Early Childhood Education in Finland
In Finland’s early primary years, space, time, & free play come first!
This week I have been lucky enough visit both a K-2 Primary school in Turku where the language of instruction was Swedish (Braheskolan) and a K-6 Primary school in Urjala where instruction is delivered in Finnish (Asema Koulu). Regardless of the language of instruction, what I am seeing is a huge emphasis on space, efficient yet thoughtful and logical use of time for students and staff, and a plenty of time for free, self-directed play.
At Braheskolan, I was able to peek my head into multiple classrooms but spent most of the day with grade 2 and grade 1. Grade 2 students were working on detailed Needlepoint cards for Mother’s Day as well as Math.
In one of the 2nd grade classes, the teacher invited me to jump right in and actively help students to create their cards (which I happily did, despite the language barrier…it’s funny how little kids just don’t care about that and somehow you end up understanding each other anyway!) while in the next room I did more observation and of a math lesson. Then I spent the afternoon with the first graders, going outdoors to collect some samples to build models of a butterfly’s life cycle (plus, of course, some time for free play and fort building in the woods), then returning to the classroom to work on their models, go outdoors again for an afternoon recess and eventually ending the day with handicrafts (making friendship bracelets for Mother’s Day).
These Mother’s Day cards were much more impressive than a simple handicraft. The teacher was able to incorporate a wide range of skills and knowledge into the activity, including graphic design, measurement with rulers, various fine motor skills (sewing, glueing, cutting), as well as literature, as students choose or write their own original Mother’s Day poems, and word processing skills, as they typed it up on their laptops. Additionally, there was a huge emphasis on attention to detail and neatness. I walked away with the message that if you’re going to do something, you might as well do it right! Plus, there was a lot of implicit communication about the cultural importance of the holiday.
Schedule
Flexibility of schedule and flexible use of time is common here in Finland (as well as around the world in general and Scandinavia specifically, from my observations in classrooms this year). Rather than follow a daily schedule, most schools follow a weekly schedule. Very rarely do students attend the same classes daily; instead it is common that in the weekly schedule, content is delivered in various lesson blocks spread throughout the week.
Here is an example of Anton’s schedule. He is a 1st grade teacher at Braheskolan who starts most days at 9 AM and ends around 1:15. Then on Fridays he works in a different school as a P.E. teacher. Notice that there are A and B groups for “MO” (mother tongue — in this school’s case, Swedish) on Tuesday and Thursday. These groups are not ability groupings for the purposes of differentiation; rather, they groupings that are designed to:
- limit the teaching group to half of the class to allow the teacher to provide more personalization in the way of intervention and extension to each individual student one on one and
- provide flexibility to families a couple of days a week — group A takes place at about 8 AM, whereas group B takes place around 12:30 PM. So, if you are in group B, your child arrives to school earlier (~8 AM) and leaves earlier (~12 noon), whereas if your child is in group A, your child arrives to school later (~9 AM) and leaves a bit later (~1 PM).
As I mentioned above, these kinds of flexible groupings are common in Scandinavian countries I’ve visited (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and now Finland). I imagine there must be a cultural open-mindedness involved in allowing everybody to easily conceptualize and be open to flexible schedules with varying start and end times that differ for different teachers, students, and parents day to day. Regardless of what is behind this flexible scheduling, it is clear from the weekly schedules of many schools that variety and novelty are prioritized and that rests and breaks are considered just as important as time spent actively teaching and learning. Here is an example of a typical school day timetable in Finland:
Start of day for some*: 8:30 AM
- Lesson 1*: 45 min (8:30–9:15) — note: students who come for lesson #1 will leave after lesson #4; students who do not come for lesson #1 arrive for the day for lesson #2 and stay through lesson #5).
- Recess/Break #1: 15 min (9:15–9:30)
- Lesson 2: 45 min (9:30–10:15)
- Recess/Break #2: 15 min (10:15–10:30)
- Lesson 3: 45 min (10:30–11:15)
Lunch and Recess/Break #3: ~30 min. (11:15–11:45)
- *Lesson 4: 45 min (11:45–12:30) — students who arrived earlier for lesson 1 leave after this lesson
*End of day for some /younger students: 12:30 OR Recess/ Break #4: 15 min (12:30–12:45)
- *Lesson 5: 45 min (12:45–1:30) — students who arrived later for lesson 2 leave after this lesson
- Lunch and Recess/Break #5: 15 min. (1:30–1:45)
- Lesson 6: 45 min (1:45–2:30)
End of day for other / older students: 2:30
Overall, you can see that Finnish schools have a slightly later start time and a significantly earlier end time than most American schools, plus many breaks or recesses spread throughout the day, usually one following each lesson. Sometimes, teachers will choose to block 2 lessons together for particular activities (art, science labs, cooking classes, etc) and then provide an extended recess after that lengthier lesson — this kind of freedom and autonomy over your daily schedule as a teacher is normal and demonstrates a lot of trust of the teacher to do what is best for students on an as-needed basis. Additionally, formal schooling in Finland begins a year later than it does in the US, with their “preschool” (equivalent of our “kindergarten”) starting the year that students turn 7, and wraps up 2 years later than our schooling with their grade 9 (~16 years old), after which students may choose to move on to “upper secondary” school (essentially college prep) or a vocational trade school. It’s a bit amazing to me that although we have longer days, fewer breaks during those days, and three years more instructional time, Finnish schools consistently outperform ours.
