Senior New Era journalist Albertina Nakale interviewed Marika Matengu, the programme coordinator at the Embassy of Finland in Namibia, on the Finnish education system, which ranks among the best in the world.
NE: The Finnish education system is among the best in the world. What is the secret to your country’s success and how can Namibia reciprocate the same?
MM: It is important to recognise that the success of the Finnish education system cannot be taken out of context. Since Finland became independent in 1917, we have invested in building a welfare state that is based on principles of democracy.
There are many reasons why Finland’s education system is miles ahead in the battle to prepare children to live meaningful, informed and productive lives, but one of the biggest contributors was the establishment of a welfare state.
The broad-based taxation enables the functions of the welfare state to ensure everybody’s wellbeing. The country adequately satisfies the needs of its people to be employed, fed, and housed and to enjoy basic services, such as access to water, electricity and healthcare. The unemployed get an allowance and every Finnish parent gets a grant per child.
Education is free for everyone at all levels from pre-primary up to university degrees. Every child gets a free meal at school and transport for pupils living far away is free. We are taught from an early age that everyone is equal and deserves a decent life.
Only two percent of all schools are private, the other 98 percent are government schools. The welfare state gives a good framework for a strong education system, while education strengthens the welfare state and values that promote it. These two work hand in hand.
There are a couple of success factors that I could highlight from the Finnish experience at large. First of all, the profession of teachers is highly regarded in the society. Although they don’t get big salaries – a junior teacher earns what a mid-range civil servant gets – the high regard with which the teaching profession is viewed is one of the factors that make it so attractive. At the moment the teacher education is more difficult to access than for example medicine. Hence, the teacher student intake is very competitive.
Secondly, Finnish teachers are regarded as professionals in their own work. Hence, the national curriculum is given as a guideline which teachers have the freedom to interpret for the sake of quality. Another reason the profession is so popular is the level of freedom teachers are given to interpret the curriculum.
Education policy is the responsibility of the ministry of education and culture, and a national agency, the Finnish National Board of Education, is responsible for implementing the policy aims. But the allocation of funding, the recruitment of staff and local curriculums is the responsibility of the 300-odd municipalities and approximately 3,000 schools.
Teachers have abundant pedagogical autonomy: they decide their own teaching methods and the textbooks and materials they use. When the teachers get the curriculum document, there is even an e-tool which lets them write in blocks next to the descriptions how they are going to do it differently.
Thirdly, the cornerstone of our education system is an environment of light assessment and non-competitiveness. School inspectors were abolished in the 1990s and there is no external assessment of teachers. Instead of external assessment, schools and teachers have a strong focus on self-evaluation.
However, the national monitoring office tests pupils’ outcomes which are compared to teachers’ assessments of pupils to make sure they are within the same parameters. Furthermore, there is no annual national assessment of outcomes, only matric assessments, and assessments of subjects only happen every few years.
It is difficult to say what Namibia could learn from the Finnish system, since every system has to be considered through socio-cultural and historical lenses. But one lesson learnt from the Finnish experience is that more money into education does not necessarily mean improved quality of education. Finland has always invested significantly in education, but not as much as some European countries. Instead, we have tried to use the money in a way that facilitates learning of 21st century competencies. Furthermore, we have also minimised the expenses when it comes to tests and administration.
And over the years, one example of money well-invested has been school-feeding throughout from pre-primary until high school. The school-feeding has provided nutritious meals equally to everyone from urban cities to rural schools. When children’s basic needs are met, it will eventually have an impact on their overall school performance.
NE: Finland came from behind to become the world leader in student achievement. As a country, what are some of the school reforms that Namibia can apply from the Finnish example, especially with our grade 10 and 12s, as we have high degree of failure rates year-in-year-out?
MM: First of all, it would be important to understand why someone drops out or fails at grade 10 or 12. By the time a learner reaches grades 10 and 12, he or she has a long history of schooling. Whatever happened during the preceding years determines what happens when the learner takes exams on grade 10 and 12.
NE: Some Namibians often do not take vocational education as seriously as academic insitutions such as universities. How does the Finnish education system use or apply vocational training?
MM: Beyond the strong basic education that prevents school dropouts and failing at early stages, one important issue that I can highlight from the Finnish experience is that we have tried to minimise dead ends in the system. We do have learners who struggle academically to finish their school, but we also have lots of learners who are interested in moving to vocational education and to work life as soon as they can.
At present some 42 percent of ninth grade students (certificate received) continue immediately in vocational education and training. The scope of vocational qualifications is three years of study and each qualification includes at least half a year of on-the-job learning in workplaces.
Vocational qualifications are developed in cooperation with the world of work and other key stakeholders. There is a lot of research done in Finland that shows that it is very important to ensure that learners, who are either not interested or lack academic skills to continue to further their education beyond the compulsory 9 grades, will get to other educational or work avenues as fast as possible in order to prevent social ills in their lives in future.
In my view, people often consider educational avenues only as valuable as the work and salary that they are going to receive at the end of the day when they graduate for a specific profession or occupation. In Finland, vocational training is popular, because it provides a quick avenue to the job market.
At the moment, it is a greater challenge to find work as an academically-educated professional than a person who has undergone vocational training. The Finnish government has also actively promoted vocational education as a viable and successful careerpath that provides a highly skilled and knowledgeable workforce for the country, as well as well-paid jobs and entrepreneurship.
NE: They say Early Childhood Development (ECD) is vital to a learner’s success, what are some of the strategies that are used in Finland to ensure that ECD provides the necessary skills for a learner’s success when they get to higher levels such as high schools?
MM: First of all, we recognise parents as the primary caregivers of their children. Hence, the Finnish government provides very comprehensive maternity and paternity packages that enable parents to look after their children without losing their jobs or other employment benefits. This aspect arises from the basic functions of a welfare state.
Secondly, our teachers, including those who are teaching the youngest children, are highly-qualified. You can find doctors teaching children in kindergartens, although the majority of teachers have either Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees.
Thirdly, the academic skills development during early education is not overemphasised. Instead, children are taught to love learning, love schooling, and use their imagination and curiosity. Special needs’ students learn in regular classrooms.
Low achievers improve by having peers to look up to, while the high achievers learn about collaboration and support. Our learners spend much less time in classrooms than in other countries. Early childhood care aims to support children’s balanced growth, development and learning. Teaching is done by highly qualified teachers and learning is made to be fun through play.
* Marika Matengu is a PhD student at the University of Oulu, Finland. Her doctoral thesis explores the quality of pre-primary education in marginalised communities in Namibia. She works at the Embassy of Finland as the Coordinator of the Fund for Local Cooperation.