In my last blog post, I did research about how the school starting time affects students. Now, it’s important that there are examples from other countries who have changed their school starting times.
School in Finland is very different than schools in Canada. In Finland, students can choose to graduate in 3 or 4 years. The requirements to graduate are a couple classes in each subject and so students can decide when then want to take each class. Each class is 75 minutes long and occurs 3 times a week. Also, each round of classes (we have semesters) are only a month and a half long. Usually school starts at 8:15 and ends at 2:45 with an hour long lunch and 15 minutes in between each class. At the end of the round of class, each class has a 6 hour exam. Teachers and staff are called by their first names, the schools have a smaller amount of students (around 400) and some classes have only 4 students. There is minimal homework (at the most, 45 minutes) and the school provides free food for the students. (1) 30% of Finland’s students have a tutor or some extra help in the first 9 years of school and the schools all function the same way because they are all funded by the government. (2) Students in Finland spend the least amount of hours at schools compared to all OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. The average amount for Finland is 640 hours in a year, 899 in England, 847 in France and 800 in Japan. Most schools have a week off in the fall, 2 weeks during Christmas, 4 days for Easter and a week in February. The summer vacation is usually 2 months long from the beginning of June to the End of August. (3)
1:“What to Know About Finnish Schools During Your High School Exchange Program.” Greenheart Travel, https://greenhearttravel.org/blog/high-school-finland/what-to-know-about-finnish-schools-during-your-high-school-exchange-program.
2:“Why Are Finland’s Schools Successful?” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Sept. 2011, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-are-finlands-schools-successful-49859555/.
3:Risku, Mika, and Eija Aalto. “Finland Puts Flexible Holidays Ahead of Longer School Days.” The Conversation, 15 Nov. 2019, http://theconversation.com/finland-puts-flexible-holidays-ahead-of-longer-school-days-23378.
i think this was a very interesting reporting and really opened my eyes to how their is more than just our way of doing school here in Coquitlam. it really is interesting how everyone around the world has found a way to make schooling different and provide it to students in a way that they think best benefits their learning. i think that if you were to find a different way to run our school that you think would be more effective,you should talk to Mrs McKay about it and even other students to support your opinion. keep up the great work!
Hi! I really liked your post, and it really made me think about how schools are run in Canada. We complain a lot about how things are done here, but we never really think about how changing the way things are done could create other problems. Although I agree that school should start later, I think it might create a ripple effect.
Articles about pros and cons:
https://www.verywellfamily.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-starting-school-later-2609565
Article about 8 main challenges faced when changing school start time:
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/eight-major-obstacles-delaying-school-start-times
Good luck on future research!
Hi Elisabet,
Great round of research! I have heard before that the education system in Finland is different from the education system we are familiar with, but I didn’t realize exactly how different it is. I found it especially interesting to learn that their “rounds” of classes are only a month and a half long, and that the school and class size can be so small. It really opened my eyes to the different ways schools can be run, and I think it would be interesting to know if the different education system in Finland is beneficial to both the happiness of the students and their success later in life.
Here are some websites that you might find useful:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-are-finlands-schools-successful-49859555/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/08/30/what-finland-is-really-doing-improve-its-acclaimed-schools/
https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/finland-s-education-system-journey-success
Good luck!