Global Research – by Bright Side
Finland’s education system is considered one of the best in the world. In international ratings, it’s always in the top ten. However, the authorities there aren’t ready to rest on their laurels, and they’ve decided to carry through a real revolution in their school system.
Finnish officials want to remove school subjects from the curriculum. There will no longer be any classes in physics, math, literature, history, or geography.
The head of the Department of Education in Helsinki, Marjo Kyllonen, explained the changes:
“There are schools that are teaching in the old-fashioned way which was of benefit in the beginning of the 1900s — but the needs are not the same, and we need something fit for the 21st century.“
Instead of individual subjects, students will study events and phenomena in an interdisciplinary format. For example, the Second World War will be examined from the perspective of history, geography, and math. And by taking the course ”Working in a Cafe,” students will absorb a whole body of knowledge about the English language, economics, and communication skills.
This system will be introduced for senior students, beginning at the age of 16. The general idea is that the students ought to choose for themselves which topic or phenomenon they want to study, bearing in mind their ambitions for the future and their capabilities. In this way, no student will have to pass through an entire course on physics or chemistry while all the time thinking to themselves “What do I need to know this for?”
The traditional format of teacher-pupil communication is also going to change. Students will no longer sit behind school desks and wait anxiously to be called upon to answer a question. Instead, they will work together in small groups to discuss problems.
The Finnish education system encourages collective work, which is why the changes will also affect teachers. The school reform will require a great deal of cooperation between teachers of different subjects. Around 70% of teachers in Helsinki have already undertaken preparatory work in line with the new system for presenting information, and, as a result, they’ll get a pay increase.
The changes are expected to be complete by 2020.
The original source of this article is Bright Side
Copyright © Bright Side, Bright Side, 2017
Finland plays the “Socialist academia indoctrination end game”.
I heard about this method when I was teaching math in Presidio, Texas, a border town across from Ojinaga, Mexico. Back in the early 1990s! Some homeschoolers, known as “unschoolers” use the same methodology. Folk, this is really nothing new, been around likely since the late 1980s. It could work if used properly, but not in a socialist country like Finland! Methinks the Finnish govt., which has supposedly a top education system, is “doing what it’s told” if you know what I mean.
I just remembered this from when I got my Counselor certification– M.Ed. Counselor–this teaching methodology originates with a Psychology “therapy” method invented by William Glasser in the 1970s called “Reality therapy”–this teaching method is directly based on this. The problem is “reality therapy” discourages individuality, and collective bahavior (the teaching is done in groups, that is, groupthink.) Yep, perfect for Finland. And if the crazy leftists have their way, it’ll be “mandated” here soon enough (I guess Common Crap didn’t work well enough!)
I worked with a Fin and their education puts ours to shame. They had to master Finish, English, take one European language and some Russian before allowed to graduate. Also if they flunked the end year test, they took the entire year over.