If you have read my previous posts, I mentioned there that I am a mother to four children. That´s right, my two elder kids are in school. Having kids now who go to school, I realize a lot of amazing facts in Finnish primary education system.
I have listed here 10 amazing facts about how my kid’s school system in Finland is one of the best education systems in the world.
No homework in preschool at the age of 6.
Real education starts at the age of 7 in Finnish school primary education. Some children can have a home preschool if accepted by the government, so it is not a must to be in preschool in school or day care , they can go straight to first grade.
Their school starts between 7:45-9:45.
Yes, some days they start earlier and sometime later. I remember having to start school at about 7:30. We have a flag ceremony first every morning. After that, we are on the line going to our respective classrooms. If I am late? Well, I need to wait outside the gate of the school for the flag ceremony to finish. Then be the last on the line to be in the room. That is why I hate being late, I don´t like being the centre of attention.
There are 15 minutes break every 45 minutes of being in the classroom.
Isn´t that amazing? Kids don´t have to sit for an hour. The reason is that they want kids to have more on the playing method of learning than to focus on just the normal teaching method from a young age.
My kids´ school lasts 4-5 hours ONLY!
They are home latest 14:00 in the afternoon and a lot more time for family time, playing time or other hobbies.
They have a free lunch!
Students in Finland have free lunch and I was surprised the first time I got to know that. Actually, I came as a student in Finland too but my school isn´t covered anymore with free lunch. Only primary schools are and I was in the University of Applied Science already for my degree. Though it wasn´t free, it wasn´t so expensive either. It cost a little over 2 euros only for students which include a hot meal, salad, bread, juice/milk and sometimes dessert too.
The books and textbooks are free from schoo l.
The only tasks for parents are to have the books covered so it is not going to be damaged.
Schools are a way to introduce them to their hobbies.
I mentioned that they have plenty of time after school which makes it possible to have time for hobbies. I want them to try whatever hobby they feel like doing, their own choice. During summer they are into swimming and athlete school. In winter time is skiing and skating. The rest of the year they have the piano school, gymnastics and dance school. They also had been to a cooking club, art/craft club and floorball.
No ranking!
This is once again new to me because I am used to our education system that every year there is the ranking and awarding time for the honour students (students who have higher performance among the class). In here, no one knows who is the best student and who is the least in the class. Teachers are not allowed to even give that information.
Only own performance of the students to their own parents is allowed to share. I find it very interesting, in this way, no comparison and no pressure for students. They doen´t have to feel bad because he/she is less in the ranking. No pressure of getting high grades JUST because someone does better. They are more focus on learning and motivated to learn because they want to learn and not because of the ranking.
They don´t wear uniforms.
Teachers and students don´t have a uniform so no one knows from which school students are studying.
Last but not least, education here is free!
As I mentioned earlier, mostly children are in public school attending primary education and it is free.
In general, their education system here is so different than mine. I am happy that my kids are studying in here. All these amazing facts in Finnish primary education are great to experience but it is our own appreciation of studying that matters, wherever we are. If we appreciate what kind of education we are offered to have and study well then that is great for our own advantage.
Thank you for keeping with me in this long post!