Finland VS. British, American, Slavic and Turkish School System

I’ve been through many education systems. From home schooling to the Slavic education system, from British to the American and Turkish school system. So, I’ve been through a lot and I can definitely point out what Finland is doing differently.

First of all, when I visited the primary school in Finland, one of the things I noticed was, you cannot enter the school with shoes. I think it really starts from there. That type of thing we also had in my school at Slovakia. We were not allowed to proceed with normal shoes, we would change into our indoor shoes or socks and go inside the school. I was shocked when I saw that. It was familiar with me but I like the idea. It is more like, school is your house. So you respect it. Keep it clean. I think that is one of the most important parts of education in general. Respecting your environment.

One of the others things I noticed were the classes. You don’t just sit around. The classes are different, a lot of group activities and individual activities going on. So you wouldn’t just sit around. Also I found it similar to the American and British system in a way. You change classes for your lessons. I especially had this in Britain, we would change classes and even tables according to our abilities. And we would build up from there from the lowest table to the highest with our work.

Another thing I noticed is, there is school work but there aren’t exams that stress the children out. That was one of the things they didn’t have in the other school systems I grew up in. We would freak out. When I had asked the teacher at the Finnish school, I was told that they had exams but it was for the children to see where they were and where they had to be. Also there was a general exam but it was up to the school principal to have it or not. That was cool. Like really.

In the other systems, you are much pressurised. You need to be perfect with the exams and work you do. In Finland what I saw was, you could fail. Be a failure. It is okay. As long as you learn something from it. Which is true, if we don’t fail, how are we supposed to learn the right way? I think that is their success. They accept failure rather than be harsh about it. They accept it and say ‘’you learn from failure and it is okay to fail.’’ So, that is the key.

Another thing I saw was, children eating healthy meals at school. When I asked the children about their lunch, they had told me that they have milk and spinach pancakes. Not like any American system with burgers or British system with grease food. I think that is also a very important part in education. That was pretty interesting to hear. I was surprised.

Another key is the amount of playtime the children had. They were going out a lot and everyone is supposed to be out. Even if it is raining or snowing. The children were out playing. Which means more and more oxygen. Also along with this, I noticed that there was no school uniform. Which I guess has its own good or bad ways but, with no uniform and more comfortable clothes, I felt like children felt comfier, cosier and like home. I think that is the key. To feel like you are at home and learn things. I have had my fair share in uniforms and they aren’t the most comfortable things.

Overall, I believe that the key to being successful in Finland is, school is like home, you can be comfortable there while learning and there are a lot of different and interesting subjects to study. Nobody is different from each other and it is absolutely okay to not be perfect.