Why do Finland's schools get the best results?

Last year more than 100 foreign delegations and governments visited Helsinki, hoping to learn the secret of their schools' success. Finland's schools score consistently at the top of world rankings, yet the pupils have the fewest number of class hours in the developed world. In 2006, Finland's pupils scored the highest average results in science and reading in the whole of the developed world. In the OECD's exams for 15 year-olds, known as PISA, they also came second in maths, beaten only by teenagers in South Korea. This isn't a one-off: in previous PISA tests Finland also came out top. The Finnish philosophy with education is that everyone has something to contribute and those who struggle in certain subjects should not be left behind.
A tactic used in virtually every lesson is the provision of an additional teacher who helps those who struggle in a particular subject. But the pupils are all kept in the same classroom, regardless of their ability in that particular subject.
Finland's Education Minister, Henna Virkkunen is proud of her country's record but her next goal is to target the brightest pupils.
''The Finnish system supports very much those pupils who have learning difficulties but we have to pay more attention also to those pupils who are very talented. Now we have started a pilot project about how to support those pupils who are very gifted in certain areas.''
The BBC's Tom Burridge talks to Henna Virkkunen, the Minister of Education and Science in Finland.
Late learners:
According to the OECD, Finnish children spend the fewest number of hours in the classroom in the developed world.
This reflects another important theme of Finnish education.
Primary and secondary schooling is combined, so the pupils don't have to change schools at age 13. They avoid a potentially disruptive transition from one school to another.Teacher Marjaana Arovaara-Heikkinen believes keeping the same pupils in her classroom for several years also makes her job a lot easier.
''I'm like growing up with my children, I see the problems they have when they are small. And now after five years, I still see and know what has happened in their youth, what are the best things they can do. I tell them I'm like their school mother.''
Children in Finland only start main school at age seven. The idea is that before then they learn best when they're playing and by the time they finally get to school they are keen to start learning.
Less is more:
Finnish parents obviously claim some credit for the impressive school results. There is a culture of reading with the kids at home and families have regular contact with their children's teachers.
Teaching is a prestigious career in Finland. Teachers are highly valued and teaching standards are high.
The educational system's success in Finland seems to be part cultural. Pupils study in a relaxed and informal atmosphere.
Finland also has low levels of immigration. So when pupils start school the majority have Finnish as their native language, eliminating an obstacle that other societies often face.
The system's success is built on the idea of less can be more. There is an emphasis on relaxed schools, free from political prescriptions. This combination, they believe, means that no child is left behind.

By Tom Burridge
BBC World News America, Helsinki

MOE on the Right Track? Learn from Finland - BBC Report

An interesting report by BBC on Finland education system success
and Jack Neo's Singapore education " I Not Stupid" .

Finland by BBC : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlYHWpRR4yc&feature=player_embedded
Singapore by Jack Neo : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnYYNcwierU&feature=player_embedded

Is Singapore MOE on the right track?

Finland & Singapore MOE Comparison

Finland : F
Singapore : S

F: all schools the same, no comparison and competition among schools
S: elite schools, highly competitive with streaming & ranking

F: primary & secondary schools are merged into single school
S: primary & secondary separated with exception of some mission schools

F: same teacher teaching pupils a few years, excellent teacher-pupils relationships
S: relief teachers quite common - teach a few months and moved on

F : by age 13 years old, average pupils mastered 4th foreign language
S: struggling with 2nd language which is our mother tongue, pupils hate to learn this language (Mandarin), can't speak any dialects

F : first lesson of the day : Relax (a relaxed school philosophy), brighter and weaker pupils in the same class
S : streaming into different classes based on academic performance

F : success measurement: no winner or losers, brighter pupils help weakers pupils,encourage team-based learning, not just individual marks/grades
S: grade, marks, streaming

F: population : 5.3 millions
S: population : 5 millions

F : Nobel Prize : 4
S : Nobel Prize : None

F : First World (Internationally recognised)
S : First World (?)

Singapore Built Truly to Last

I have a dream - a Singapore that is built truly to last. My faith is that we cannot truly call Singapore a democratic nation unless we work hard together, unless we perfect our political system by accepting that we may have different political beliefs, but we hold common hope and future. We may not have come
from the same upbringing, religious faith or race, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better tomorrow for our children and grandchildren. We want to continue the challenging long march of those who had come before us. It should be a lifelong march for a more equal, caring, forgiving and prosperous Singapore, one with a multi-party political system that is able to withstand trials and time, a system of governance based on collective leadership and truly concensus-based decision making process not just within or by one political party - The People's Action Party (PAP). A stable and peaceful rise of multi-parties politics is healthy for Singapore ’s long term political stability and economic growth. Only then, Singapore is built truly to last! - Dr John Yam, Ph.D.

