Puno Finland: A look at current system Peruvian education writes: Adolfo Pérez Zárate * Education - 27 September 2009
Exterior view of school Högstadieskolan Lonkan - Finland Kansli
After reports PISA 2000, 2003, 2006 and now 2009, Finland has aroused the interest of researchers and educators from around the world, not only for its place in international assessments but because it has an educational system more efficient. Our curiosity, for several years, was certainly verify the Finnish education system, so we decided to go and check its efficiency.
When the clock ran five in the afternoon, under a faint sun yellowing that matched the green of the fields, we landed at Vantaa airport, thirty minutes from Helsinki, capital of Finland. From the beginning the splendor of its landscape and highways marked with digital markers caught our attention. Minutes later we arrived at the heart of Helsinki (Central Station). Helsinki (Helsinki, Finnish, Swedish and Sami Helsset Helsingfors) is a small town with approx. 600 000.
STARTING WITH THE SPORT
Apenas instalados, salimos a explorar la ciudad. Lo primero que descubrimos es el intenso amor de la juventud por el deporte, principalmente el fútbol. En los alrededores del estadio Olímpico de Helsinki hay cuatro estadios de fútbol con césped natural, que se mantienen implementados y limpios. En estos campos casi todos los días a partir de las 4 ó 5 de la tarde hasta las 8 ó 9 se practica fútbol. Algunas tardes se concentran cientos de niños practicando fútbol, uniformados, con árbitros, etc., bajo la atenta mirada de sus padres; en estos casos el campo reglamentario de fútbol se divide en varios sub campos con arcos removibles, ahí juegan los niños de educación pre-escolar y primaria; while the other was playing women's football.
The truth is that youth is busy. Helsinki has extensive parks and green areas with benches placed for each place, they can see how the sun's rays are filtered by the green cloudscape of trees and the gentle wind that flushes the face inspires pure lyricism and poetry, is almost between dreams desired haven, conducive to reading, relaxing and relax in them there are spaces for cycling, walking, etc. What in Peru is a desirable dream, this is a reality, at least at these stations, because in winter, as we have, you arrive at least 20 º C, oil.
FINNISH EDUCATION SYSTEM
It was 8 am, from a gentle rain and a cold autumn visit to the school Högstadieskolan Lonkan-Kansli, a modern building with windows that do not appear to be a school. On the first floor is a cafeteria for students, the right side early childhood education and pre-primary from the second floor is the school, in the building in the background is secondary education. Teachers and students came to school, many of them on bicycles.
Students do not use uniform teachers are not a suit and elegantly dressed, but have a high social prestige. Asked a professor of music for the "primary", the Rector / a (what they call the Director / a), immediately led us to his office with great kindness. Gerd Granvik, rector, welcomed us and invited to visit classes, this morning we had to be from students in two courses: Ethics and English. Ethnographic observation describe it in a future article, how they develop their classes and how they implemented their classrooms.
In the afternoon we met with the school counselor Lois Ann Edström and the headmistress of the school. In a long conversation began to clarify the questions that we had brought (what makes the difference?). For starters, Finland invests about 6.4% of its GDP, is not very high when compared with Denmark, which spends 8.5%, Sweden 7.7% Norway 7.6%, and as we know , Peru barely reaches 3%. The economy is important but does not determine the efficiency of the system.
Finland also has the highest human development index, is one of the most competitive countries in the world by the World Economic Forum. Education in the Scandinavian country is free and compulsory, covers nine years (from 7 to 16 years of age), ie 6 primary and 3 secondary, while pre-primary education from 1 to 6 years is free but not compulsory, they can go to private schools or day care centers also there but less than 5% of students attend private institutions. Even, there is no private university, all state organs.
95% of general education in the state. The government sets the overall objectives of basic education and the distribution of the curriculum, while the National Board of Education decides on the objectives and the development of a national core curriculum for schools to use as basis for their curricula. The local authority or the Municipal Education Consortium administers educational practice, evaluate their effectiveness and participate in external evaluations as PISA
.
spent on education
Local authorities ensure the education of children in preschool, primary and secondary living in their jurisdiction and government costs. The transfer is calculated on the basis of unit cost (€ / student) determined annually by the Ministry of Education.
