Finnish education system has this reputation to be one of the best in the world. This is another reason why I wanted to experience this country. Basically, the education system is kind of similar to the French’s one. We can notice that in France we have three years of pre-school instead of one, but the rest of the career is pretty much the same. To me, the main difference is how Finnish teachers (and parents also) deal with learning. The first interesting thing for a foreigner like me is the notation system. In France, we are used to have different notations. In pre-school we have a notation going from A+ to F-. After pre-school is the 0 to 20 notations, and so until the end of our studies. I have the feeling that we (French people) grant a lot of importance to notation whereas Finnish people consider marks more like a second plan thing and truly understanding is much more important.
Another huge difference with France is teaching time. I truly believe that we have too long school days in France, around 8 hours per day that is gigantic! Some scientific studies report that we can not be focus more than 90 minutes on a daily base. In Finland, school daytime is more around 4 hours, which is clearly better. Moreover, teaching methods in Finland are more practical, concrete which help a lot for memorizing and focusing.
School is also free in France, which is one a basic point in a society for me. To me, states must give the same access to education no matter how rich you are. There is a citation that I love: “Students might be 20% of our population, but they are 100% of our future”.
In conclusion, Finland has one of the best education systems in the world and I have the chance to experience it. Accent is put on collaboration instead of competition. If you have time, I recommend you to watch this video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4xj0MaP1J0. It sums up just perfectly the vision I have about our current school system and how good Finnish one is.
Take care,
Romain GIROU.
Erasmus to Seinäjoki 