TEACHING SCIENCES IN THE FINNISH COMPULSORY SCHOOL

(PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, BIOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY)

Brief description of the Finnish Educational system

The Educational policy of education in Finland stresses quality, efficiency, equity

and internationalism. The Government and the Ministry of Education and Culture,
as part of it, are responsible for preparing and implementing education in both
state languages, financed from the state budget. During the last 10 years there
were several budget cuts. As an example, we can compare the budget of the year
2008 and this year's (2011) budget. Year 2008 the budget was 10 900 000 000 €
and now it is 6 809 136 000€ [1].
The public authorities must secure equal opportunities for every resident in Finland
to get education also after compulsory schooling and right to pre-primary and basic
education according to the Basic Education Act (1998).[2]
The Finnish government underlines that the Finnish educational system is geared
to promote the competitiveness of the Finnish welfare society. Finland, as a
member of EU, support the overall lines of Finnish education and science policy
with the EU Lisbon strategy.
Nowadays the Finnish Educational system is the result of several changes and
reforms. The content of curriculum and the goals in education changes
approximately every 10 years, but the Finnish Educational system remains
traditional (see figure 1).
The Basic Education Act contains the main goal with the Compulsory Education in
Finland:
“The objective of basic education is to support pupils' growth
towards humanity and ethically responsible membership of
society, and to provide them with the knowledge and skills
necessary in life. The instruction shall promote equality in
society and the pupils' abilities to participate in education and
to otherwise develop themselves during their lives”
(Basic Education Act, 1998).
Basic education in Finland is provided for children between the ages of 7 to 16.
The basic education is compulsory and free of charge, what is more it is forbidden
to charge students. All students during their compulsory studies receive books,
notebooks, pencils and all needed material so that their studies remains free, it is
even an obligation for the school to provide students with study materials. As a
rule, all children are to be educated in the school closest to where they live, but
Ingvar Stål ISETL, School of Education, University of Glasgow 2012 1
parents may chose other schools if possible. Schools must provide the students
with transportation if the school journey exceeds 5 kilometers.
It is also possible to fulfill one's compulsory education without attending school, but
this occurs rarely. There are also private schools in Finland but very few students
attend them (approximately 1% ). The Academic year consists of 190 working
days.
Pre-primary school in Finland is not a compulsory part of basic education, but it is
offered as an option. Pre-school classes are usually organized at the day care
centers or at the comprehensive schools. The groups are organized for six-years-
old children who are going to start their compulsory education next year.
The compulsory basic education consists of two parts : Elementary school (from
grades 1 to 6) and Lower Secondary School (from grades 7 to 9).
Children begin the Elementary School during the autumn (in August) of the year
when they become seven years old; the pupils remain in elementary school for six
years. Instructions are usually given by a class teacher who teaches all (or nearly
all) of the subjects. Teachers training is carried out by the Finnish universities and
the educational programme to became an elementary school teacher lasts 3 years.
There are two official national languages in Finland – Finnish and Swedish, which
means that there are two types of schools, schools with the Finnish-language of
instruction and schools with the Swedish-language of instruction. Curriculum of the
Elementary school contains the following subjects: The “mother tongue” (Finnish or
Swedish), Mathematics, Foreign language (usually starts from grade 3 and
onwards), Nature (from the 5th grade this subject contains basic Physics and
Chemistry), History, Geography, Religion (or Ethics), Visual Arts, Physical
education, Music and Craft. There are no examinations in elementary school.
Students are introduced to the mark-system at the fifth grade (age 12-13). In order
to assess the students' level of knowledge in different subjects, teacher
themselves prepare the tests. These tests assess the students in the material
which teacher choose to teach to the students during class as well as material
which are obligatory according the National curriculum. Teachers freedom to teach
what they want is the main cause for students with different background have a
different level of knowledge when they arrive to the Lower Secondary School.
The Lower Secondary School usually lasts three years (grade 7 to 9). However
there is one voluntary additional year (grade 10) for students who wish to improve
their marks. Good marks are needed to fulfill the requirements to attend the Upper
Secondary schools. The final average mark of Lower Secondary School subjects
must be at least 8 in order to attend Upper Secondary school. The assessment
scale ranges from 4 (poor) to 10 (excellent).
Ingvar Stål ISETL, School of Education, University of Glasgow 2012 2
 Figure 1: The structure of the Finnish Educational system

At the Lower Secondary school all lessons are held by subject teachers. Teacher
training of subject teachers takes 5 years and is carried out by universities and as
additional training to obligatory specialization. After this training teachers receive a
Master Degree in their main subject and a Teacher Certificate. For example, a
teacher may have a Master Degree in Mathematics and Certificate of Teacher in
Mathematics at Lower Secondary and Upper Secondary Schools. In order to
Ingvar Stål ISETL, School of Education, University of Glasgow 2012 3
receive this certificate candidates must have 60 credits in Pedagogy Studies and
Practice.
At the Lower Secondary School, the Curriculum (Figure 2) consists of with (even
more) languages, Environmental studies, Civics, Religion or Ethics, Physics,
Chemistry, Home Economics and several optional subjects (Figure 3).