新加坡‎式的三民主義: 民奮主義、民權主義和民生主義

Principle of Mínzú is commonly rendered as nationalism, literally means the People's relation or government of the People.
Principle of Mínquán is usually translated as democracy; the People's power or government by the People.
Principle of Mínshēng is sometimes translated as the People's welfare/livelihood, Government for the People, or even socialism.
Singapore being a multi-racial country, nationalism is not very suitable. Instead of nationalism, Patriotism will be more relevant for Singapore, hence
Principle of Mínzú should be replaced by Patriotism (民奮主義, Mínfen Zhǔyì).

杰出的爱国主义者和民族英雄、中国民主革命的伟大革命思想先行者
- 國父孫中山

Late President Ong Teng Cheong

With the passing away of Dr Goh Keng Swee last week and the state funeral
that the government plans for him this Sunday, I wish to remind all Singaporeans of our late President Ong Teng Cheong who also equally deserved this highest honor, as ex-deputy prime minister and people elected President of Singapore.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-8HYcuNrG4&feature=related
Late HE President ONG , I was one of son
of our land that dedicated moment of silence in remembrance of you
this year - 8th anniversary February 8, 2002,
at the age of 66 from Lymphoma at home at 8:14 pm.
Forever in our hearts.
Mr Ong, you have done a great deal for Singapore as Cabinet Minister,
Deputy Prime Minister and People Elected President of our Nation!
God bless your children family and their generations to come.
History will remember your achievements
though most people take out your credit now.
I remember you as the Singapore President
with the most empathy and the real People's President.
往事难忘 温馨如昨 依然荡漾心头
春去春回 年年如梦 但愿你勿忘我
别时匆匆 互道珍重 骊歌声声情浓
年华已逝 友情如昨 依然常系心头
花开花落 几番如梦 但愿你勿忘我

Thank you Dr Goh Keng Swee! May your Soul rest in Peace...

May Dr Goh Keng Swee Rest in Peace!
You have done a great deal for Singapore as Deputy Prime Minister and cabinet minister, especially as minister of education. I am one of those who greatly benefitted from your education policy and programme you implemented. May God bless your family and children.

Albert Einstein Quotes on Education

Albert Einstein Quotes on Education
The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.
Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
Most teachers waste their time by asking questions which are intended to discover
what a pupil does not know, whereas the true art of questioning has for its purpose
to discover what the pupil knows or is capable of knowing.
Never regard your study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity
to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm
of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the
community to which your later work belongs.
Humiliation and mental oppression by ignorant and selfish teachers wreak
havoc in the youthful mind that can never be undone and often exert a
baleful influence in later life.
The aim (of education) must be the training of independently acting
and thinking individuals who, however, can see in the service to the
community their highest life achievement.
Teaching should be such that what is offered is
perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty.

Bertrand Russell on Education and Discipline

The submissive lose initiative, both in thought and action; moreover, the anger generated by the feeling of being thwarted tends to find an outlet in bullying those who are weaker. That is why tyrannical institutions are self-perpetuating: what a man has suffered from his father he inflicts upon his son, and the humiliations which he remembers having endured at his public school he passes on to Ònatives" when he becomes an empire-builder. Thus an unduly authoritative education turns the pupils into timid tyrants, incapable of either claiming or tolerating originality in word or deed. The effect upon the educators is even worse: they tend to become sadistic disciplinarians, glad to inspire terror, and content to inspire nothing else. As these men represent knowledge, the pupils acquire a horror of knowledge, which, among the English upper-class, is supposed to be part of human nature, but is really part of the well-grounded hatred of the authoritarian pedagogue.

Rebels, on the other hand,, though they may be necessary, can hardly be just to what exists. Moreover, there are many ways of rebelling, and only a small minority of these are wise. Galileo was a rebel and was wise; believers in the flat-earth theory are equally rebels, but are foolish. There is a great danger in the tendency to suppose that opposition to authority is essentially meritorious and that unconventional opinions are bound to be correct: no useful purpose is served by smashing lamp-posts or maintaining Shakespeare to be no poet. Yet this excessive rebelliousness is often the effect that too much authority has on spirited pupils. And when rebels become educators, they sometimes encourage defiance in their pupils, for whom at the same time they are trying to produce a perfect environment, although these two aims are scarcely compatible.

What is wanted is neither submissiveness nor rebellion, but good nature, and general friendliness both to people and to new ideas. These qualities are due in part to physical causes, to which old-fashioned educators paid too little attention; but they are due still more to freedom from the feeling of baffled impotence which arises when vital impulses are thwarted. If the young are to grow into friendly adults, it is necessary, in most cases, that they should feel their environment friendly. This requires that there should be a certain sympathy with the child's important desires, and not merely an attempt to use him for some abstract end such the greatness of one's country. And, in teaching, every attempt should be made to cause the pupil to feel that it is worth his while to know what is being taught-at least when this is true. When the pupil co-operates willingly, he learns twice as fast and with half the fatigue. All these are valid reasons for a very great degree of freedom.

