Finland provides a personalized way to educate | Guest op

By Cindy Prescott
For the Kent Reporter

We’ve heard recently about Finland’s test scores reaching the top in the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment). Since then, the education world has been intrigued with how this feat was accomplished.

Some have criticized the accomplishment due to the difference in poverty rate and diversity in Finland. These are facts that cannot be disputed, however, Finland’s accomplishment cannot be explained in such a simple way.

Pasi Sahlberg is the minister of education in Finland. He recently came to speak in Seattle and I was fortunate enough to be there to listen to him. He shared with us their 40-year journey. It began with the decision on the part of the country to commit to the goal of making an equitable playing field for all children, letting no student’s background adversely affect their education. They did not focus on test scores, but on the entire child.

In Finland, 45 minutes of instruction is followed by 15 minutes of recess, even for older students. Teachers only instruct children for four periods a day, receiving professional development and developing curricula for the additional two periods.

Standardized tests are only given once in a child’s educational career – at the end of high school. Instead of curriculum and assessment being developed from top down, teachers in each local community develop their own, using a framework of national guidelines. If a child needs additional support in the classroom, there are additional teachers that work with that child. Their average class size is 19 in elementary school and 17 in upper grades.

Finnish schools are funded with the guarantee of equal allocation of resources to each school regardless of its location or its community wealth. The funding formula is based on number of students, with extra funding provided to schools that have high proportions of immigrants or students with unemployed or uneducated parents.

Instead of competition, the Finnish believe in collaboration. In place of test-based accountability, it is trust-based responsibility driving the system in Finland. In America, it is standardization, at times removing creative innovation. In Finland, it is personalization with schools organized to meet individual needs.

Finland and America are different in many ways: Form of government, size and diversity among them. In spite of our differences, there are lessons to learn from each other.

It’s certainly food for thought.

Cindy Prescott is a fourth-grade teacher at Crestwood Elementary School and vice present of the Kent Education Association. A Kent resident for 20 years, she has been teaching in the Kent School District for 15 years. Her four children have attended Kent schools.