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.
https://brightside.me/wonder-curiosities/finland-will-become-the-first-country-in-the-world-to-get-rid-of-all-school-subjects-259910/
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.
Sounds interesting. Hopefully their grand experiment will work out.
>>122491
>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?”
Well that should be interesting to watch
>>122560
If this works I'd be really excited for future changes abroad.
>>122567
think of it this way, what if you were studying math and you looked at the mathematic problems and history of ww2, what issues physicists of the time were examining and trying to figure out.
What do I need this for? Well look at these very real problems that we had to figure out in the past building bridges, tanks, bombs etc. Pretty simple. They get to learn about an important part of history whatever it may be, but they will still work in their own self interest toward their chosen field.
>>122490
this seems like a great idea. The most complicated subjects are all interdisciplinary.
Wish something like this was in my later high school years.
>>122490
This seems to be a great idea. Hope it will prove succesful.
Will flop
>>122490
The saying "multitasking is the opportunity to screw up multiple things is at one time" comes to mind with this idea. Personally seems to be a better idea as a course vs a teaching methodology.
Seems closer to what education really used to be like before industrialization.
>>122653
Or it's reinforcing since multitasking is about doing completely different things at the same time.
>>122624
What makes you say that?
>>122654
>Seems closer to what education really used to be like before industrialization.
I'm actually reminded of "social studies".
I'm a 52 year old American, and I never had a history, civics or geography class.
Instead we had "social studies" that encompassed almost everything except math, science and English.
Will probably make a bigger gap between those who care and put forth effort and those that don't, which will make more welfare babbies but it'll be good for the achievers.
The US couldn't do this because it would be racist against the black kids that don't try
More evidence we're rapidly moving past the "job" paradigm
http://nautil.us/blog/civilization-is-built-on-code
>By the 20th century, the continued advance of code seemed to necessitate the creation of government bureaucracies and large corporations that employed vast numbers of people. These organizations executed code of sufficient complexity that it was beyond the capacity of any single individual to master. To structure work within such large, complex organizations, humans began to define occupations in terms of specific task-defined roles rather than by artisanal trades, as had been the case throughout human history. We came to call these task-defined roles “jobs.”
>>122560
>>122569
>>122578
this is actually not new, there's a little Christian school in little old new zealand that does this, what is new is the scale, rolling this methodology out to a whole country
this school is kinda our little darling, and it produces some of the brightest kids I've ever met, however their defining characteristic isn't how intelligent they are, but how enthusiastic they all are about their education
I am really glad to see this methodology spreading because given the results I've seen, this is how I think education should be done
>>122490
Well people have been asking for this for years. Will be a good case study in 10 years to see if it works or if it backfires.
I personally think if you give liberated kids too much freedom they'll choose the easiest path but I'm willing to be corrected.
>>122874
nah, it has more to do with the fact that getting a job is all that matters at this point, to the point where being well rounded gains you nothing, schools all over the world are focused on purpose-building young children into specializations by the time they are 16 or younger. It increases the working life of the population, reduces NEETS, and saves on higher education.
>>122930
You're assuming they really have a choice. Think back to your own schooling, if you ever found yourself in any fast track, it's because you excelled in a few subjects early on and were convinced/forced to do something they assured you was in your best interest (which they are probably right about). Kids dont really have as much choice as you think, they can certainly try to take remedial math- and I'm sure some succeed, but it's pretty easy to pressure a kid. I was told I would be starving poor for the rest of my life if I didnt pursue college.
>>122940
I'm from Canada. We were all considered special snowflakes. Even all the Somali immigrants who loitered in the hallways and took impromptu field trips to other schools to fight their students.
Maybe my experience was different than average but unless you were Asian or a gifted white everyone wanted to do as little work as possible. I just think this is something only good on paper or provided your students are HIGHLY motivated. I would love to see this tested out in an inner city school because as I mentioned I'm willing to find out if I'm wrong. Not like some of those kids had any future outside of the courtroom anyways.
>>122940
>getting a job is all that matters at this point
And why is that? Because the job market is becoming more competitive. And why is that? Because there are fewer (good) jobs. This trend will continue.
>>122805
Not him, but they're betting that high schoolers will know what they should be studying and will opt for useful courses instead of doing easy shit.
HS isn't meant to be like college anyway. K-12 is GENERAL education. The whole point is to ensure that the student has the education they need to tackle a wide variety of jobs or future educational opportunities after they graduate. Telling 17 year olds that they have to specialize sooner is asinine.
The one subject taught should be science. It lends itself pretty well to all other subjects. You'll get math, history, vocabulary, writing, reading, and even art from lots of topics within Science.
>>122490
I think teaching in the abstract is very hard for children to learn so I support this, however, I still think it should be formalized. It's a tricky thing to balance.