MOE Lacking Moral Education & Character Development - 百年樹仁

All the debates and media reports about Mother Tongue weightage, streaming, ranking, international awards winning, etc by MOE schools. Moral education and character developments seem lacking which is much needed with the increased undergrad suicide rate and other social ills including the rugby match gang fight between ACS and Saint Andrew School last month. Since January-April this year alone, five undergrads took their lives, jumping from HDB flats. Not sure if family and relationship issues the only root causes as reported by the Shin Min Daily. Three from NTU, one from NUS and one from Temasek Poly. The MOE eudcation system is overly focused on performance ranking, academic achievement and the acquisition of skills to prepare students for the rat race and paper chase. The root causes of all these social ills - early streaming, ranking and branding of our schools.

Mother Tongue Change Weightage in PSLE Exam

I refer to comment by Mr Chen Shi Ping Zaobao reader dated 24th April, 2010.
MOE 2009 PSLE results, % pupils who "A" & "A*":
English 43.9
Chinese 81.1
Maths. 43.3
Science. 42.6
Assuming the above data is accurate, Chinese language is our pupils
best performing subject, why then the need to change as proposed by Dr Ng Eng Hen on
Chinese Language PSLE score weightage?
More puzzling, despite with a 81.1 percent, significantly higher than the
other three subjects, why so many kids these days " hated" to learn Chinese and great discussion going on with challenges in the learning of Mandarin.
I thought Singapore pupils scored among top in the world ranking (Singapore ranked 4th among 45 education systems”- Progress in International Reading Literacy Study -PIRLS, 2006)reported in Maths and Science - why aren't they performing better in Chinese Language. Guess, it's all about marking standard setting
and statistical moderation to create a more presentable "big picture".
Unknowingly, the MOE is confusing the public here - damage will be done to a generation of Singaporeans. Education minister needs to clarify the statistic and the new policy on reduced PSLE weightage on Mother Tongue.

Bound to Live by the Light that I have - Proverbs/ 箴 言 31 : 8-9

Proverbs 31:8-9
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those who
are perishing. Yes speak up for the poor and the helpless, and see that they get justice."
箴 言
31:8 你 当 为 哑 吧 （ 或 作 不 能 自 辨 的 ） 开 口 ， 为 一 切 孤 独 的 伸 冤 。
31:9 你 当 开 口 按 公 义 判 断 ， 为 困 苦 和 穷 乏 的 辨 屈 。

Workers' Party North Eastern Area House Visit 6th May

改变华文小六会考比重: 井底蛙的竞争

具有争议性的小六会考报告, 我针对陳思平读者在2010年4月24日的早报上的评论：2009年教育部小六会考成绩, A 和 A*的百份率比例

英文 43.9

数学 43.3

科学 42.6

华文 81.1

假设以上的数据是准确的，那么华文其实是我们学生众多学科中成绩最好的一门。那为什么有必要像黄永宏部長所建议改变华文在小六会考的比重呢？更令人不解的是，尽管有81.1% 的小学生的华文取得了A 和 A*的百份率， 明显高出其他三门学科，可为什么现在却有这么多的学子讨厌学习华文，以及社会有关华文太难学的热烈讨论。我想华文成绩好数据的原因是因为教育部通过设置批改标准与统计学修正给我们的一个幻觉。我想新加坡学生能在世界数学和科学成绩排名中名列前茅，为什么我们学习华文出了这么多问题呢？不知不觉的教育部是在加深对下一代新加坡人学华语根基的损害。让我们的华文水平每况愈下！真正的祸根是出自以多年來教育部的教育体制: 分流，学分和精英制度，我们的教育制度需要的不是淘汰，适者生存。我擔心教育部多年來的错误嚴重的话是否会造成我們下一代中华文化的滅絕。拒绝分流！

Parents and pupils are worried and struggling

to cope with our highly stressed school system that's

arised due to MOE aggressive streaming at too young an age

of our pupils, branding and ranking of schools - due to elitism in

MOE education system. Elitism in the education system triggers competition at all levels, among pupils, classes, teachers, principals, schools and parents. This quest to be the best inevitably results in an over emphasis on ranking. Instead of teaching and learning, schools are focused on comparing and competing. Aggressive streaming done at too young an age kill alot of late developers and potential talents. Everyone wants only top results. Many in this society only narrowly focus on getting these results at the expense of learning. This is competition in a well. In Mandarin, it's :井底蛙的竞争.