How is it possible for Finnish kids to outsmart most of the world when school starts at 7 years old, days are much shorter, and play is at the center of learning?
I think one of the biggest flaws in the high stakes testing American system is that it has completely discounted the importance of schema and all of the interpersonal skills that early Finnish schooling seems to prioritize. Having an understanding of the world and the vocabulary to explain and understand is so important for literacy, critical thinking, and understanding that math word problem 🙄. I have seen it from both sides as a parent of gifted kids, whose reading skills have been buoyed by their understanding of the world. And as a reading specialist, working with students who struggle with vocabulary and decoding longer words because they have not had the same oral language exposure. Let alone the skills they are tested on, like identifying theme and making conclusions. It is an overwhelming task to remediate!
Hi! So as a Finnish mother, I have to point out that not all homework takes 10 minutes, some kids need help from a parent, and we do have tests in Finnish schools but not in the lower grades. My kids school started having ”real” tests in the third grade (test grade scale 4-10). I would say on average homework in our household takes about 20-60minutes. But short school days, yes, and focus on so much more than academics, yep! My son is now in 5th grade and his school week is 27 hours long which is kind of ok. 3 hours of phys.ed/week.
Yes definitely, I had tests as a kid too, but here I actually mean the standardized tests that US starts at grade 3 where every kid takes the same tests and the kids and schools are ranked based on those results. For example, in the boys US 2nd grade the teachers started teaching them how to take the 3rd grade standardized test - and in some instances in the US, the standardized tests are criticized for requiring the teachers to teach to the test instead of just teaching the kids so the school can rank higher. And wow, your homework takes a while! My kids are in 2nd grade here and their friends in similar grades, so I'm assuming the younger kids are not expected to self-supervise their homework longer. The Physical Ed amount is huge!
In Austria tutors are very common too and the parents are expected to be very involved in school work. In my opinion this can result in not very independent behaviour and kids don't learn to be responsible on their own. I have been able to include the finish style to our Austrian school work by simply expecting my children to take responsibility from an early age, not care so much about success, but believe in my children and their skills and also give them time! There is no hurry!
I think that children who play a lot and have no academic pressure are more likely to have a healthy self-esteem and be more relaxed. So they therefore learn easier, faster and don't need long days and lot of practice. Also the lessons are made so child friendly in Finland that children learn without noticing it.
Thanks for this Emmi! Super interesting! Where the teachers or the school community expecting you to be very involved and how did you deal with communicating that you are trying this the Nordic style? I actually would love to try that back in the US, but then I would also need to ask the teachers to give homework that does not require an adult to do it with the child. And communicate that if they don't do their homework or it's not perfect, that's OK and they learn through natural consequence and being a bit more responsible when it's up to them. Would love to get your thoughts!
I didn't communicate this with any teachers at front. Every now and then teachers tell me to be more involved or say things like "please do this or that together with your child at home". I just don't do it, but also don't wanna rebel too much, so I say thank you and just ignore it. Then I talk to my child and tell them what the school is expecting me to do and that if my child finds it helpful they should do it on their own. I do offer my children help at home, if they want to or feel like they need support, but that was the case maybe twice in the past seven years of school. I actually have couple of other parents who are having a similar approach. All of our children all together are very successful academically and by far the most self-secure children in their classes.
It is not always easy to let my children make mistakes and learn from them, but with this approach they are so much more prepared for real life!
My children hardly ever get homework where an adult help is necessary, so maybe the Austrian system is not as parent involving as the US one. Parents here are only expected to check homework and correct mistakes, but I don't do it either.
Hi Annabella, I am very curious how they approach the pillar "faith in the future". My son is going to a Steiner school here in Germany and I went there myself and I feel this point is somehow missing . Or maybe I just have been unaware of it...
Hi Anna! I think it's the feeling that you are ready to take on the future, no matter what, and however the world changes. You feel confident in you that you can just figure things out. I think it's because there's so much focus on not the result, but rather in the idea that school teaches you to figure things out on your own. So that then you will find your own best way in whatever situation or work etc. But I love this question, let me also throw this out to the audience on my insta and see what my Finnish followers there think about this!
