The secret of one of the best educational systems in the world

They are not the ones who invest the most in education (less than 7% of GDP), nor the ones that impose the greatest workload on children in schools (608 hours of primary school compared to 875 in Spain, for example).

Nor are they inclined to give excessive amounts of homework; and, when it comes to formally assessing the success of the learning process, a couple of national exams when young people leave school, at age 18, is enough for them.

So how is it possible that Finnish students always occupy the top positions in the international lists that assess educational levels?

In the most recent PISA report - English acronym for the International Program for the Evaluation of Students of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) - 2009, Finland ranks number two in science, number three in reading and number six in math.

This evaluation is carried out every three years (the results of the 2012 exams will be published in December 2013). In 2006, for example, Finland established itself in the first two positions in the three areas.

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While in Latin America student protests - most recently those in Chile and Colombia - occur frequently, Finland seems to have found a model - free education from start to finish and where private schools almost do not exist - that has teachers and students Happy students alike.

Read: Latin America has a bad grade in education

The pride of being a teacher
Broad education
Basic idea: equal opportunities.
Children start school at 7 years old.
Almost all schools are public (the number of private schools is negligible).
All education is free (from preschool to university)
The food and study materials are also free.
During the first six years of elementary school he is the same teacher for almost all subjects.
School day: from 8.30 a.m. - 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. , with half an hour of lunch.
National exams when students are 18 years old
Average number of students per class: 23.
Mixed classes (women and men, and different degrees of ability).
Teachers must have a master's degree to teach.
There are many factors that make education in Finland one of the best in the world, but one of the key issues, according to several experts consulted by BBC Mundo, is the quality of teachers.

"The teaching staff has an extraordinary level of training, with a previous selection so demanding that it does not compare with any other in the world," explains Xavier Melgarejo, a Spanish psychologist and psychopedagogue who began studying the education system in Finland, to BBC Mundo. over a decade ago

"Only people with grades above nine, nine and a half over ten enter the faculties of education. They are very demanding. They are tested for reading, artistic sensitivity, mastery of some instrument, communication ... As a result, Universities only recruit 10% of the students who present themselves.

And to teach all teachers need to do a master's degree.

The counterpart of this requirement is recognition. Not necessarily in economic terms, since the salaries of educators do not present large differences with the rest of Europe (according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, the basic salary of a primary school teacher is between US $ 29,000 and US $ 39,000 per year), but social.

"Teachers are considered academic professionals and have the responsibility to develop their work, so there is no excessive control over them," explains Anita Lehikoinen, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland, to BBC Mundo.

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Image caption
"Here it is not like in other places, we don't have so many standards," says Hilkka-Roosa Nurmi, a language teacher.
"This profession attracts so many people because being a teacher is an honor in Finland. It is probably the most valued profession," says Melgarejo.

"I did not dream of being a teacher, but now I dedicate myself to this profession and I really like it," explains Hilkka-Roosa Nurmi, a Spanish and English teacher who has experience teaching these languages ​​in her country and in Spain.

"Here it is not like in other places, we don't have so many rules. We can choose how we teach. We have more freedom. But this also means more responsibility," he says.

You are worth what you know
Public expenditure on education, total (% of GDP)
Finland: 6.8%
Sweden: 7.3%
Denmark: 8.7%
Argentina: 6%
Cuba: 13.1%
Chile: 4.2%
Mexico: 5.3%
United States: 5.4%
Source: World Bank 2009

Another reason why the Finnish system works is, to a large extent, because school is only one of the gears of the educational process. The other variables of weight are the family and society -of Lutheran tradition- where there is a high sense of responsibility and where people are valued "for their training and not for their socioeconomic status," says Melgarejo.

To give us an idea, "in the Lutheran culture one is saved when reading the Bible, one comes to God through the written word." And although the churches are not very crowded today, the value of learning to read and write has been deeply rooted in Finnish culture, Melgarejo adds.

In this Lehikoinen agrees: "most of the homes are subscribed to one or several newspapers and this is a tradition that is then passed on to children," he says.

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Image caption
The sense of responsibility is rooted in Finnish culture.
The media indirectly also help the learning of reading. "All television programs in the original language, mostly in English, are subtitled and that encourages children to learn to read and increase reading speed," says Melgarejo.

But also the Finns bet on education because they know that as a small country, surrounded by powerful neighbors like Russia or Sweden and without an arsenal of natural resources at their disposal, culture - their domain in the field of knowledge - is what gives them the possibility of competing in a global economy.

And inside, excellence in the educational level translates "into an important degree of social cohesion, which allows Finns to feel that they are part of society, even in times of crisis," Lehikoinen explains.

Lessons for Latin America
When we propose major educational reforms, for example, we always involve teachers and students, it is not about government orders that educators have to follow, they are reforms that we have prepared together
Anita Lehikoinen, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland.
When the results of the first PISA assessment were released in 2000, the government was flooded with visits by foreign delegations that came to Finland to discover the secrets of the Nordic wonder and implement them in their own countries.

Germany, for example, embarrassed by its mediocre test results, took note of the Finnish program and introduced reforms in its system.

But what possibility do Latin American countries have, where public education is far from being a pride, where teachers' salaries do not live up to their responsibilities and where there is no welfare state like in some European countries, of implementing an educational system like Finland's?

"You can't copy and paste the entire system," Andreas Schleicher, head of PISA assessments, tells BBC Mundo, "but you can see how Finns know who a good teacher is, how they recruit them, how they are assigned classes or how they make sure that every child benefits from what they teach. "

Children are not given much homework at home.
Melgarejo also believes that certain elements can be imported, such as improving the selection of good teachers, promoting public libraries - widely attended in Finland - and making families contribute to the schooling process.

And perhaps a useful lesson for Latin America is to learn how Finland faces changes in the field of education.

"Everything is based on mutual trust and building a consensus. When we propose major educational reforms, for example, we always involve teachers and students, it is not about government orders that educators have to abide by, they are reforms that we have prepared together, "says Lehikoinen.

After this description of Lehikoinen, Melgarejo and Schleicher, one could tend to imagine a class in Finland as an idyllic situation: a group of obedient children listening to a master class enthralled that they interrupt from time to time with an intelligent question.

Nothing is further from reality. Children do the same pranks as anywhere in the world. Even, sometimes, "when they do the education measurements it is a paradox because although they do very well, when asked if they like school, they always say no. Maybe that is due to the independent spirit of our children," concludes Lehikoinen .