Autonomy
I mentioned above that teachers have a lot of freedom to move around their lessons and topics day to day. I chatted with one primary teacher this week who told what was (to her) a very funny story about how she once had a drop in visit from her headmistress (principal) who looked at the schedule on her wall, saw that math was scheduled, but that she was teaching something else, with plans to do math that afternoon.
At that time (25+ years ago), the Finnish system was less progressive and the teacher was told to stick to her schedule so that in case upper level administrators (who have actually since been done away with, because the level of trust in the local teachers and headmaster is so high) visited, all would go according to plan and the reputation of the school would be upheld.
This teacher responded by 1) at the time, totally disregarding her principal’s suggestion and 2) during the storytelling, bursting out laughing along with several teachers nearby, presumably at the absurdity of having less autonomy over her class than she might have liked.
This story stood out to me, because particularly at the level of teaching I do, in middle school (grades 6,7, 8) in the US, there is very little freedom to block, co-teach, mix and match disciplines, or switch our timetable or the topics of lessons around to best suit our context day to day.
Why is this? Culturally, in the US, there seems to be a pervasive sense that we must stick to the daily schedule at all times (though the more I see the level of flexibility in schools around the world, the more I wonder: Why? Where does this rigidity come from? What do we think will happen if we embrace flexibility in our schedules?). It also seems that the way our schedules are designed really does preclude the ability of autonomously and flexibly selecting what feels best for a lesson or group of students at a given point on any given day.
While I could see how it was a funny story for the Finnish teachers around me, I walked away feeling envious of the level of independence and the obvious respect of and trust in teachers that the Finnish system has cultivated. It says so much that this was one of the only instance of a feeling a lack of control this teacher felt regarding her schedule in her entire 25+ year career, and that every teacher nearby found it absurd enough to laugh it off. Furthermore, even back when it happened, 25 years ago, she felt totally comfortable disregarding the suggestion to stick to her schedule and continuing to trust her own ways of doing things.
I sometimes wonder if the US system has somehow cultivated in its teachers a sense of self-doubt and lack of confidence in their own expertise. American teachers, from my experience within the system and outside observation of it this year, often have extremely creative, innovative ideas for how to approach and solve instructional challenges, just like their international counterparts. However, we often fail to act on our ideas, whether because of implicit messages of what the cultural norm in our buildings are, or because of explicit stumbling blocks that stand in our way, such as a rigid, inflexible schedule or limitations in the physical spaces for learning in our schools. Over time, I worry that American teachers have somehow gotten the message that it’s better to simply uphold the status quo of our education system than it is to question it, push back on it, and strive to apply a growth mindset of continuous improvement.
After School Programs
In some schools, like Asema Koulu, grades K-2 go home about 2 hours earlier than grades 3–6, I imagine in order to provide more time for increased curricular demands as students move into the higher grades. In other schools, like Braheskolan, the different arrival and leaving times of various students are based more on scheduling needs. Wonderful, affordable childcare and/or after school programs are available in every school. These programs are highly subsidized by the government or just provided for a very low fee to parents (around 1 Euro per day for after school programs that run until about 5 PM, and maybe up to 70 Euro per month for day care for the same hours).
Preschool (aka “kindergarten”)
Visiting a Finnish “preschool” (what we would call “kindergarten” in the USA…in Finland, “kindergarten” is like our “daycare”, typically beginning at 1 year old) was a definite highlight of my week! Whatever you’d like to call the 1 year of required schooling before beginning 1st grade, in Finland, children are enrolled during the year they will turn 7, compared with the US system where students start at 5 years old. Even at 6 or 7 years old, Finnish preschoolers do not necessarily know how to (nor are they expected to) read. Reading is not explicitly taught until the 1st grade, although many Finnish students do learn to read on their own, simply due to developmental readiness or perhaps because of parental support at home, prior to entering the first grade.
In preschool, despite students not technically “reading”, there are examples of literacy everywhere. For example, this picture the daily schedule as displayed for preschool students to “read” in pictoral form:
I arrived during a short art lesson, while children were painting spring flowers, and then watched as they ended at different times and went off to enjoy free play for 25 minutes, choosing their preferred activity and play partners (although sometimes students specify an activity and the teacher groups them in various ways to mix things up). Most of the girls went into a play room in the back while several of the boys got out Legos or Uno and played independently or in small groups together.
