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Finland is generally recognized as one of the world’s highest performing nations. Over the past decade, Finnish students have been high performers on the international PISA exams.
In Finnish schools, students never take a standardized test. How is their progress assessed? By their teachers.
Finnish educators say that the key totheir success is the high quality of their teachers. Not just a star here and there, but the profession as a whole has high standards for entry and for preparation. There are no shortcuts o becoming a teacher in Finland. Teachers are highly respected, just as much as other professions.
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We need to create a culture that respects the teaching profession as much as any other as will create our future leaders.
I applaud the approach on education taken by Finland. Staying clear of a content-driven, test-based system is clearly the way to go based on their success rate! Relying on standardized testing to measure students’ success only demoralizes the ability of the students (especially those who are not good test-takers), and even the teachers since they too are judged and evaluated based on how their students perform. Testing tolerance simply strips children of their confidence and teachers of their ability to creatively teach, and as a result disables children from achieving their maximum potential.
The respect that Finnish teachers have is also drastically different to that of the U.S. where the notorious phrase is, “those can’t do, teach.” The enforcement of educators having a Masters degree and undergoing extensive training for entry and preparation seems to be the reason why that level of respect is upheld. The fact that only one of ten teachers is accepted to teacher colleges is a clear indication of the rigour and competitiveness of the program. This type of structure ensures that only the best of the best become teachers of the future leaders of the nation.