Let's be honest guys Finland is kind of school's we all wish for our kids to have or for us to have but .. We aren't that lucky

They would leave, because they would be paid far less, work longer hours, receive no support from school administrators, boards, parents.

When I have kids I’m moving to Finland for their education.

I do not think anything significant would change. Overall ambiance, culture and mind sets must change too. For example, in Finnish schools there is flexibility, assessments are personalized and teachers plan according to the needs of students.

If Finland's greatest teachers taught in the U.S., they would soon be devalued, demoralized, and have all of their passion micromanaged out of them, be forced to teach to the test, and soon feel like failures😢

When I worked in Finland for a summer and people found out I was a teacher I was given the highest respect. In the US I had developed a program that became the top program in CA in what I taught. In my third year of teaching some people came from the state and some universities to spend some time observing and speaking with some of my students. As a student I had gone to one of the top schools in the world. As a result of what I learned I wanted my students to enjoy the same experience I had. Upon graduation from college I was able to get a job at a highs school that had a record of 2/3 of the students dropping out of school. While I taught the state told me that I had not had one student drop out of school. Most of my students worked in a vocation after they graduated from high school. while I was in Finland people told me that if I would learn the language I could get a job teaching and be paid more than a university professor because or my education and qualifications. The Finn culture prizes education while the US does not nearly as much. Many years later I taught at a few universities in the Midwest and was paid quite well. If I had taught in WA or CA I would have received a 25-33% in pay simply because of collective bargaining. In the Midwest I negotiated my wages.

Seems like Finland has an excellent system. I've noticed the school systems that produce the most accomplished students are those in which teachers are the most highly respected - Northern Europe and East Asia in particular. If a child or his/her parents look at a teacher and thinks "you're just a teacher" and it's considered a job for those who couldn't make it in the adult world, then there is no hope. But I remember, even within my high school (which was known as an excellent private school), there were some teachers who gained more respect than others. And I think just one teacher can actually make a difference. My favourite teacher of all time (Mrs Weatherall/History) was my toughest - and many students just wouldn't take her classes because she was so tough - she actually scared students. The first paper our class had to write, everyone failed except one girl who got a "D". Mrs Weatherall was so disappointed as she was tossing the papers back at us she said "It looks like I'm not only going to have to teach you history, but how to write as well". From then on, we had to provide very clear, detailed outlines for our papers and test essays. With that she taught me/us how to structure our minds and present in a clear orderly fashion, thinking through a paper/essay clearly before starting to write, backing up our statements with facts and evidence in a logical manner, etc. I use what she taught me frequently to this day - I think differently. There were all sort of rumours about her - like she was the only female who drove a tank in WW2 - or that she attended the Potsdam Accord with a briefcase chained to her wrist and a button that would detonate the briefcase if someone tried to take it. As she would teach, there were a couple times that she did comment that the history book was close, but actually blah, blah, blah... The history books may have known what was agreed, but she knew what the different leaders argued before agreeing and she knew because she was in the room when it happened (even though these things were not reported). Students avoided her classes and those who took her classes struggled to live up to her expectations, but she got us there - we were all better for her - and eventually I earned my "A". So much respect and admiration for that incredible woman!

The Finish teachers would quit within a week because of the abysnal curriculums, resources and lack of funding and respect for teachers in the U.K schools

It is so important to consider the value, insight, and future of each individual student. Educators who are focused on learning and growth rather than test scores are bound to be more influential and beneficial to their students.

Oh hell... all you people either idealizing the Finnish educational system/teachers or calling them unfit for any other country because the students are better over here?? Are both still giving Finland way more credit than it's due. Finland isn't a miraculous place where everything is fantastic, the students are angelic and respectful and the teachers sole reason for living is to teach their students all they need to live their life. Every school has difficult students, being a Finn doesn't automatically make you a model student entusiastic to learn and absorb absolutely everything in every class. I speak only from my own experience, sure, but in my secondary school we had fire alarms, bullying, somebody stupid enough to flood the toilets just for the heck of it, police called multiple times ect. all of these are normal things that teachers just have to deal with when dealing with teenagers. Just as there are diffucult students, even in Finland there are people who are unfit for teaching. Teachers who can't stand the ridicule or the uncaringness of their students or simply don't understand their needs, and end up tired and uncaring. However they started out as. Finland isn't a "holy land" of education, at least when it comes to our additude to it, but we do offer equal oppotunity to all. With everyone OFFERED the best our country has, there's just bound to be more success in all. Whatever the reality of it might be, it's certainly not our nationality alone that makes us so "great."