This seems like a really good idea. It not only allows one to focus on whatever subject is their best/favorite but it allows them to solve problems in more fleshed-out environment. For example:
Learning economic theory is one thing, but learning about economics in the context of WW2 is a way to really see it in action. Applying knowledge to larger problems gives you context on the laws/rules of the field, gives you job-like experience of applying it, and gives more motivated/gifted students the ability to explore further problems/exercises (due to the scale of the problem)
>>122490
This is a bad idea, At least keep history math and literature.
The populace needs to know some abstract thought processes and how to communicate where they came from so they don't end up repeating the same mistakes.
>>122994
>but they're betting that high schoolers will know what they should be studying and will opt for useful courses instead of doing easy shit
basically this. Then again, you can chain courses in a certain way and promise the student that at the end of that chain they will be ready to attend certain specific university faculty.
It amazes me how the country with the best education seems to have the largest collection of dumb people. Ever talked to a Finn before?
People have told me it's because of how prevalent alcoholism is there.
>>122490
The real question is, why schools are eveen a thing still?
Most teachers don't give a shit and don't even know how to actually teach as it's a last resort job and all they do is just following the text book depending on the programs given out by the ministry of education, why not just have standardized courses through pre-recorded videos instead? With public examination each ever X weeks/month.
This seems fucking terrible, and the sort of thing the common-core retards here would like.
>>123673
>talking shit about the worldwide tithe budget half the size of military's in the hands of the few
Sssssh, just let your energy be drained, it's for the children, do you hate children? You're a monster for asking that question, fool
more education = more power
>>122994
And their argument is that your thinking's are old school. Students today put forth no thought on what they want to do until it's time to pick a college. This is a bold move on their part, I agree, but your argument that it's asinine to have a student begin focusing on what they want to do for the rest of their life is the core problem with most education systems.
>For example, the Second World War will beexamined from the perspective ofhistory, geography, and math.
From the perspective of math? I'm honestly curious onto what would it look like
>>122490
>brightside.me
From the "about" section I can't quite tell if it's a parody site or not, but the story itself is real, yet it's been known for a long long time.
Actual source:
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/finland-schools-subjects-are-out-and-topics-are-in-as-country-reforms-its-education-system-10123911.html
The replace-all-classes-with-interdisciplinary model has been a part of Montessori and other alternative school systems in the US and hasn't hurt k-8 education in a measurable way in technical subjects for those students. Thru 12, however, you need to have standards to qualify for international universities and such, using things like IB, and so hopefully this just means a few interdisciplinary courses side-by-side with the math and science needed to actually get a future in tech. Continental European schools have kids make decisions to specialize really early anyway, but most have a recovery system if you fuck up.
>>122490
I've been saying this sort of thing should've been done at the high school level in Texas for a while. So many students are learning things that aren't applicable to their life after high school, and it's creating a giant drain on them due to the monotony of it. For instance, four years of math, history, english, and science are required, along with three years of spanish and two years of athletics. The majority of students do not need to know how to do pre-calculus, explain the details of the war of 1812, or write a 4000 word essay on the topic of Mice and Men.
Setting up the high school time to provide focused training on a vocation that's useful to the student would be a far better use of their time. Already, several factories, oil field companies, and generally any large industry are known to take fresh high-school graduates and pay for their vocational training if they agree to work with them for so many years, so why not speed things up and let the students start learning in secondary school?
I had spent my last year of high school working as an IT helpdesk guy for six hours a day (I'd report for the first few morning courses I was still taking, Band, Calculus, English, and Physics), and I learned more about the IT industry there than I did all throughout college even, let alone high school.
>>122837
I'd say one of the biggest flaws of the system is locking a student in to a chosen career path. When you're 14, you're probably not sure what you want to do or just how capable you actually are. It's not too uncommon for even college graduates to look back and say "I really hate doing this, why did I get this degree?" so with high school students, that's very likely to increase.
For instance, if a student decides they want to go into nursing and simply can't hack it later on, they would now need to retrain for another vocation, whereas the current system creates a base of knowledge that could theoretically be used to bounce to most jobs with ease.
>>123869
>Setting up the high school time to provide focused training on a vocation that's useful to the student would be a far better use of their time. Already, several factories, oil field companies, and generally any large industry are known to take fresh high-school graduates and pay for their vocational training if they agree to work with them for so many years, so why not speed things up and let the students start learning in secondary school?
That would be very useful and practical.
>>122930
We had many kids who'd choose the easiest, bare minimum paths to graduation in high school back when I was going, most of them did it out of laziness. And even then, myself, I only took the advanced courses for the prestige offered of graduating with honors, not because I had any interest in learning the majority of what was offered.
There's not a whole lot you can do to convince lazy students that learning as much as they can now is in their best interest, when you're a teenager, you tend to think in the here and now.