I think one of the biggest flaws in the high stakes testing American system is that it has completely discounted the importance of schema and all of the interpersonal skills that early Finnish schooling seems to prioritize. Having an understanding of the world and the vocabulary to explain and understand is so important for literacy, critical thinking, and understanding that math word problem 🙄. I have seen it from both sides as a parent of gifted kids, whose reading skills have been buoyed by their understanding of the world. And as a reading specialist, working with students who struggle with vocabulary and decoding longer words because they have not had the same oral language exposure. Let alone the skills they are tested on, like identifying theme and making conclusions. It is an overwhelming task to remediate!
Hi! So as a Finnish mother, I have to point out that not all homework takes 10 minutes, some kids need help from a parent, and we do have tests in Finnish schools but not in the lower grades. My kids school started having ”real” tests in the third grade (test grade scale 4-10). I would say on average homework in our household takes about 20-60minutes. But short school days, yes, and focus on so much more than academics, yep! My son is now in 5th grade and his school week is 27 hours long which is kind of ok. 3 hours of phys.ed/week.
Yes definitely, I had tests as a kid too, but here I actually mean the standardized tests that US starts at grade 3 where every kid takes the same tests and the kids and schools are ranked based on those results. For example, in the boys US 2nd grade the teachers started teaching them how to take the 3rd grade standardized test - and in some instances in the US, the standardized tests are criticized for requiring the teachers to teach to the test instead of just teaching the kids so the school can rank higher. And wow, your homework takes a while! My kids are in 2nd grade here and their friends in similar grades, so I'm assuming the younger kids are not expected to self-supervise their homework longer. The Physical Ed amount is huge!
In Austria tutors are very common too and the parents are expected to be very involved in school work. In my opinion this can result in not very independent behaviour and kids don't learn to be responsible on their own. I have been able to include the finish style to our Austrian school work by simply expecting my children to take responsibility from an early age, not care so much about success, but believe in my children and their skills and also give them time! There is no hurry!
I think that children who play a lot and have no academic pressure are more likely to have a healthy self-esteem and be more relaxed. So they therefore learn easier, faster and don't need long days and lot of practice. Also the lessons are made so child friendly in Finland that children learn without noticing it.
Thanks for this Emmi! Super interesting! Where the teachers or the school community expecting you to be very involved and how did you deal with communicating that you are trying this the Nordic style? I actually would love to try that back in the US, but then I would also need to ask the teachers to give homework that does not require an adult to do it with the child. And communicate that if they don't do their homework or it's not perfect, that's OK and they learn through natural consequence and being a bit more responsible when it's up to them. Would love to get your thoughts!
I didn't communicate this with any teachers at front. Every now and then teachers tell me to be more involved or say things like "please do this or that together with your child at home". I just don't do it, but also don't wanna rebel too much, so I say thank you and just ignore it. Then I talk to my child and tell them what the school is expecting me to do and that if my child finds it helpful they should do it on their own. I do offer my children help at home, if they want to or feel like they need support, but that was the case maybe twice in the past seven years of school. I actually have couple of other parents who are having a similar approach. All of our children all together are very successful academically and by far the most self-secure children in their classes.
It is not always easy to let my children make mistakes and learn from them, but with this approach they are so much more prepared for real life!
My children hardly ever get homework where an adult help is necessary, so maybe the Austrian system is not as parent involving as the US one. Parents here are only expected to check homework and correct mistakes, but I don't do it either.
Hi Annabella, I am very curious how they approach the pillar "faith in the future". My son is going to a Steiner school here in Germany and I went there myself and I feel this point is somehow missing . Or maybe I just have been unaware of it...
Thank you 💖
Hi Anna! I think it's the feeling that you are ready to take on the future, no matter what, and however the world changes. You feel confident in you that you can just figure things out. I think it's because there's so much focus on not the result, but rather in the idea that school teaches you to figure things out on your own. So that then you will find your own best way in whatever situation or work etc. But I love this question, let me also throw this out to the audience on my insta and see what my Finnish followers there think about this!
I'm asking in stories at @annabelladaily ! and will post replies there!