No Room for Homework in Finland

A lot has been said about homework in the past as well as in the present. There are some people that believe homework has a part to play in the education of the student. There are others that believe that homework should be eliminated from the school calendar.

The argument is still raging. What is happening in Finland says much about those that believe that homework has no rules to play in the development of the child. Is homework really useful in the learning process?

Finland is rated as the best as far as education is concerned and yet they have abolished homework in their school. Without homework, 93% of Finish students graduate from high school as against the 75% in the US where there is homework.

What is magic?

The teacher student ratio works magic in Finland. It is 12cstudents to a teacher as against 24 to a teacher in the US. The low ratio gives the teachers the opportunity to have a direct one on one with the students. Enough time is given to proper monitoring; this will yield a perfect understanding of the concept taught in the classroom.

With plenty of teacher interactions, it will be possible to pass the instructions to the student. The deficiency in the class that teachers wanted to do with homework will not be there in this case because of the strict monitoring that students will get through their teachers.

The staggering statistics

  • About two out of three students in Finland go to college. This is a high rate when compared to what is happening in Europe.
  • The test score of the students in Finland dominates everyone else.
  • The teachers in the Finish system of education have more time for the students. Assignments are only given to teenagers. In the US, an average 5th grader has about 50 mins of homework.
  • The recess in Finland is different from other parts. While 75 minutes is given to Finland students; the elementary system in the US gives room for only 27 minutes of recess.
  • Finland knew the quality of a teacher. Extra efforts are made to ensure that every teacher is given adequate training before they are allowed into Finland classrooms. Finland allows only top 10% of their products into their schools.
  • The top quality that we see in Doctors or Lawyers all over the world is the same as what obtains in Finland teachers.

It could be seen from what you have read that Finland has deposited so much in teacher training. That is the reason why they are in a soar away position among the rest of the world.

Final thoughts

When the world is ready to pay the right attention to educating the teacher; things will change for the better in our schools. Without homework, the results can be achieved if we go the way Finland is handling the process in their sector. Without homework; success can still be achieved in our schools.