The Harvard education professor Howard Gardner once advised Americans, "Learn from Finland, which has the most effective schools and which does just about the opposite of what we are doing in the United States."
More World News Videos
- Video duration
- 01:52
What's so good about Finland?
What's so good about Finland?
We're always hearing Finland has the best quality of life, find out why.
Up Next
Can microwaves be used for surveillance?
- Video duration
- 01:00
- Video duration
- 01:00
Can microwaves be used for surveillance?
Can microwaves be used for surveillance?
Dr Elias Aboutanios is a Senior Lecturer with the UNSW School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications. He explains how the use of microwaves might be used for surveillance.
Up Next
Brexit trigger: what happens next?
- Video duration
- 01:01
- Video duration
- 01:01
Brexit trigger: what happens next?
Brexit trigger: what happens next?
There will be many hurdles ahead for British Prime Minister Theresa May after triggering Article 50 and starting the two-year withdrawal from EU.
Up Next
Jack Russell face-plants to glory
- Video duration
- 00:56
- Video duration
- 00:56
Jack Russell face-plants to glory
Jack Russell face-plants to glory
If face-planting was a criteria in the Crufts dog agility competition, then Olly the Jack Russell just won top prize.
Up Next
14 million to lose insurance by 2018
- Video duration
- 01:00
- Video duration
- 01:00
14 million to lose insurance by 2018
14 million to lose insurance by 2018
The Congressional Budget Office released its projection for the Republicans' health care plan on Monday, revealing that while the plan would cut about $337 billion from the budget deficit through 2026, it would also lead to 24 million fewer people having health insurance.
Up Next
Kellyanne Conway tries clarify to wiretap claims
- Video duration
- 01:09
- Video duration
- 01:09
Kellyanne Conway tries clarify to wiretap ...
Kellyanne Conway tries clarify to wiretap claims
Addressing Trump's wiretap claims, Conway points to broad surveillance tactics such as "microwaves that turn into cameras", later adding while she doesnât think a microwave was used to spy on the President, she is "not in the job of having evidence" anyway.
Up Next
Sturgeon announces plans for second referendum
- Video duration
- 01:31
- Video duration
- 01:31
Sturgeon announces plans for second ...
Sturgeon announces plans for second referendum
Citing fears over a hard-Brexit from the EU, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announces plans to hold a second independence referendum for the country.
Up Next
Trust Trump... 'if he's not joking'
- Video duration
- 01:07
- Video duration
- 01:07
Trust Trump... 'if he's not joking'
Trust Trump... 'if he's not joking'
During a lively exchange with a reporter at Monday's White House briefing, spokesman Sean Spicer says President Trump can be trusted, 'if he's not joking.'
What's so good about Finland?
We're always hearing Finland has the best quality of life, find out why.
Following his recommendation, I enrolled my seven-year-old son in a primary school in Joensuu. Finland, which is about as far east as you can go in the European Union before you hit the guard towers of the Russian border.
OK, I wasn't just blindly following Gardner - I had a position as a lecturer at the University of Eastern Finland for a semester. But the point is that, for five months, my wife, my son and I experienced a stunningly stress-free, and stunningly good, school system. Finland has a history of producing the highest global test scores in the Western world, as well as a trophy case full of other recent No. 1 global rankings, including most literate nation.
Related Content
In Finland, children don't receive formal academic training until the age of seven. Until then, many are in day care and learn through play, songs, games and conversation. Most children walk or bike to school, even the youngest. School hours are short and homework is generally light.
Unlike in the United States, where many schools are slashing recess, schoolchildren in Finland have a mandatory 15-minute outdoor free-play break every hour of every day. Fresh air, nature and regular physical activity breaks are considered engines of learning. According to one Finnish maxim, "There is no bad weather. Only inadequate clothing."
One evening, I asked my son what he did for gym that day. "They sent us into the woods with a map and compass and we had to find our way out," he said.
Finland doesn't waste time or money on low-quality mass standardised testing. Instead, children are assessed every day, through direct observation, check-ins and quizzes by the highest-quality "personalised learning device" ever created - flesh-and-blood teachers.
In class, children are allowed to have fun, giggle and daydream from time to time. Finns put into practice the cultural mantras I heard over and over: "Let children be children," "The work of a child is to play," and "Children learn best through play."
The emotional climate of the typical classroom is warm, safe, respectful and highly supportive. There are no scripted lessons and no quasi-martial requirements to walk in straight lines or sit up straight. As one Chinese student-teacher studying in Finland marvelled to me, "In Chinese schools, you feel like you're in the military. Here, you feel like you're part of a really nice family." She is trying to figure out how she can stay in Finland permanently.
In Finland teachers are the most trusted and admired professionals next to doctors, in part because they are required to have a master's degree in education with specialisation in research and classroom practice.
"Our mission as adults is to protect our children from politicians," one Finnish childhood education professor told me. "We also have an ethical and moral responsibility to tell businesspeople to stay out of our building." In fact, any Finnish citizen is free to visit any school whenever they like, but her message was clear: Educators are the ultimate authorities on education, not bureaucrats, and not technology vendors.
Finland delivers on a national public scale highly qualified, highly respected and highly professionalised teachers who conduct personalised one-on-one instruction; manageable class sizes; a rich, developmentally correct curriculum; regular physical activity; little or no low-quality standardised tests and the toxic stress and wasted time and energy that accompanies them; daily assessments by teachers; and a classroom atmosphere of safety, collaboration, warmth and respect for children as cherished individuals.
One day last November, when the first snow came to my part of Finland, I heard a commotion outside my university faculty office window, which is close to the teacher training school's outdoor play area. I walked over to investigate.
The field was filled with children savouring the first taste of winter amid the pine trees.
"Do you hear that?" asked the recess monitor, a special education teacher wearing a yellow safety smock.
"That," she said proudly, "is the voice of happiness."
William Doyle is a 2015-2016 Fulbright scholar and a lecturer on media and education at the University of Eastern Finland.
Los Angeles Times