms can be diverse in TNK and TIS. There can be a traditional lecturing setting that we are all used to and practising mathematics questions. Students learn and work in a comfortable way which means that they don’t be forced to sit on the chairs straight and neat. They can even choose to learn from the corner or on the sofa if teachers agree. There can be real-life projects for teamwork and applying knowledge learned from class. Students use textbooks, work on notebooks, hand in homework by either paper sheets or digital files. Embracing different approaches and innovative tools doesn’t mean that traditional practices should be replaced or abandoned. In Finland, I saw a perfect fusion and interplay of teaching methods and tools. These scenarios are beyond my romantic imagination before I came to Finland.
