Re: [xmca] Finland

[Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net>]

The Guardian article: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/jul/01/education-michael-gove-finland-gcse 
is very interesting in fact! Jaana, Antti, Jaakko, and the other Finns 
on this list. What do you make of the analysis given in this article?
Andy

Jaana Pirkkalainen wrote:
> Hi,
>
> this is a comment on this topic. It seems a bit odd and strangely 
> funny to read this discussion on Finnish educational system. That's 
> beacause I myself have lived through the development (or 
> non-development) of it, first as a child and then as a mother.Not that 
> much has happend since my school years in the 1960's and -70's 
> comparing the exeperience of my son's path and struggling some ten 
> years back.
> Firstly one should distinguishe the political struggle for the change 
> of doubleschooling system during the 1960's and -70's. And then the 
> struggle tangled with teachers education.
> Until 1968 Finland had a doubleschooling system. Children entered 
> school at the age of seven (as still is the case) and went trhough for 
> next four grades together in "kansakoulu" (meaning some what like 
> nationschool). Then there was the split to either grammar school (in 
> Finnish oppikoulu) which were mostly private schools, with few 
> exceptions (state schools) and to "kansalaiskoulu" (no English 
> translation for that, meaning citizens school) which was a continuum 
> of "kansakoulu" for next four years.
> Grammar school was private school leading to higher education, and 
> "kansalaiskoulu" was towards vocational education. So working class 
> children went to "kansalaiskoulu" and then straight to work or 
> vocational education to become joiners, auto mechanics, waitresses and 
> so on. And the upper and middle class children went to grammar 
> schools, then to high scool and then to universites or second grade 
> vocational schools and became nurses, engineers and so on.
> 1968 law of Primary school was established and in 1972 started the 
> implementation of the law.
> But it was not the good will of the teachers, or professors of 
> education that made it happen. It was a strong leftist struggle for 
> equal rights for every kid to educate themselves, and also still the 
> postwar situation of the nation in some sense too. (Everybody of 
> course knows Finland's brother-in arms- relation with the Third Reich 
> and the defeat in 1944 and then peace treaty with the Soviet Union)
> The opposition for the primary school act was harsh, and the teachers 
> education was tangled with that backlash. The business elite, some 
> professors of education and right wing politicians set up a foundation 
> called Support Foundation for Free Schooling (Vapaan koulutuksen 
> tukisäätiö), which had its primary reestablish private schools, 
> testing and assesment. They did this by influencing the teachers 
> education system. The Foundation ceased operating in 1991. By then 
> they had been able to change the course of the development of Finnish 
> educational system at least in three levels. Firstly they were able to 
> intervene the selection of the students for teacher education in 
> universities, secondly they had a strong hold of the educational 
> departments and thirdly they managed to take over most of the 
> educational admiministration.
> This is a very short and brief overview of post-war Finland, the main 
> poin being that Finnish sosciety is still or again struggling the same 
> issues as back then. The romanticizing "branding" of Finland or its 
> educational system is *not* -- for many parts -- true today.Or has 
> ever been.
> Socioeconomical status and residential area are linked the overall 
> well being of children as they are all over the world. But what is 
> quite incompatible with the goals and intentions for the Primary 
> School Act in 1968 -- parents education still designate their 
> childrens educational and vocational path.
> So Finland with its educational system is not a dream land. Sorry to 
> disappoint you folks, the struggle goes on!
> - Jaana
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Andy Blunden*
Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/
Book: http://www.brill.nl/concepts
http://marxists.academia.edu/AndyBlunden