My distinguished padlet by

"What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success"

jh2173 — 2024-10-02 16:28:06 UTC

Because American likes to keep their schooling system the same through the country, they question Finlands as its far different from America

Americans question Finlands schooling system

jh2173 — 2024-10-02 16:28:54 UTC

They question how they track their performance if there is no standardized testing. How are teachers held accountable? How do they provide a school choice?

Finland Offers More Resources

jh2173 — 2024-10-02 16:30:31 UTC

Finland offers kids the basics such as free school meals, easy access to health care, psychological counseling, and personalized guidance

Finland focuses on creativity

jh2173 — 2024-10-02 16:45:57 UTC

They want kids to focus more on creative play as they assigned less homework

Finland has no standardized testing

jh2173 — 2024-10-02 16:49:42 UTC

Because there is no standardized testing, every report at the end of the semester is done by the individualized grading by each teacher

Opportunity to learn

jh2173 — 2024-10-02 17:13:26 UTC

They believe that each kid deserves the right to learn regardless of their demographics

PISA scores

jh2173 — 2024-10-02 17:14:45 UTC

Finland scored high on the first PISA survey in 2001 in which many thought their results were a mistake.

How can you keep track of students' performance if you don't test them constantly?

jh2173 — 2024-10-02 17:18:10 UTC

Because there is no standardized test, they must take the National Matriculation Exam, which everyone takes at the end of the upper-secondary school. Instead of assessing the kids, the teachers personally grade each student.

How do you provide school choice?

jh2173 — 2024-10-02 17:18:28 UTC

They say how “Real winners do not compete” so there is no best school/teachers in Finland. School choice is noticeable, not a priority.

How can you improve teaching without accountability for bad teachers or merit pay for good teachers?

jh2173 — 2024-10-02 17:19:01 UTC

All teachers and administrators are given prestige, decent pay, and responsibility. If the teacher is unfit, it is the principal's responsibility to notice and deal with it

Administration accountability

jh2173 — 2024-10-03 17:14:09 UTC

Not only do teachers need a master's degree, but they need to go through the teacher training program that is amongst the most professional schools in the country. Because they are given a reputation, they are held with a lot of responsibility. If the teacher is at fault, it is the principals job to take care of the situation.

Schools in America

jh2173 — 2024-10-03 17:25:52 UTC

Schools in America, as a kid were used to standardized testing as we were placed in honors classes or not. This was done all of my childhood and early adult life as in high school, there would be progress checks every year. As the years went by, art classes and such were less forced on but classes such as math, science, and english were mandatory.

America's Opinion on Creativity

jh2173 — 2024-10-14 14:09:56 UTC

Growing up in America, we were often given classes, whether art, band, or choir, to express our creativity. However, when we got into high school, we had the option to choose whether we would want to retake those classes, but it was never mandatory. This was shown in schools around the county. As kids get older, schools focus less on creativity and more on education, such as higher history, English, math, etc. Looking back, in high school they had options to join clubs to express their creativity but it was never put in our faces as they would never recommend joining one, they would just put it out there and if you saw it you saw it.

Americas Responsibilities

jh2173 — 2024-10-14 14:12:13 UTC

In America, both teachers and principals were held to high standards when teaching us. I noticed this in my schools as principals or other high administration would come into classrooms to check how out their lesson plans in action. When it came to resources, schools would often help out low-income families with free hot meals, where kids wouldn't have to pay, but they didn't help out with healthcare or psychological needs. They did however allow everyone to learn, as everything was equal.