What Can We Learn from Finland’s Education System

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If you think a good education consists of as much academic work as possible,lots of competition and plenty of tests,then a trip to Helsinki will offer a fresh perspective.Finland instituted a radically different approach to education in 1971,and has been gradually refining it since.

倘若在你眼中，優質教育應含有盡可能多的學術任務、大量的比賽及考試，那么請前往芬蘭赫爾辛基看一看，在那里你會收獲全新的見解。芬蘭于1971年創建了一套與眾不同的教育方法，自那時以來，這套方法一直在逐步完善。

2 The system emphasizes co-operation rather than competition and focuses heavily on play—with no formal education until age seven and at least 15 minutes of play for every 45 minutes of formal education after that.Teachers have a huge amount of autonomy,including responsibility for assessing students,with almost no formal standardized tests.

2 該教育體制凸顯的是合作而非競爭，并且非常注重孩子的游戲時間——直到7 歲，孩子們才會接受正規教育，而且在每節時長為45 分鐘的正規教育課程后，孩子們至少有15 分鐘的游戲時間。教師有極大的自主權，包括負責對學生進行測評，因為芬蘭的教育體制幾乎沒有正式的標準化測試。

3 There is very little homework and children of all abilities are taught together,with a focus on special education,working intensively with children with learning or behavioral difficulties—30 percent of kids receive special help at some point.

3 孩子們沒什么作業，能力各異的孩子在一起上課，但會側重特殊教育，集中幫助那些有學習或行為困難的孩子。30%的孩子會在某種情況下接受特殊幫助。

4 It seems to work.Finland consistently sits at or near the top in subjects like reading,maths and science in the Program for International Student Assessment run by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development,a standardized test taken by 15-year-olds in more than 70 countries that is widely used to steereducation policies.The test also revealed that the differences between the best and the worst students are the smallest in the world.

4 此法似乎很有成效。國際學生評價項目是由經濟合作與發展組織實施的標準化測試，參與者為來自70 多個國家的15 歲青少年，許多國家會參考該測試來調整教育政策。芬蘭青少年在閱讀、數學和科學等科目上的表現一直處于或接近世界榜首。此測試也揭示了一個事實：芬蘭學生的兩極差距全球最小。

5 “We have always been willing to borrow good ideas that are worth borrowing and turn them,through close cooperation,into something our teachers can use for our own model,” says Jouni Kangasniemi,head of development at the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture.“Then again we are very open to teaching and learning practices developed here in Finland.An open dialogue with other experts,domestic or foreign,helps us develop them further.”

5 “我們一向愿意借鑒值得借鑒的好想法，并通過密切合作將這些想法進行轉換，使其適應芬蘭的教育模式，為芬蘭教師所用?！狈姨m教育文化部發展主任約尼·坎加斯涅米表示，“另一方面，我們對本國的教學實踐持非常開放的態度。和國內外各界專家進行公開對話有助于教學實踐的進一步發展?！?/p>

6 Before age seven,Finland provides children with free preschooling,where the emphasis is on their emotional development and growth as people,learning by interacting with others.“Finnish people say that play is children’s job,”says Pasi Sahlberg.

6 芬蘭政府為不足7 歲的孩子提供免費的學前教育，注重孩子的情感發展及人格培養，孩子通過與他人互動進行學習。帕西·薩爾貝里表示：“芬蘭人認為游戲玩耍是孩子的任務?！?/p>

7 “Finnish parents—me included—and much of the rest of society believe that children must have the right to a long and healthy childhood.We think that children learn what they need by playing,being with their siblings and friends,and being closely linked to their homes.Very few educators and parents are convinced that starting formal schooling early would pay off later in life,and research evidence does not support starting instruction-based schooling earlier.”

7 “包括我在內的芬蘭家長以及許多其他社會人士都認為，孩子應有權長久享受健康的童年。在我們看來，孩子通過游戲玩耍，與兄弟姐妹和朋友互相為伴，并和父母親人朝夕相處，便會學到成長所需。而堅信提早開始正規學校教育日后會帶來回報的教育人士及家長寥寥無幾。研究證據表明，較早開展以講授為主的學校教育并不可取?！?/p>

8 “Creativity is the key condition behind Finland’s overall success as a nation.It is deeply-rooted in the Finnish mindset that finding your own way to do things leads to better outcomes than imitating others.There is no better way to be more creative than to start early and play a lot.”

8 “芬蘭舉國取得總體成功，背后的主要條件在于激發創造力。芬蘭人堅信，相比于模仿他人，找到屬于自己的行事之道效果更好。而且早早把大量時間投入游戲玩耍，是最能激發創造力的方式?！?/p>

9 Perhaps the single biggest factor in the excellence of Finland’s schools derives from the trust it places in its teachers.There is no centralized inspectorate and no rankings of students,schools or teachers; rather they are encouraged to set their own curricula and tests,leading to a diversity of knowledge among students.