Immigration or no immigration , education in a country can only be good if teachers are held in high esteem within the society. And are trained and paid well. Their place in the social hierarchy matters the most. If you treat them as trash, you will only get that! There are good and bad teachers in every country! Finland has very good administrators especially in the education domain. That is why they have good teachers and a good education system!

This is amazing. We need to keep teachers at the school instead of leaving the profession or going to different schools every few years. It's about the whole culture, cultural value and philosophy about developing people, not test scores. There is no shortcut.

It has always been hard to get a teacher diploma here in Finland. When I started my studies in 1985 in TAIK (nowadays Aalto university), there was 430 students applying for the first test to become Art-teachers. Finally it was only 36 students that got accepted. Then followed 5,5 years of studying art. About 80-90% of the time was pure practical learning (painting, life model drawing, clay, glass making, how to make paper, lithography, dry needle, photography, video and more). Rest of the time was all about education, different theories and acting in real schools as teachers. I loved that big chunk of practical learning. When I loved it, I just wanted to share it with my students. I feel the same today. Teaching over 30 years in the same school, has just made it feel like a second home. I try to make my lessons as nice for the students as possible. Background music and really good quality of brushes and other materials. Good paper quality is also important. As a teacher here in Finland we can make the decisions what material to use our selves. I have a rule for myself that I won't put any material in front of my students, that I wouldn't use myself in my art. They do appreciate it. If you have a bad working brush, that doesn't work, you will hate Art. If the material works with you, you love it. I love Art, I love teaching and my students notice it. They will like it too. That's how it works in Finland (for me anyway).😅

Great analysis! I think other countries falter in FULLY adopting Finland’s education model BECAUSE of Finland’s equality of resource distribution. Fair, free, safe, healthy systems, buildings, facilities.

In our local high school in a typical suburban setting, there are probably 10 Asian kids. The school is prominently white and 25% black and Hispanic. For two years Asian kids have been the valedictorian and salutatorian. When you understand why that is happening you will understand that the 'problem with our schools' isn't a problem with our schools.

I think if teachers would be allowed to work more closely with administrators in deciding what curriculum should be implemented in the classroom, you would get better results. I think our curriculum in the United States is "one size fits all". There should be a way to individualize the curriculum to fit the student. Thanks for your input. We need a real world wide discussion on the philosophy of education.

My daughter lives in Finland. This is what she said in her email this week. "We got to do a school presentation on American Christmas traditions. The students were so good!! It was insane how peaceful they were. The teacher said like two words when the kids were starting to whisper and then they were quiet again. But they were way cute 5th graders. At the end of the presentation they performed the nativity for us! It is cool because here there's a religion hour and they all read the bible or other religious texts. They read from the bible while they did the nativity for us. " Maybe this is what makes a difference.

Fascinating talk - as a British teacher, I’m learning a lot about the Finnish education system. I really appreciate the focus on teacher education, personalised teaching and assessment - something I want to focus on more with my learners. Thank you Finland 🙏🙏

Great teachers help especially for slower learning students. But 85% of outcomes are all about the parents - teaching at home and expectations of their children.

I am lucky to have spent a year in Finnish schools lukio and yliopuisto.

Thank You sir and congratulations to Veera!

I’m finnish and I went to school in America as well. and the difference in school system is huge. Well first off single motherhood and culture is different.

8,500 of the best and brightest apply, and they take 750. Right off the bat, you have a cohort that is exceptional, among the exceptional. Then five to six years of training in a research setting. Here in the USA, schools of education have some of the lowest criteria for acceptance in that field of study. Eye opening.

