[LINK] What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success

Tom Worthington tom.worthington at tomw.net.au
Wed Aug 22 08:26:56 AEST 2012


On 20/08/12 15:42, Kim Holburn wrote:
> Australians might consider this too.
> http://m.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success/250564/
>> ... Finland's success is especially intriguing because Finnish
>> schools assign less homework and engage children in more creative
>> play. ... Only a small number of independent schools exist in
>> Finland ...

A more significant factor may be that Finish teachers are required to 
have much higher qualifications and get paid much more than in Australia.

Finnish teachers are required to have at least a Master's degree, 35 
weeks study in a school subject and 35 weeks teacher training: 
http://www.helsinki.fi/teachereducation/step/information/qualifications/

Finish teachers get paid 13% more than miners: 
http://www.worldsalaries.org/finland.shtml

Unlike Australia, where teachers get paid 29% less than miners: 
http://www.worldsalaries.org/australia.shtml

One way the education of Australian teachers could be improved is by 
providing online courses. But then if their salaries are not also 
increased, teachers may go and work in the mining industry. ;-)

ps: I will be speaking about online education for graduate students, 
12:30pm, 19 September 2012, in the Ethel Tory Centre. This is a repeat 
of my presentation to the 7th International Conference on Computer 
Science & Education (ICCSE 2012): 
http://tomw.net.au/technology/it/green_computing_professional/


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards
Legislation

Adjunct Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/



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