Keep calm and FINNISH school

According to the PISA Program Finland is a leading country regarding education. Austria however didn´t score very good the last couple of years. What is it that makes Finnish schools so successful?

Finland vs Austria

Finland has a number of smart ideas how to teach kids while letting them be kids. They believe in short school days, little homework and as little testing as possible. There are only few rules, like no mobile phones in class. A student has to do something really bad like hit somebody to actually get punished.

Also, Finnish schools have stopped putting pupils into different math and language groups based on ability. They say that people can't be divided in how smart they are. Finland is a society based on equity and outperforming their neighbour isn't really important. Everybody is average, but they want that average to be very high.

Finland invests much in their teachers. It is the quality of teaching that brings the great success. For example, every teacher has to have a master's degree. Many Finns want to become teachers, so Finland has a large quantity to choose from and they filter it very selectively. Only about 10 % of the applicants are accepted and sent to a 5-year teaching program. It is really expensive to educate all teachers in five year program but it helps to make them highly respected. 

Additionally Finnish teachers stay with a class from first grade through sixth grade. That way the teacher has years to get to know the students well. 

All of this measurements seem to pay off. Only 13 % of students take remedial after school lessons. 

Comparatively in Austria between 20 and 30 % of students take after school lessons.

In Austria  we have longer school days. I remember coming home exhausted at 6 sometimes, not to mention the tons of homework to do due the next day. Some of our teachers believed in weekly testing, others did only one big test per semester. Regarding punishment, I think it is pretty similar here in Austria.

I attended a "Gymnasium" and we didn't have different ability groups. In the other school type called Hauptschule , they had these "Leistungsgruppen" in every main subject. I think Austria is a much more competitive country. 

It is more easy to become a teacher in Austria. Most teacher studies don't have entrance exams. Also teachers can switch each year. In my opinion this can have positive as well as negative effects. For example if you really don't get along with a teacher it can be helpful to know that the next year you may get someone else. On the other hand not all teachers cover the same topics at the same time. This may cause problems for the students.