After indoor play time, there was a mini-movement/literacy lesson using GoNoodle (a website I actually use as well in the US with my middle schoolers to provide brain breaks when they are losing focus…awesome that it is well-liked by 6 and 12 year olds alike!) followed by outdoor play time, followed by lunch and…you guessed it! Another outdoor recess to play more!
Space
In every Finnish classroom I’ve walked into, I’ve been impressed at the amount of free, open space. There is plenty of room to circulate between desks, the desks themselves are large, ergonomically designed, and comfortable. Similar to Norway and Sweden, children go shoeless and the stocking feet diminish noise levels, keep learning spaces cleaner, and provide a cozier, more comfortable feel. Nearly every classroom has alternative, flexible seating options as well, such as cushions to use around the room, bean bag chairs, or exercise balls and balance disks to allow for some movement during lessons. Some desks have the ability to adjust the height to allow students to pick whether they’d like to work sitting or standing.
Intangible space for learning is also created through a wonderfully low student: teacher ratio. The largest class I’ve seen is about 16 students, and even then, there are usually two adults in the room, often the classroom teacher plus an educational aide or an intervention specialist, if not both! Once a week, it is common for a school “grandparent” to come and spend the entire day with a class. This grandparent is an older community member volunteering his or her time and life experience to do things like read with children one on one, help with crafts and other activities and simply be there to support teaching and learning, all while authentically transmitting cultural knowledge and expectations and encouraging respectful behavior.
As you can imagine, these extra hands go a long way towards making the chaos of an early primary classroom feel more orderly, plus students always have a teacher-figure to turn to for support, whether it be an academic question they are seeking help with or the need for a quick hug.
When space is created, learning is enhanced.
Whether it be physical space (alternative seating and open spaces), social-emotional space (through the presence of multiple adults in the room), or the free time and space for self-directed play (in the form of planned, regular breaks in the daily schedule), it’s clear that when students have sufficient space and time to play and move, and when their classrooms are comfortable spaces in which to learn, with plenty of adult support, the result is highly focused learning, improved behavior, and enhanced educational outcomes. As a result, everything runs more smoothly and efficiently.
And why wouldn’t it? Imagine if, as a teacher, you had:
- 5–10 fewer students in your room + those you did have were more focused,
- another set (or two or three) of capable, well-trained adult hands to help facilitate your lessons, and
- full autonomy over how and when to run your class!
It stands to reason that with these low-hanging areas of common frustration for teachers streamlined, more time and energy are freed up to focus on higher order tasks and deeper learning. Plus, with learning happening in a more efficient way, school days can be shorter because more can be accomplished in less time (potentially shaving off hours, days, months, or even years of instructional time).
Cultivating space seems to lead to a culture of constant improvement and growth, not to mention sustainability and balance for the teacher, that we could definitely stand to adopt, at least in part, in our schools in the US. Teachers in Finland that I have interviewed do not feel overwhelmed. Rather, they feel supported, autonomous and empowered in their schools, and appreciated and respected by the broader community. Finnish parents trust teachers as the experts and know they will do what is best; Finnish teachers have never even heard of the concept of a helicopter parent.
A side benefit of the frequent breaks for student recesses is that teachers also have more space and time to mingle with one another, reflect/collaborate/plan or itterate on plans between lessons, and to generally connect and build relationships and rapport. Teachers seem to have great respect for one another and schools have high levels of collegiality. One staff of teachers I visited with told me they were planning a trip to Estonia together, just for fun (and that they had done various trips in the past to Germany and other countries, during school breaks). That’s right — a teaching staff, opting in to pay their own way to spend a weekend of free time traveling together, just for fun ! This speaks volumes about the culture of the teaching staff and relationships between teachers in Finnish schools.
Finland has embraced the concept that space, time, and free play are just as valuable as focused work and study. In fact, after observing the typical school day in Finaland, I would wager that the space and time carved out through thoughtful scheduling, breaks, and efficient use of time may actually be the driving force behind the Finnish education system’s productivity and success.
Whatever Finalnd is doing, it’s working! Despite a shorter school day, more frequent breaks, and an average of 3 fewer years in the classroom, Finnish students remain more successful across standardized measures than most of their peers around the world who face longer days, fewer breaks, and several more years of compulsory schooling. Moreover, Finnish teachers:
- have great balance in their day to day lives
- cultivate stronger, respect-filled relationships with their colleagues and principals (who, I forgot to mention previously, continue to teach in their own classrooms in addition to taking on administrative duties, thereby ensuring a consistent connection to the classroom, students, and the realities of the challenges their teachers face), and overall,
- enjoy a much more sustainable, respected career in which they are freed up to teach autonomously.
I look forward to seeing the differences, if any, that may exist between these small rural schools and the schools in the city of Helsinki that I will visit next week!
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