This is such an inspiring video to watch. I do believe it is true that we need to make sure we have good/passionate teachers in our school systems, but once we get those good/passionate teachers, we must nurture, support, and inspire them. In the U.S. we are so concerned with test scores that we have allowed millions of children get left behind. The No Child Left Behind act just made it worse. We don't inspire the next generation to want to become teachers because of this mentality we created. Heck, we don't even inspire students to want to come to school. Who wants to attend school when you don't learn, teach to a test, and worry about scores and data than students' well-being? I have been teaching for 15 years, I can tell you whether a student learned a concept just by watching, working, and listening to them. I don't need a test to know whether a student learned the concept of telling time. If the student is unable to perform the task of telling time, they did not learn the concept. As a good teacher, you go back, reteach, inspire, mentor, and tutor until that student masters the concept; this my friends is real teaching. I have finally come to my senses and realized that the U.S. does not want to see our schools improve. Instead, we rather keep shelling out money to companies that think they understand education but are just making a profit off very naive yet educator individuals. We put more money into education and yet more countries out educate us. We are in trouble. My goal is to leave the profession by June 2020. I cannot be a part of system that thinks educating students is data and standardized testing. It will be a sad day for me but a new chapter that I must try to endeavor. Thank you!

Teaching is also a family business for me. And I tell people that still. I'm proud of that and considerate that's a bonus for me to becoming a teacher because since I was born, I have been taught the value of quality education and have joined all the teaching case studies at the dinning table with my parents. I didn't know I love kids until I actually got to teach kids, but I know I have always been cultivated to become an educator.

Not all problems can be solved by money or technology. .Family values are needed to have good students.

Families need to be part of the solution not the problem, my mother tutored me in reading and an older brother in math, and I tutored a younger brother in Algebra and Geometry. I also tutored someone in reading and friend of mine's son in math, so can get help for child to learn not just in the school system but other places as well. I also tutored my girlfriend that later became my wife in some of her college work. She taught me some Spanish and Piano. She also tutored a friend in Spanish also, and the daughter of another friend in Piano.

Such a great speech and sharing!

I was amongst the best and the brightest. I burnt out in the American public school system along with many others. Needless to say, I was never named 'Teacher Of The Year', whatever that means.

He was speaking about the facts in teaching that, after 6 years of this event, still are a mystery for the leaders in most of the countries in the world:)

The minute they tried anything outside the norms, they’d be questioned, told to stick to the state mandated program, and if they didn’t conform, they’d be let go lest they become tenured.

Amazing! Thank you a lot.

I have got a lot of experience in respect to my own profession so thank you

We have great teachers, it's the leadership who fail. You can't turn your teachers from teaching the brightest to trying to make students equal. They are required to concentrate on the wrong end of the spectrum. Thanks mr bush.

Finland students are lucky to have such an impressive education system , While i am memorising my 10 th grade books at India

Finland has certainly a good education system. Now other countries also need to learn and adopt better systems of Finnis or European education system. Together we can change the world!

Here, in NSW, Australia, we have accepted students who have 'failed' their final school exams as trainee teachers. It is not a valued or admired or respected profession.

What if Finland’s admin and school boards came to US schools.

I want to experience teaching in Finland. It's really different system in my country. Actually we had almost the same system in the past but when time changed things are changed too. so sad.

The differences between Finland and the USA are as dramatic as cold and hot. Finland is a small, homogeneous country. The entire system is set up to trust teacher decisions, and the administration is there to support the teacher decisions. They are very smart, very well trained, and their profession is trusted and admired. And, they make a lot of money in comparison to what we make here in the states. They are prized by parents and treated well by administrators, who also prize their skill and expertise.

The exact model that works in finland probably won't work here in the states but the biggest take away is that we need to change our system and see what works.

I badly want to live in Finland because of their education system.

What a great similarity in comparing Teaching System with a Football Team :)

My kids attend(ed) a magnet program in Montgomery Alabama. The High School was 7th in the nation. I am more than happy with their education. The curriculum was one year ahead, and later two in math. My daughter did ballet in middle school, my son does classical guitar. There's two things about schools no one wants to address; the quality of the school is driven more by the students and by the parents than the teachers or the "school." American schools do much better than people realize. If you disaggregate the data and separate the special needs and ELL students the average student does quite well. However, we lump kids into classes rather than separating them by performance, and that undermines the program.

