Society and family
Attitude towards the child
From the moment of its birth, the inhabitants of Finland treat the child as a full-fledged citizen of the country. Immediately after birth, he receives a passport.
Parents do not have the right to raise their voice to a child in public - this humiliates him. You can only "educate" at home. And for an attempt to spank a child with all honest people, you can get a solid fine or even a term.
There are no street children in Finland - vagrant children left without dads and moms.
The spouses are more or less equally concerned with raising children, although raising babies is still considered a woman's responsibility.
A family
Complete families with both parents make up more than 80% of the total number of families with children, another 17% of families are incomplete, as a rule, these are families without fathers (15%).
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When creating a family, Finns are guided by two or three children.
Finnish boys prefer to marry a little later: at the age of 24-30, the most preferable age is 25 and a little older. Finnish girls prefer 26-28 years old.
Almost all Finnish youth perceive incomplete families, where a child is raised by one mother or one father, as full-fledged families and treats them positively.
All Finnish girls who are going to start a family are committed to partnership, which implies the responsibility of both spouses for the material support of the family, raising children, and joint participation in solving everyday issues.
Finnish young people are not inclined to take their opinion as indisputable in the family.
The main problem of the family in Finland, according to students, is that young people are very keen on their careers, and there is simply no time for a family.
There is no place for jealousy and suspicion in a Finnish family. French and Italian comedies, in which the plot is built around real or perceived infidelity, do not even make Finns smile.
Society
In Finland, everyone lives frugally. Modesty and economy in everything - in design, clothing, furniture. They especially take care and save heat.
Finns tend to clearly distinguish between work and family, personal and general. According to some reports, many Finns are prone to isolation, are wary of attempts at emotional rapprochement, and do not like scandals.
Finns are law-abiding to the point of absurdity. Schoolchildren here do not cheat and do not prompt. And if they see that someone else is doing it, they will immediately tell the teacher.
Preschool education
Children in early childhood are practically not brought up, they are allowed to “stand on their ears”. (According to some reports, there are still bans, but I have not found what they are).
All babies in the country have the right to kindergarten when they reach 10 months of age. Baby food in the kindergarten is free.
In ordinary kindergartens, children with disabilities are also accepted. Children with impaired health reach out for their peers, and as a result, many of them manage to restore vital functions at an early age.
Starting from the age of 6, the child is taught in a playful way all the necessary knowledge and skills that he will need to master the school curriculum at the first stage.
It is assumed that children, talented creatures, in preschool age should naturally acquire both languages.
Features of the education system
Principles
All children are equal. Commerce is not allowed in school.
School books and supplies are free.
School lunches are free.
Students' travel expenses are covered by the municipality.
There are no school inspectors in the country. It is customary to trust teachers. Paperwork is kept to a minimum.
Children with a deficit of natural opportunities are engaged with their peers, in a common team.
Teachers, according to the accepted norms, have no right to expel or send a ward to another school.
Finns do not use selection of children in nine-year school. Here, since the early 1990s, they have decisively abandoned the tradition of sorting students into groups (classes, streams, educational institutions) according to their abilities and even career preferences.
Studying proccess
The academic year consists of 190 working days. Teaching is conducted only during the day shift, and schools are closed on Saturdays and Sundays.
All Finnish schools work on the same shift. The teacher's working day lasts from 8 to 15 hours.
School leaving exams are optional. Control and midterm exams - at the discretion of the teacher.
Remarkable architecture of buildings, exterior and interior. The furniture is silent: the legs of chairs, nightstands, cabinets are padded with soft fabric patches, or equipped with sports rollers for "driving around the classroom".
Dress code is free.
The desks are single. In the school cafeteria, it is also customary for everyone to eat at a separate table.
Parents take an active part in the life of the school. Parents' Day is held every Wednesday. Parents receive invitations in advance, in which they must indicate on what environment and at what time they will come to school. Along with the invitation, parents receive a questionnaire in which they are asked to answer the questions: "How does the student feel at school?", "What topics bring him joy?", "Which causes anxiety?", "What is the relationship with classmates?"
In Finland, all children, from toddler to adulthood, are registered with a social service. Its representative (and not a teacher or class teacher) visits the wards at home on a monthly basis and conducts a kind of monitoring of families - enters into a computer the age, education of parents, the family's way of life and the problems it experiences.
Teacher
The teacher is here as a service worker. Finnish children are indifferent to school, they have no concept of “favorite teacher”.
The average salary of a school teacher in Finland is (calm, reader) 2,500 euros per month (full-time teacher). Mobile teachers - about 2 times less.
Among the country's 120,000 school teachers, not a single one does not hold a Master of Science degree or the academic title of professor in their subject.
At the end of the school year, all teachers are fired, and they do not work in the summer. In the new academic year, teachers are hired by competition and work under contract. Several teachers apply for one place (sometimes up to 12 people per place), preference is given to young ones. At the retirement age, which for women and men starts at 60, no one works anymore.
In addition to conducting lessons, teachers spend two hours a day consulting students, meeting with parents, preparing for tomorrow's classes, creative projects with children, teachers' councils.
The teacher improves his qualifications independently, doing self-education.
School Principles
You can bring any reference books, books, use the Internet to the exam. It is not the number of memorized texts that matters, but whether you know how to use a reference book or the Network - that is, to involve all the resources you need to solve current problems.
"More useful knowledge!" Finnish children from school have a real idea of, for example, what taxes, banks, certificates are. In schools, for example, they teach that if a person receives an inheritance from a grandmother, mother or aunt, then he will have to pay different degrees of taxes.
It is considered not shameful to stay in the second year, especially after the 9th grade. You need to prepare seriously for adulthood.
Every Finnish school has a teacher at a special rate who helps students decide on the future. He reveals the child's inclinations, helps to choose a further educational institution according to taste and possibilities, and analyzes various options for the future of each student. Children come to such a teacher, just like a psychologist, not compulsorily, but themselves - voluntarily.
In Finnish schools, you don't have to listen to the teacher and go about your business in class For example, if an educational film is shown at a literature lesson, but the student does not want to watch it, he can take any book and read. It is important not to disturb others.
The main thing, according to the teachers, is "to motivate, not force to learn."
Once a month, the curator sends the parents a purple piece of paper, which reflects the student's progress. Pupils have no diaries.
Every fourth student in Finland needs personal support from teachers. And they get it on average two to three times a week. Each child is individually.
The principles of education at school
If it is a "project", then it means together. They plan, implement and discuss the result.
The schoolchildren, the principal and the teachers, including the nurse, eat with us. And just like any ordinary student, both we and the director clean up after ourselves from the table, laying out the dishes in specially designated places.
Everyone is praised and encouraged. There are no “bad” students.
The children’s complete trust in their teachers, the feeling of being protected from encroachments on personal freedom is the basis of the local pedagogy.
Children's health
Finns (adults and children) love jogging. And also to be tempered.
Children's mental and physical health, as well as the social problems of students are the most important issues.
Culture, celebrations and ceremonies
It was not possible to dig up much on this topic. Finnish holidays are about the same as in other European countries. According to some reports, at the end of the school year, the Finns have a big holiday. On May 1, Finland hosts a carnival holiday.
Celebrations at work are held periodically. It is not customary to invite a family to such holidays.
Other
Each diaspora has the right to rent premises and organize their own kindergarten, where children are taught their native language.
Finnish schoolchildren on average showed the highest level of knowledge in the world.