Not sure why this article appears on the BBC's business pages but anyway...
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-32302374
(I was looking for an article on the Alcatel deal - but didn't find one. The Economist has something though.)
The BBC on Education in Finland
Re: The BBC on Education in Finland
Analogous mistakes have been claimed about the healthfulness of the "Mediterranean diet" -- that people look at what people there eat today, when much of the good health on which claims are based was measured in (or a product of diet during) times of greater austerity and less dietary fat. That all predates the recently imposed fiscal austerity, of course. The austerity referred to in such critiques is the pre-prosperity era around the Med, when people were poor before they were well off before they became poor again.
We should never believe the reasons people tell us for their own success (or failure). Even when they report sincerely and perhaps self-critically, there is more unwitting personal and cultural mythology than insight in such reports.
We should never believe the reasons people tell us for their own success (or failure). Even when they report sincerely and perhaps self-critically, there is more unwitting personal and cultural mythology than insight in such reports.
As he persisted, I was obliged to tootle him gently at first and then, seeing no improvement, to trumpet him vigorously with my horn.
Re: The BBC on Education in Finland
There was a rebuttal to this in Helsingin Sanomat (sorry, in Finnish): http://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/a1429067386486
One good point there was that when the Finnish system was as its most traditional the successes were pretty mediocre. Also, that many countries train their students for the Pisa tests (and as far as I have understood, also choose the best schools only to take part in it), where Finland doesn't.
I don't think that the Pisa results really tell all that much, and the reasons behind Finnish numbers are only partly due to the education system and wouldn't necessarily translate to other countries. But to me it sounds like mr Sahlgren has his own agenda that he is trying to drive through.
One good point there was that when the Finnish system was as its most traditional the successes were pretty mediocre. Also, that many countries train their students for the Pisa tests (and as far as I have understood, also choose the best schools only to take part in it), where Finland doesn't.
I don't think that the Pisa results really tell all that much, and the reasons behind Finnish numbers are only partly due to the education system and wouldn't necessarily translate to other countries. But to me it sounds like mr Sahlgren has his own agenda that he is trying to drive through.
Re: The BBC on Education in Finland
Yes... selling books. And also not wanting to shoulder any blame for anything. Everyone knew Finland could only go down in the rankings, so certain people snapped up the opportunity to voice their predictions and win the credibility stakes. A bit sad really. I feel a bit sorry for the teachers who never asked to be No1, gradually became sick to the teeth with the limelight and the constant visits from curious foreigners, and are now under fire for letting standards slip. 
None of the BBC articles mentioned the new core curriculum which comes out next year. I really didn't understand the point being made about private schools ie: there ARE private schools in Finland, it's just that they are funded by the State. WTF. And the efforts to point out that schools are "controlled" even though there is no Ofsted. Rubbish - I have never ever heard of any municipal or State intervention in any school that my 3 kids have been to.
I recently went to a school reunion in the UK: my first visit to my old secondary (state) school since I left in 1977. I was in total shock at the lack of investment over the years. There were rooms that had not changed in nearly 40 years: same furniture, same layout except for whiteboards where there used to be blackboards. The science labs looked like they belonged to a Marie Curie museum.
Reading the BBC articles one word came to mind: Schadenfreude.
None of the BBC articles mentioned the new core curriculum which comes out next year. I really didn't understand the point being made about private schools ie: there ARE private schools in Finland, it's just that they are funded by the State. WTF. And the efforts to point out that schools are "controlled" even though there is no Ofsted. Rubbish - I have never ever heard of any municipal or State intervention in any school that my 3 kids have been to.
I recently went to a school reunion in the UK: my first visit to my old secondary (state) school since I left in 1977. I was in total shock at the lack of investment over the years. There were rooms that had not changed in nearly 40 years: same furniture, same layout except for whiteboards where there used to be blackboards. The science labs looked like they belonged to a Marie Curie museum.
Reading the BBC articles one word came to mind: Schadenfreude.