Unfortunately, we have the idea that the parents get to determine what their children should learn. Having Finnish teachers would wreak havoc in our school system by demanding independence.

Maybe if we made an experiment, let’s see how different types of school react having a teacher of a different caliber, to see how this model can adapt or be adapted to other countries. The plan is to send a small group of teachers to different countries for 1-3 months each, to see if their experience and education system adapts or can be adapted to the rest of the world (and introduce a new way of seeing things, inspiring students, teachers, or even other schools to adopt their teachings).

I wish I had been a student in one of Finland schools, but I wish that one day my child could be there as students In sha Allaah ❤️

In our schools they will have a nervous breakdown before the second period begins.

I am the result of Finnish School system. I am working in the foreign country as a Country General Manager for foreign company from the different country I live in. And definitely either of countries is not Finland. The main difference is that there is no home work after the school in the primary school, we can have different hobbies for the evening and we are supercharged to come back to the school in the morning. The second difference is that like Pasi was mentioning here that the teachers are super wise, super intelligent. You are just full of admiration for the teacher who is Master in Physics, Chemistry and Maths and knows five languages. You know that you don't stand a chance in this world if you don't educate yourself. You go the airport as a student without the money, and look the planes departing and landing, and that's how I build my motivation.

Moreover , teacher I dont consider is merely a teacher but a scientist at the same time and that what I do myself even teaching any new student right form the middle school to university grad,....its the most satisfying and fullfilling experience for me.

the other amazing thing is that *as confirmed by a reply to a thread below, Finnish school age start is 7 years old. Combine that with the lack of homework and its even more amazing. UK schools by 7 already have for those who join reception at 4, kids who have been going to school full time for 3 years.

The fact that the lecture hall is 15% full tells us how much Americans care about educating their population.

Having great teachers is only a part of the equation. Finland also has a culture of agreeableness and conscientiousness, plus a very high enthic homogeneity. These are all factors that make their school system work so well.

I'm happy for Veera

We do run a school and would love to work with any quality building team

This video needs to be seen by all the ministers sitting in Indian Parliament as well as by all the teachers of my country INDIA

Wonderful and great teacher .

In finland the education system serves a homogonous advanced population This makes things very very easy as compared to try levelling up in a multi learning speed multi cultural society Look at china . No issues with education Look at switzeeland poland or hungary .. same Look at Paris suburbs east london . Or most usa cities . Extremely challenging to put it politely

The other video on Finland schools said that teachers have a Masters' [ MA] in their subject. In the UK you can pass the Bachelors and do a one-year teacher training. This obviously makes a difference to how qualified a teacher is at secondary level, while preparing students for university.

American public education has always been almost entirely about indoctrination to be mass production worker. And yes, I agree that in Murica the working classes largely do not trust highly educated, knowledgeable people, even if they have a degree themselves. It doesn't help that the web has allowed confused and ignorant people to encourage each other. Before the web it was difficult for them to cnotact each other since nearly all publications had some sort of editor.

In most other videos about finish school comments are turned off. Wonder why. However is my comment to why they have success over almost all other schools : MOTIVATION over DOMINATION.

Sometimes I wonder why teachers go through college to learn about child development, only to be thrown into a classroom to follow a schedule and a textbook series set by people who are oblivious to child development. If this is what the Finnish teachers would have to put up with, then my answer is probably no.

Hello Good video, very interesting. Just one question ¿How Finnish students behave in the classroom? ¿do Finnish schools have a department to help out with students' behaviour?

Great suit and the dissonant spots and checks I enjoyed too! The talk was interesting. Finnish teacher salaries US$37k following 5-6 years study with Masters degree, US salaries US$45k and Finland cost of living is 30% higher. Think about that Murika.

Finnish teachers would be getting beat up like the teachers in the United States . Two totally different types of students

Great question and a very good talk

In the late 1970s, an education study on the Bible Belt excluding urban areas found that scholastic achievement was on par with the world's best. To address the disparity, no further studies were conducted.

None of the Finnish education system would not be possible without the compulsory progressive income taxation system. For example the US would have to change how their whole government is run to implement the same type of education system.