Gerd Granvik told us that the administration assigned to each school budget, the amount is variable and can be used in various projects or to hire a part-time teacher to help students who fall behind, among other things. In the press release of 15 September 2009, the Ministry of Education projected the 2010 budget for basic education, higher education, research and education (reinforcement) of adults.
the year 2010 provides for a total of 6 186 million. This represents an increase from 64 million the previous year.
Education Program invest a total of 62 million in special education, art, flexible education, mother tongue (Finnish / Swedish) and foreign languages, plus the support and strengthening budgets that are 15 and 8 million respectively.
For school construction projects will increase 49 million euros; Teacher Training Program, € 8 million to allow 34,000 teachers funded training and research projects will increase 12.9 million euros. For its part, to Student Financial Aid proposes a total of 890.4 million euros, an increase of 19.4 million euros the previous year.
Arts and culture shows an increase of 384 million and physical activity, a total of 130 million euros. One of its main objectives is the sport (sport academies, training of youth sports organizations, etc.)..
MORE EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICE.
education in Finland is decentralized. The municipalities are responsible for the organization of education and the implementation of the objectives. Schools and teachers have autonomy in the provision and content of education. The education system is flexible based on empowerment, delegation and ongoing support.
Rectors are elected by the Administration (teacher training public officials and political representatives) do not require specific training for management. To get the position requires a degree of teacher and several years of experience as deputy director. The chosen one is responsible to appoint two deputies. Rector's salary reaches an average of 4500 euros, and its main functions are to manage the economy of the educational institution, human resource management and care of children, some even teaching classes, as the case of Gerd Granvik, in mathematics.
Most schools have an average of 300-499 students. Even smaller schools have fewer than ten students and the largest up to 900 students.
No inspectors, which in our country would be given by specialists (who play a police role at times), in Finland, there. There is high confidence and the teacher has great freedom. No one controls anyone.
The relationship between school and parents are very close, the Chancellor believes that it is parents who should be held accountable for their work and respond daily the concern of parents through e-mail or sometimes personally, for their part, parents also take care of their children.
In general, schools in Finland have good facilities and equipment, aspects that will be detailed in an upcoming article, but also perceived austere pasted slips used to record written educational purposes at the address or room teachers.
Do
PEI (Proyecto Educativo Institucional) schools in Finland?. I'm sure a director of a school in Puno would take a text of the drawer 50 or 100 pages. Ask the rector Gerd Granvik the plan directs the school and showed me a document in 5 or 6 pages, it was registered the vision, mission and strategies Lönkans Högstadieskolan in Swedish (in this school are taught in Swedish). Transversal strategy is: "Respect and cooperation" and strategic issues at this school are: "Respect, physical environment of schools and educational development." The vision translated from Swedish into English: "Students with high self-esteem responsibility, tolerance and respect for others and the work of others. The school actively participates in the surrounding world and the environment "(LIA, 2009).
As a rough translation of the mission is: "The school encourages the active pursuit of knowledge and independent thinking by promoting job satisfaction, creativity and interpersonal skills. We offer security to students for study, work and leisure. The school also offers classes in music, adapting instruction to students in immersion.. " How different from ours and something important comply.
Regarding Educational Management, is carried out through the targets set by laws and the national curriculum, they are renewed or redesigned every 5 to 7 years and are flexible, so Pia told us that in this school schedules change every 7 weeks, and students can choose up to 6 subjects, for example between the two classes I saw 5 students agreed on them, the rest would have chosen others.
ASSESSMENTS AND PISA
results will not speak, is already known, but the way they deal with PISA, Lois Ann Edström, school counselor told us that no one works for PISA , regard it as further evaluation. The outstanding in this and other reviews is the uniformity of student performance (no helical system practiced in some private schools in Lima and Puno with the story of being pre-university). The differences between the highest and lowest score are minimal. Well as differences in academic performance between schools in different regions (rural-urban), socio-economic level, users of different languages: Finnish, Swedish or Sami are also very small, remember that PISA assessments students Finns with poorer performance are at a very high compared with other countries, including Peru.