9 芬蘭的學校之所以卓越，也許最重要的一個因素是對教師的信任。政府沒有成立集中督學機構，也不會對學生、學?；蛘呓處熯M行排名。相反，政府鼓勵學校自行設置能讓學生汲取多元知識的課程與考試。

10 Teachers are drawn from the top 10 per cent of graduates,all have master’s degrees in education,funded by the state,and are generously paid.As a result,the profession is massively oversubscribed.

10 教師都是排名前10%的畢業生，且已拿到教育碩士學位，并獲得國家資助，薪資豐厚。因此，大量求職者擠破了頭申請教師這一職位。

11 “The greatest barrier in many countries is an assessment system that hinders students to learn and make them compete against each other,” says Kangasniemi.“Finnish teachers are highly trained and qualified.They are experts in learning sciences,not in teaching sciences.To change an education system takes time.Ours has evolved over a few decades.There are no short cuts available when you make system-wide reforms.”

11 “評估體系阻礙學生學習，使他們陷入競爭，因此成為許多國家面臨的最大障礙?！笨布铀鼓兹缡钦f，“芬蘭教師受過高水平培訓，資歷深厚。他們并不精于講授各類學科知識，卻都是學科研學專家。改變教育體系需要時間。幾十年來，我們的教育體系一直在逐步發展。要想全面改革教育體系，沒有捷徑可走?！?/p>

12 Adds Sahlberg: “You can’t really rely on teachers’ and schools’ judgement regarding teaching children unless you can truly trust them.And you can’t trust them enough unless teachers and school leaders are professionals with a capital ‘P’.Teachers must be prepared and treated like professionals,akin todoctors and lawyers,and they must be compensated like professionals.”

12 薩爾貝里補充說：“除非你的的確確信賴教師和學校，否則，在兒童教育問題上，你無法真正依賴他們的判斷。除非教師和學校領導都是真正的專業人士，否則，你也不能充分信任他們。教師必須得到像醫生和律師這樣的專業人士一樣的培養和尊重，他們也必須獲得與專業人士同等的報酬?！?/p>

13 “Their voice in policy-making and designing reforms must be heard and considered as the views of those who know the practice best.The trigger for betterment is building a truly professional culture of schooling based on ethical code,professional representation of the profession in policy-making,and deep,collaborative professionalism in every single school.”

13 “教師對教育實踐最為了解，因此在政策制定及規劃改革方面，政府必須聽取并考慮教師的意見。這種促進教育體制完善的做法，正在以道德規范、政策制定領域的教師職業代表制度，以及各校師資隊伍深厚且具有合作精神的職業素質為基礎，切實構建學校教育的專業文化?！?/p>

14 A fringe benefit is cost savings.All that generous state funding sounds expensive,but Finland still manages to educate its children more cheaply than other wealthy countries: 30 per cent less per child than in the US,for example.Trusting its teachers means it can employ very few administrators and bureaucrats; plus,the lack of standardized tests saves more money.

14 芬蘭教育體制的額外好處是可以節省成本。所有政府大手筆的出資聽上去成本高昂，但相比其他富裕國家，芬蘭的兒童教育成本仍然較低：比如，芬蘭每名兒童的教育成本要比美國低30%。因信任教師，學校幾乎無須聘用管理與行政人員，不設置標準化測試也可以節省更多資金。

15 The latest frontier in Finland’s educational revolution is a move to phenomenon-based approach,in which students learn about particular subjects,events or phenomena from an interdisciplinary perspective.

15 芬蘭教育改革的最新突破在于采用了主題式教學法。通過此方法，學生可以從跨學科的角度來了解特定學科、事件或者現象中的相關知識。

16 However,it will actually only form part of the curriculum,alongside more traditional subjects,and it really just represents a formalization of something a lot of Finnish schools already do.

16 這種教學其實只是課程體系的一部分，體系中還包含比較傳統的學科教學；芬蘭許多學校早已采用類似的方法，此次正式提出其實也就是將其正規化。

17 “Phenomenon-based learning was adopted into the national core curriculum in August 2016,” says Kangasniemi.“It is something that takes place in the study program once or twice a year for a specific length of time.Obviously,it has been piloted earlier in Finnish schools.Due to the good results,it spread across the system.” ■

17 “2016年8月，主題式教學被納入芬蘭國家核心課程體系?！笨布铀鼓兹缡钦f，“在每年的課程中，學校選取某段特定時間，實行一到兩次主題式教學法。顯而易見，芬蘭的學校早已試行主題式教學法。由于試行效果不錯，此教學法便在教育體系中加以推廣?！?□