Documentary Review: The Finland Phenomenon: Inside the World’s Most Surprising School System

The Finland Phenomenon: Inside the World’s Most Surprising School System. This documentary is about Finland's education system and why it ranks top in the nation. Dr. Tony Wagner, who wrote the book, The Global Achievement Gap, narrates this documentary.  He interviews teachers, parents, students, administration and government officials to find out why Finland is consistently ranking among the top education systems in the world.

Some of the top things that I think were the most apparent differences between Finland's education system and the United States are:
1.  Finland's education is based on trust.  They talked frequently about this topic. Not just the teachers but the students as well.  It is their opinion that students perform better when they are trusted.
2.  They do not rely heavily on testing their students.
3.  Only the top students that do very well in school, and get good grades, will be accepted into a university to become a teacher. You can work hard and get good grades, and it is still not a guarantee that you will be accepted into a university to become a teacher. The result is that Finland has very good teachers.
3.Teacher prep for future teachers.  Teachers in Finland spend a great deal of time being coached and guided. They spend many hours observing and watching. They are assessed, critiqued and mentored along the way. They are trained on how to perform a lesson plan, and also how to improve on it.
4. Their schools are a lot smaller, their class sizes are a lot smaller, and the result is the teachers have more time to work with their students. They are very informal and call their teachers by their first name. They have fewer classes during the day, and longer class times, so teachers can teach  more in-depth.

I think the most apparent differences between teachers in Finland and teachers in the United States were:
1.  Teachers are inquiry orientated. They look at their classrooms as lavatory for learning. Everything is shared and learned together, and they create an online learning environment.
2. Teachers work with children who may be behind, and approach teaching them from other angles, and find ways that are effective for that particular child.
3. Instead of the teacher standing in the front writing on the board all the time, in Finland, the children do the problems on the board, while the teacher reviews.
4.  In teaching math, teachers want the children to understand, not just learn the mechanics.
5.  Teacher's teach vocational skills. The students that pick the vocational path in school are taught vocational skills and are ready for a job when they graduate.

While I was watching the documentary, I found myself hoping that what they are doing in Finland with education will help the United States improve their education system. It is a real concern for me, and I truly want our education system to improve, so we can move forward and compete globally with other countries. I did find the documentary to be interesting and enlightening and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in education reform in the United States.