My kids are currently in school in Finland. They have been through primary and secondary school. Two of them are now in upper secondary school (aka lukio) and one is in lower secondary school (aka yla-aste)
Nicoline wrote:
Here are some questions:
books and education system
1. How many schoolbooks per year does a pupil need regarding textbooks and workbooks? (primary and secondary school)
Depends. Some subjects require one coursebook for the whole year and other subjects require multiple books. For example, in maths in primary school there may be several books used in one academic year. In history, one book might be used for the whole year. So there is no answer to your question. It might be one per subject, it might be three or four per subject.
2. What is the average price of new textbooks? And of workbooks? I know that the government pays for all the books, but any idea how the government buy the books and deliver them?
The books are chosen and purchased by the schools from a central ordering system which is run by the local municipality.
I think the school purchases are VAT exempt and I guess they get bulk discount from the publishers. The price of a book varies considerably (how long is a piece of string) depending on the subject matter, the size of the book etc etc. Generally speaking, books that are published by Finnish publishers (eg WSOY, Edita, Otava) cost more than similar books in the UK, possibly because they are produced in smaller numbers (and in Finnish).
Decision making
1. Who decides what books will be used? (teacher/head of department/school management/ government) Is it the same for primary and secondary education?
Mostly the teachers. But once the books have been purchased they will be reused for several years so not all teachers get to use books they have personally chosen.
2. How often do schools/teachers change methods, with order words: how many years are schoolbooks being (re)used ? Who decides on the change (teachers or governmental bodies) and what are the reasons for change?
I think the answer here is: budget. Schools are limited by the budgets so they change books when they can afford to. As far as I know there have been no substantial changes to the National Core Curriculum in the past 3-4 years (since the new one was implemented). The teachers and the head-teachers (rehtori) would make the decisions based on their budgets. None of the books my children have been using have been drastically out of date. At a guess I would say that maths, physics, chemistry, history, language books get changed every 5-10 years.
Needs
1. Do you know how the distribution of schoolbooks is managed at the moment and is there a need for change in this way? I mean by this: do pupils buy the books themselves by a bookstore and pay for the books, or do they get the books from school, or is there a distributor that delivers the books to the pupils, or…?
The schools order the books and hand them out to students as and when they need them. The students hand the books back when they have finished with them. It works just fine
The workbooks are usually for the students to keep since they write in them. Personally I find this an expensive method (the workbooks are often printed in colour on good quality paper) but I guess paper is one thing that is not in short supply in Finland
2. Do you think that there is a need for cheaper schoolbooks, or for a rental system of schoolbooks in some kind?
Yes and no. I think most teachers are moving towards paperless classrooms... my children's schools use smart boards in every classroom and (I guess) more and more digital supports. In my opinion the easiest way for a teacher to use low-cost and up-to-date materials is to go digital. In remote areas in Finland where distance learning is necessary for school children (eg in the archipelago and in Lapland) there are already substantial on-line materials available for teaching and learning.
Note: For upper secondary schools the system is quite different. The students usually have to buy their own books, though some schools do organise rental systems.
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