Even at Eton College, the Finnish school system is a source of wonder

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By Anssi Miettinen
     
      I recently paid a visit to the famed Eton College - simply Eton to most.
      Founded in 1440 by King Henry VI, this independent boarding school for boys has turned out an astonishing number of distinguished Old Etonians, including eighteen British prime ministers and the future monarch Prince William and his younger brother Harry.
      For the trifling sum of EUR 34,000 in annual tuition fees, pupils from the ages of 13 to 18 get to grow and learn in an environment carefully sheltered from the evils of the outside world.
     
Eton College is a top-notch school, no question about it.
      But it gives a totally false image of the level of comprehensive education in Britain.
      The majority of British children receive their education in very different circumstances.
     
This becomes evident in international comparisons.
      In the light of the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which compares the academic competence of 15-year-olds, Great Britain can be classified as fair-to-middling at best among its Western rivals.
      In maths, the UK is only ranked 24th (out of 65 nations in 2009).
      The country’s placings in reading (17th) and sciences (14th) do not give much cause for throwing straw boaters in the air, either, although a reference to that headgear is actually quite out of order here - it is part of the uniform of Eton's archrivals, Harrow School.
      And all this mediocrity exists despite the fact that the British kids start their schooling at the age of five, in other words two years earlier than for instance in Finland, where the PISA scores are, well, "rather better".
     
For many British parents, education is a continuous cause of grief and hand-wringing.
      If one cannot afford a private school, then one would do well to move to an area with a good-quality state school.
      This, too, may become expensive, as a good school can upwardly affect the property prices in the area.
      In this system, equal opportunities for everyone are but a distant dream.
      “Education, education, education”, Prime Minister Tony Blair used as a mantra at the beginning of his time in Downing Street.
      This was not just empty politspeak, either.
      During its 13 years in power the Labour Party has tried to fix the country’s educational system.
      The funds allocated to schools have doubled.
      More than a thousand new schools have been built. A significant number of new teachers have been hired, and their salaries have been raised considerably.
      Computers have been bought, roofs have been mended.
      Even various consultants have been called in to remedy things.
     
But the results have been meagre at best.
      One out of five 11-year-olds is unable to write proper sentences.
      The students also have weird gaps in their general knowledge level.
      A lecturer from the Bristol University Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry complained recently that some of the students at Bristol have problems with basic mathematical concepts.
      Students who had made it to the Medical School did not know how many centimetres there are in one metre, he charged.
      Notwithstanding the increased funding, many schools are in dire straits and under threat of being closed down.
     
Even during the recession the upswing has continued in one field, namely private tutoring.
      Some middle-class parents of pupils going to state schools have resorted to hiring private teachers for their children, for the level of education in classrooms has not met their expectations.
      Despite the increased budget for state schools, the difference in the quality of education between private and state schools is still huge and has even widened.
      This is also manifested in the student intake of universities.
      Only about seven per cent of British children go to private schools, but their share of the student body of the top universities of Cambridge and Oxford is in the region of 45%.
      So, budget money has not been the panacea for Britain’s education headache.
     
Education is also one of the central themes in this spring’s election.
      The parties compete in presenting their improvement suggestions.
      Even the Nordic region has been looked into in search of a better model.
      The Conservative Party has previously been interested in Sweden in particular, where many private schools have been set up in recent years. But also Finland’s exceptionally high learning achievements and regular PISA triumphs have caught the attention of British politicians.
     
Recently, the Conservative opposition leader David Cameron, widely touted as being Britain's next PM, suggested a considerable tightening of the educational requirements for teachers.
      Cameron directly referred to Finland, where teachers are extremely well educated.
      In the view of Cameron, who himself is an Old Etonian, the UK should emulate the Finns’ “unashamedly elitist” attitudes to teacher recruitment.
     
Even at Eton College, the Finnish model is a cause for general amazement.
      The economics teacher David Fox wondered aloud why the Finns achieve so much higher results.
      He was also curious as to why the teaching profession is so popular in Finland.
      “Is the pay so much better?” Fox enquired.
      After hearing the obvious answer (which was “No, not really”), he wondered why it was then that gifted individuals would choose to become teachers.
      I thought I might crack a joke about the unashamed elitism of the Finnish teaching profession, but decided against it.
      “It’s the long summer holidays!” I replied.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 1.3.2010
     
     
The writer Anssi Miettinen is the London correspondent of Helsingin Sanomat


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish teens score high marks in latest PISA study (30.11.2007)
  PISA Conference visits Finland to learn secrets of scholastic success (15.3.2005)

Links:
  Eton College (Wikipedia)
  OECD Pisa Online

ANSSI MIETTINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
anssi.miettinen@hs.fi