Finland کاتعلیمی نظام دیکھ کر بہت خوشی ہوئی دنیا کا سب سے اہم کام نسل نو کو علم کے نور سے آراستہ کرنا ہی ہے تاکہ مستقبل میں درپیش تمام مسائل کے حل دریافت کرنے کی صلاحیت میں اضافہ ہو۔

THANK GOODNESS a video about schools that UKposts hasn't turned off the comments for, in a misguided and paternal effort to "protect children from potential predators"!!! Seriously though - Finland does a LOT of stuff right: we should send all school board members over there to learn how it's done properly.

I watched another video about Finland and it's teachers. What I noticed REALLY different than what I saw in my 14 years of teaching in American high schools: The students, not the difference in teachers or teaching. I guarantee in Finland you will never have a "dumping ground" type of class where troublemakers/disrupters are sent. I guarantee you won't have multiple language speakers as in America. I guarantee you won't have up to 25% of your class with Resrouce students. You won't have administration that folds like a tent to parental pressure We used to say that we can only control within our four walls. In a perfect world, education would be easy.

You get great teachers all around the world, what you don't get is a well funded education system all around the world. You pay teachers a non-menial salary and you will be surprised at how the children will prosper. It all boils down to the matter of funding

How big are the classes? How many problem pupils do they have per class?

A master’s degree is great but great mentors, experience and the view of education also make a big difference. Parents do not all trust teachers and schools and education is not valued by everyone.

The change comes gradually... So i think if ur teachers r ready to live here for ten years.. They might b able to b successful..

Finland has 5.5 million people. Ethnically and culturally 5 million of them are the same, so a homogeneous country. We have twice as many people in NYC alone. Yes, they have made a commitment to successful education in their country, but this is so much easier when your population is on the same page in so many ways. Envious to see such a well,managed, successful school system.

I believe home/parenting is probably a big difference between the two countries.

I'm sure there are great teachers in Finland like anywhere else but I wonder how the severe weather in Finland which may limit outdoor activity affects class/study times? Anyone?

Music play integral part.

We need to value early and late childhood education as mush as anti violence, health, antipoverty, etc.

There's nothing special about Finland, you can achieve a good school system in any country. But it needs money and effort. The real question is are people willing to pay more taxes/cut on other spending to train teachers better, to hire more teachers, to change the way schools are run etc. And if they are, they need to get the message trough to the politicians. Yell "we want better education for our kids" every time there's an election.

What a motivational speaker

Wow great speech. I agree school board need to work with teachers. Wow veera you didn't give up thats good. Most people take rejection as this is not for me let me try something else. 1st plan always the right plan. Plan b should be how to make plan a work.

I Agree to Sahlberg.

if you have 60 kids in a class, it's a little more difficult.

Fin teachers would make a change, but our education system is so old based on productivity from the late 19th century onward. Teachers going to Finland, will flourish.

I absolutely loved his comments. It will never happen in the United States. I am retired 35 year public high school teacher. Finland sounds like heaven to me.

Results of student's tests like PISA are product of intelligence (which is not same in average for every country), culture and quality of education. Therefore, these tests do not show what the quality of education in some country is, because tests are not measuring quality of education alone, there is no control group. Two ways these tests can show quality of education in some country is: 1) to move some kids to different country for some years and see if they improved, 2) change constantly education system in one country and see which system is getting better results.

Likely not relevant, but many European countries are located at higher latitudes. They spend more time indoors as it gets a bit nippy outside a good portion of the year.

great teachers in Finland. They are giving kids freedom to develop on their own. When they grow up they will have to solve a lot of problems created by lot of children with no proper education, like global warming ,plastic contamination, disappearing forests.