They
evaluation culture, while learning outcomes from schools and students are always encouraging. The aim is to produce information to help schools and students to improve. There are no national tests of learning, and school ranking.
Some background may explain why Finland is among the first places in PISA, first is that the Finnish education system offers the same equal opportunities to access education, regardless of their domicile, sex, economic status or language and cultural background (if that does not exist in our country) and as pointed out Basic education is free (including teaching, school, cafeteria, medical, dental, travel, special needs education and remedial teaching.) On the other hand, integration of basic education, schools select their students, they or the parents freely choose where to study, but some schools specialize in music, mathematics, sports, etc. There are social psychologists and every institution has (because they also had high suicide rate).
A recent OECD report (September 2009) For Finland, we find in the cabinet of the Ministry of Education, although their data refer mainly to 2007, inter alia states on educational coverage between 1995-2007, the coverage rate between 20 and 29 years of age was higher that OECD countries. In the OECD on average increased by 7% in Finland by 15%. In 2007 the attendance rate in this age group reached 43%, the highest among OECD countries (in Peru do not have exact figures for this age group, we are talking about higher education, whether academic or not) . On the other hand, the data also indicate that in Belgium, Poland, Ireland and the Czech Republic, 90% of boys aged 15 to 19 years of age attend educated in Finland, 88%. This reduction, according to the specialist, because part of the boys of 19 are in the military and that some of those who have completed secondary education is taking a sabbatical or have not been accepted in higher education directly .
According to the report, the Finnish education system faces two challenges. On the one hand, young people under 20 at risk of exclusion due to lack of education and, second 20 to 29 late entrants to the labor market compared to other countries. The rest of the report talks on investment in higher education compared to 1975, there were 800,000 students in higher education around the world who had studied outside their home country and in 2007 was already 3 million. In Finland to 2007, 8% of graduate students were foreigners. The country's most popular destination for Finnish students was Sweden, almost 40%, Britain (18%), Germany (9%), United States (6%) and Estonia (5%).
NUMBER OF HOURS WORKED AND NUMBER OF STUDENTS PER CLASSROOM
In Högstadieskolan Lonko income schedule is 8:10 and the output at 15:10 hours, similar to other schools (No previous training of 10 or 15 minutes as there are in our country, and parades), all go straight to class. Teaching time is 45 minutes with breaks of 15 minutes between one class and another. In general, the distribution of hours of instruction per student at a Finnish school from 7 to 14 years of age is less than 6 000 hours of lectures, the OECD average is about 6900 (Italy comes to 8,000 hours); Now number of hours per week, while in Korea (a country with better educational outcomes) are delivered 50 hours a week in Finland is 30 (high school in Peru is 35 hours per week, 4 more than Finland). It is difficult international comparisons of the number of class hours in different subjects, because the content of items varies from one country to another. In Finland, 12 to 14-year-old mathematics are taught exactly the average of OECD countries, foreign languages \u200b\u200bonly slightly more on average and Luxembourg to 20% of the lessons are devoted to languages, Finland, 14%. The number of hours does not explain the results.
The school Högstadieskolan Lonko Mikander Pia tells us, is between 13 and 24 students per class, but feels excessive to have 24 students per class. The average class size in primary education 1 to 6 years is 19.8 and the average primary and secondary students is 20.1.
TEACHERS, KEY FACTOR
In all school levels, teachers are highly qualified and committed, all have master's degree at university level. Universities can select the candidates most motivated and talented. Pia Mikander So, the teacher who guided us and invited to visit the classroom, he taught and did his doctoral thesis. Their level of preparedness is high, has a background in political science, economics and law, plus a Master of Education and didactic. "The junior high and high school teachers often have in common, for example, I teach, Development Economics in high school," he said.
The success of Finnish education depends largely on teachers who are regarded as the cornerstone. The big difference of Finland for the rest of OECD countries is the extraordinary process of selection and training of teachers in primary and secondary education. To access the teacher licensure must pass two selection processes, and have a training of 6,400 hours preparing a thesis as a final project research. The high school teacher, following the studies of specialization, must pass various tests to enter the School of Education and there to take more than 1,400 hours.
