On the 8^th September I flew to Finland for two weeks on a visit organised by my University and the JCI (Junior Chamber International) in Finland.  Six students in third and fourth year were able to go and we were paired off into three different schools within the area of Seinäjoki.

Hayley and I were based at a school called Kärki school which translates as the ‘top’ or ‘best’ school.  We mostly taught English but we helped out in a range of other lessons; taking part in whole class teaching and individual work. We visited six different schools in total, including a secondary school and an international school.  Many of the schools in Seinäjoki haven’t had English visitors before so Hayley and I felt famous in the schools that we visited.  

I stayed with a lovely family who had two boys aged 9 and 7 years old and a cat called Luna.  Here is my first ever Finnish house:

In the evenings and on the weekends we did lots of activities with our families and the other English students.  The two weeks were very busy so here is some of what we did:

Hiking along the swamp.  Hayley and I went for a walk along a swamp with Anna-Maria, the English teacher, as it was such a beautiful day.  

We visited Seinäjoki's amazing library.

Hiking around the lake.  My Finnish family and I hiked through the forest and around the lake until we came to a wooden hut with a fire pit where we cooked sausages over a fire and played games.

Horse riding.  This was second time I have ever ridden a horse - needless to say it was hilarious! I was so proud of myself until I had to get down.  I struggled for a while and ended up lying across the horse crying with laughter!

Going to the swimming pool.  In the changing rooms all of the women have showers and saunas together without any clothes on.  There is even a sign telling you to take your clothes off - I felt very British in refusing to take my swimming costume off! 

Most people in Finland have a sauna in their house - they get very hot!

Floorball is a very popular sport.  Whilst in Finland I both watched a team and played a game with an under 18's team and the other girls from England!

Climbing the 272 steps of the church tower.  This was an interesting climb after two days of horse riding and floor ball as we were all so achy! 

Attending a JCI conference in a hotel at the Powerland theme park.  We were greeted with flashes of a camera and then we talked in front of a room of JCI members.  We answered questions about the differences between the Finnish and English education systems and joined in with group discussions about ideas for new projects.

Met with the head of basic education in Seinäjoki.  This was very interesting as he explained in detail the stages of the Finnish education system.  He told us some of the changes they are hoping to make and we had the opportunity to ask questions.

Tapas and Finnish karaoke with some of the JCI members.

Watching the sunset from Seinäjoki’s ‘mountain’.  As Seinäjoki is such a flat area this is what Finnish people refer to as their ‘mountain’.

Differences between England and Finland

Children start school at the age of seven – before they are seven they go to kindergarten, which involves a lot of play based learning like in the Foundation Stage in England.  Children leave primary school in Finland at the age of tweleve.

There is no school uniform and children take their shoes off for school! 

Finnish classrooms: some schools have interactive whiteboards and most have chalk boards.  Finnish teachers seem to make great use of their projectors to guide children through the lesson.  All of the schools that we visited had individual desks for each child, this allowed teachers to move the desks around freely!  There were some displays within classrooms which were mainly to show the children's work.

First Grade classroom:

Third Grade classroom:

A display in an English classroom:

“It is illegal to level children in Finland" - this surprised us as in the UK so much is centered around assessing where individual children are at in their learning.  From this we can decide what their next steps are and can offer them appropriate support to help them reach their full potential.  

No differentiation – in each class all of the children do the same work and homework; there are no challenges and no easier work given.  Each school does things differently to help those who are struggling with the work.  Some schools move the children into a class with a smaller teacher to pupil ratio and some give them extra help outside of lesson time.  

Watching the youngest boy in my family do his homework has made me consider the benefits of all children working from a text book at the same level.  As I watched him start and finish within a few minutes, getting all of the answers correct, I found myself thinking about whether there are any implications of not differentiating work.

Planning:   Having text books to work from allows teachers know the class' next steps immediately.  Teachers are able to turn the page in the book to move onto the topic for the next lesson and can then think about how to introduce it to their class.  Teachers in Finland don’t have to complete plans for their lessons whereas in England many schools ask for plans to be uploaded to the school's system before the lesson.

First Grade text books:

Children begin learning English in third grade (when they are 9) children have a 'Study Book' and  a 'Busy Book' - one is a text book and one has exercises in.

Marking: In Finland teachers either ‘tick’ or cross answers and some use stamps.  Finnish ticks are like percentage marks! Unlike in England, Finnish teachers do not write comments or questions to extend the child's thinking on the subject.   

The Finnish value their education system and teachers very highly: only the top 10% of all graduates in Finland apply to train to be teachers and out of this top 10% of people who apply only the top 10% of these are chosen.  Therefore, teaching in Finland is a very well thought of and respected profession!

Observations: teachers don’t get observed in Finland. Not by Ofsted inspectors, not formally by other teachers, not by their head teachers, not at all! Their belief is that once people have been taught how to teach, why wouldn't they teach in the way that they have been trained to.  The trust in the Finnish education system is incredible!

There is so much trust: There are no formal registers for children and at Kärki school the outskirts of the playground and forest are without a fence or gate; despite there being a main road nearby.  Unlike in England there is no reception - to gain access to the school you can just walk through the door into the corridor.      

Freedom of children.  At the end of the day children of all ages walk or cycle home alone, there is no line of children for the teacher to check that they are being taken home by an adult they know!  

Timings of the school day:  In Kärki school children start and finish their school days at different times; they all have timetables of their weeks.  Children start at either 8, 9 or 10 and school days can finish between 12 and 3 depending on the day and class. This is very different from England where all children begin and finish at the same time.

In Kärki school each lesson lasts for 45 minutes and after every lesson the children have a 15 minute break to go outside and play.  

Lunch times - Everyone in Finland gets a free, hot school meal. Children serve themselves lunch in Finland and there is only one choice of food.  This surprised us as children in England are always offered a choice of food and their food is usually served to them.  Lunch times at Kärki school are staggered across the school day as the canteen is only big enough to hold one class at a time! The first lunch time starts at 10:30!

Dinner time:  At around half past four families usually sit down together to eat their main evening meal and at half past eight ‘evening breakfast’ is served where families eat a range of toast, ham, cheese and other items.

Finnish people find it strange that English people eat jam on toast, apparently it should only be used for pancakes and porridge!

There is no word for please in the Finnish language!

Sport is very important to a lot of Finnish people - everyone seems to make time to take part in a variety of activities.

Free University – I pay £9,000 a year for my lectures, however had I moved to Finland for University I would be paying only for accommodation... But I’d also be struggling to understand my lectures in Finnish!

Living with my Finnish family was very interesting as I really got to experience the Finnish culture.  Although both of the parents spoke English extremely well, the two boys are only just starting to learn.  Having this language barrier with the boys was very interesting but was at times very difficult.  I wanted to tell them both so much but was only able to do so when the parents were there to translate for us.  However, it was also very interesting as it forced me to explore other ways of communicating what I wanted to say and allowed me to experience some of the difficulties that some EAL (English as an Additional Language) children may face when trying to communicate and are surrounded by an unfamiliar language.

I have had such an incredible experience teaching in Finland, I have learnt so much and have met so many amazing people.  I am so thankful to everyone who was involved in organising our visit.