I am curios how the teacher in Finland runs the class. Is there any video that shows the Finland teachers teaching 1 full hour from beginning to the end of the lesson. I am a primary teacher in Indonesia. Education in my country is the lowest rank of the world. I really want to learn from Finland teachers what do they do in class and out class. I want to improve my skills, my method of teaching. Sometimes I feel my way of teaching is old fashioned and makes students bored. Sometimes I also bored doing same things, teach same things every year. Routines make teachers bored. Is there any forum that I can join with Finland teacher. I really want to learn. Please count me in. Thank you

W. Edwards Deming sorted this out decades ago. He stated that quality is 90 to 95% due to management, because employees usually do not have the power to change what they know is wrong. This is absolutely true of education in every state in the union. It starts with the US Department of Education and the shit rolls downhill from there. I remember education before the Department of Education existed. Education has gotten steadily worse since it was created.

I suppose it is all based on the quality of the teachers in the US and how well the students can learn from them. Do many of the students fall/get left behind because of not learning quick enough to keep up with the better students??? Don't know. Now we (US) are also competing against other countries for how well the education of the students have become and learned as they grow older.

We have many examples in the world as leaders in the Education system. In India only the "Delhi Government" lead by Aam Aadmi Party has changed the Education system, based on the Finland and within short period they have got the tremendous results and better results than the Delhi private Schools. It is too late that, every state of India must adopt such policies so the obsolete system must be replaced with the real life effective factors.

Students who are not interested in learning is a big factor in inner city schools in the US. Why the big deal about entrance exams? There are online schools in the US such as WGU.edu

100%

Teachers in the US are not valued at all - many administrators are so worried about pleasing their parents that they will happily throw the teachers under the bus. Teaching is not a valued profession, and the boards and administrators are so busy telling them what and how to teach, no one can use their strengths, or even take "teachable' moments. My principal used to come into the room, and if you weren't on exactly the same page at exactly the same time as the other teachers in your grade you got written up! The attitude of many parents was that school isn't important, so why go? The number of children who would take an entire day off school - to buy a Halloween costume was appalling. Every year I spent $1,000+ on my students because their parents would not buy their supplies - or the school required I teach something - without the necessary equipment. I quit teaching because I was tired of swimming up stream. I never got a cost of living increase, in fact when I quit school, because of the amount of insurance they took from me - which increased every year - I was earning less money than when I started.

The idea that bringing in a 'powerful' superintendent at an enormous salary is going to solve a district's problems is nonsense, it only makes the low wage teachers mad. Superintendents need to both know and respect their teachers, loyalty up is generated by loyalty down.

I'm in the USA. I went through a rigorous elementary school teaching program with very talented teachers. Our school systems can't keep us because of the system, not so much because of low pay (which wasn't an issue for me, I'm single, plus I got paid more than cops in my state. Somehow they have lower pay than teachers, despite their dangerous jobs & inconvenient hours). I left because my experience over & over again was that teachers were being treated as super humans, expected to do so much without human needs. In my area teachers are with the children for around 7 hours with only a 30 min lunch break that is often either used dealing with student needs or having a faculty meeting. Teachers have to do recess duty (supervise students as they play outside) & cross guard duty before & after school. Too often prep time they're given is used for faculty meetings. Most of the time there are no classroom aids, & you can't leave the children alone to use the restroom. They also have to follow government given curriculum & are judged on how well students do on the government mandated testing. Things are set up in a way that it is hard to meet individual student needs as teachers aren't allowed to separate the low performing students from the high ones to teach where they're at. My hands especially felt tied when I wasn't allowed to discipline students. Even kindly telling students they needed to please go sit in their seat was considered negative & we'd get points docked off for renewing our teaching license. If a supervisor saw a student putting their hand in their desk or looking up at the ceiling, we'd be docked points. Yet the only way we were allowed to discipline was by giving misbehaving students rewards. When we'd call the principal for help they'd come & give the student a toy to "inspire them to be better in the future". It inspired them to want teachers to call the principal & inspired other students to join them. If students ended up in the principal's office, they'd play video games with them. They do this because of the communist principle of raising up the "oppressed victims," & misbehaving students were considered the poor victims ("students only misbehave because they have a background of trauma, & we cannot add to their trauma" by disciplining them) while the behaving ones who wanted to learn had to be equalized with them. Teachers here have their hands tied behind their backs & are frazzled, which effects the students. From what I see in Finland, they value teachers & students as individuals & give them free choice. Take Marxism out of our school systems & we can thrive here in the US as well.

They would be horrified at the behavior of kids now a days.