Pia told us that normally a teacher works 24 hours and the "salary ranges between 2500 to 3000 euros gross, about 26 euros per hour. There are some teachers who work more hours, and teachers of Finnish and Swedish language because they have to prepare for classes, review articles and have a greater preference "(PM, 2009).
However, teachers have considerable freedom and autonomy in their work, can choose textbooks, the program, set policies on disciplinary issues, assessment and cooperation between schools and parents. "We have a lot of freedom for teachers, in this case I have chosen to speak on Human Rights, perhaps another teacher does not, we love that freedom, because if the curriculum bring us two hours to talk about Hitler, etc., Then no could use my imagination and creativity, "says Pia Mikander smiling.
Teachers are concerned about the welfare of the school, ensure that no student will be delayed and if you have any problems provide individual support for learning it is with other teachers, parents, the principal and school psychologist, working closely with families, it is normal for the teacher to communicate daily by e-mail with parents.
FINNISH EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM ORGANIZATION
Preschool education is free for children 1 to 6 years. It aims to develop learning skills education. Local authorities have a duty to regulate pre-primary education, but for children is voluntary and determined by the parents. Some 96% of children attending this level. Teachers have a master's kindergarten teacher. For its part, the Ministry of Education provides for this level 13 children per classroom and if you have another trained adult can serve up to 20. Children who live more than 5 km from the school, whose journey is too difficult, stressful and dangerous for their age are entitled to free school transport.
basic education (primary and secondary) is free. The secondary does not lead to any degree and may continue basic education on a voluntary tenth year. The language of instruction is Finnish or Swedish, and English as second language learning. From the 7-9 years have teachers with expertise unlike children 1 to 6 years (preschool) are taught by one teacher.
In Finland nearly all children complete their compulsory education, beginning at age 7 and ends after high school. This educational level is co-funded by local authorities and government. Local authorities (municipalities) have the duty to provide education to children of school age living in their areas and provide support for student learning, mental and physical health and social welfare.
There is attention for students with special educational needs children with fewer problems is integrated into regular education or due to disability, illness, mental retardation or some other reason is transferred to the special educational needs schools where every student has an individual teaching and learning plan.
The upper secondary or high school lasts 3 years, includes general and vocational education. It has a flexible curriculum and ends on a test, then students continue in universities, polytechnics and vocational training institutions. To access is required to have completed secondary school. Some specialize in sports, art or music. Others offer preparation for an international review, International Baccalaureate is given in 14 schools and education for the German Reifeprüfung school. Most of the 435 centers are run by local authorities.
In conclusion, in this first part we can say that educational quality is not necessarily linked to the country's wealth or education spending, although other factors influence as we have done the efficiency of an education system . It is not our intention to copy the system but have a clear reference on how to improve education and further, when in Puno have a Regional Education Project and Design Regional curriculum to which they should lose sleep and make concrete results achieved within a specified period.
SHEET SUMMARY:
1. Compulsory basic education from 7 to 16 years of age.
2. Free education: books, school supplies, transportation, dining.
3. Official languages: Finnish and Swedish
4. National Curriculum: goals by discipline, evaluation criteria.
5. Educational freedom teacher.
BASIC EDUCATION
6. There is no fixed ratio of students: no more than 22, the average is 19
7. Parents choose school, usually the closest.
8. The first 6 years with a single teacher, following a specialist teacher for each subject.
9. ORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL DAY
10. Instructional 190 days per year, approx.: August to June.
11. 5 days a week
12. Minimum Class: 19 to 30 per week depending on the level and options.
13. School day, from 4-5h in the first year to 6-7h in the ninth. EVALUATION
14. Scale of 1 to 10. It is not often get less than 5
15. Aid courses and specific programs if there are difficulties.
16. 95.5% of students get the basic education certificate. Of these 96% are continuing their studies.
POST-COMPULSORY SECONDARY EDUCATION
17. BACHELOR: 2-4 years, usually 3, ends in "National matriculation examination".
18. TRAINING: 3-4 years, usually 3 in 112 specialties.
19. BACHELOR (Luki): all free except for books, students can combine studies and Vocational High School. ________________ (*) \u200b\u200bStudent Post - Degree at the University Pompeu Fabra - Barcelona - Spain
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