Figure 2: The distribution of teaching hours for different subjects per week

Figure 3: The optional courses at Botby Junior High-school, Helsinki, Finland

In order to asses students' knowledge in the different subjects, teachers organize

Ingvar Stål ISETL, School of Education, University of Glasgow 2012 4

“competency test”. Competency tests may take place several times during the
academic year. Every subject teacher has a responsibility for test content. The
syllabus is defined by the National curriculum for every individual subject. In this
document there is no assessment scale, it only contains a description of required
knowledge and skills earning mark 8 (good). It is up to every school (and teacher)
to specify the assessment criteria for other marks, which is derived from the mark
8 description. There are no examinations for students, during the Lower Secondary
school period. In order to measure students' knowledge level in different subjects,
every teacher has the possibility and right to order the National test, but this test is
not compulsory. Generally teachers asses students according to the following
procedure. Teacher gives points for every question in the competency test, then
draws the coordinate system and places the points on a drawn y-axis. After that
teacher places the best and worst points in to the coordinate system and
determine the ordinates for best point and worse point, then teacher divide
intervals between ordinates in three equal intervals. First 1/3 of the interval equals
mark 4 and following 2/3 of interval equals to mark from 5 to 10. This 2/3 interval
divides into 5 equal intervals which represents assessment scale. Teacher
generally follow the same procedure for every test in different classes. It means
that if hypothetical student A and student B were to receive the same mark 10,
their level of knowledge may not be at the same level. This causes students to be
at different knowledge level after their compulsory education.
The Upper Secondary school is a three-years program which ends with the
national matriculation exams – it consists of an compulsory exam and 3 or more
are elective exams. Students must have at least 4 subjects on their matriculation
certificate. Approximately 70% of a finished students courses were compulsory,
while the rest were optional or electives. Passing the matriculation exams makes
student eligible for higher education in principle, but most universities and
polytechnics hold also entrance examinations, interviews, aptitude tests or such.

Where does the Sciences stand with regards to the other subjects in the
Finnish Curriculum?

The Sciences in the Finnish Curriculum are not stressed. The reasons for the lack
of stress in Science Education is explained in a document about the core curricula
for basic education. The Sciences are first taught in the grades 1-4 under the
official name of “Environmental and Natural Studies”. This subject is an integrated
subject which contains basic biology, geography, physics, chemistry and health
education. The main point of the “course” is sustainable development. The main
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goals of the studies are “to familiarize with and understand nature as well as the
built environment, themselves and other people, human diversity, and health and
disease” [2]. It is recommended to teach students according an investigative and
problem-centered approach. The starting point is the students' existing knowledge,
skills and experiences such as things, phenomena, events which are connected to
the students' environment and the students themselves. Generally this course is
presented as separate modules and the main goal with all modules is to help
students to understand their own environment and understand the interaction
between “the individual and the environment” [2, p.170]. Because of these
modules there is no possibility to gain knowledge in one holistic structure and there
is no such goal with other subject to build one. The definition of scientific world
view is missing. There is no assessment of students in those grades.
The next level of education in Sciences starts on grades 5 – 6. There are 4
different subjects which all are lectured with 1 hour per week. Science as a whole
is taught in well separated subjects such as Biology, Geography, Physics and
Chemistry. The subjects could be unified with the definition about scientific world
view, however only object of investigation is clearly mentioned. In Biology it is life
and its phenomena. In Geography it is the world and its various regions. In Physics
and Chemistry it is observation and investigation of natural phenomena. In the end
of the students' studies in grade 6, teachers mark students according to the
assessment criteria in the National Curriculum. Only Biology teaching is required to
be inquiry-based, which implies project-based education.
The next level of education in the Sciences starts in the Lower Secondary school,
grades 7 – 9. The separation between Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Geography
turns to be more distinguished. For a half academic year the subjects are taught 2
hours per week in grade 7. For example, if students in grade 7 starts with Physics
it means that students have 2 h per week one half of the academic year and then
other half of the academic year students have Chemistry. The courses in grade 8
are organized accordingly but with 3 h per week. The courses in grade 9 are
structured like in grade 7. Biology and Geography courses are alternating like the
Physics and Chemistry courses. There are no required methods of instructions
(teaching), teacher may decide their own teaching method which is the main
advantage of the Finnish School system. Science subjects and mathematics may
be taught 2 additional hours per week, as optional subjects. The content of all
subjects is represented in form of modules as well; each module contains
description of the main topics. This structure requires special teaching system
which is common for all Lower Secondary schools. This teaching structure or
model is based on a mixture of structuralistic and pragmatical models. According to
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this model the teacher invites students to participate in the lesson, which contains
structured facts (sometimes with examples from different scientific areas), asks
questions and tries to get desired answers from these questions, and offers on
frontal laborations which have already been planned for and have ready made
instructions of the task and the method. When a “cycle” is completed the class
moves on to the next “cycle”. This system or model can be named as Traditional
Cyclic System (TCS).
The TCS is based on a behaviorist approach. The next level of education in
Sciences continues at the Upper Secondary school. At this level students do not
attend subjects but they chose modules in Sciences which are independent from
each other and presented as a complete unit. For example, Physics is represented
by 8 different modules and only one module is compulsory for all students, while
the other 7 modules are electives. The situation in Chemistry is the same – 1
compulsory module with 5 elective modules; Biology – 2 compulsory modules with
2 elective modules; Geography – 2 compulsory modules with 2 elective. Interesting
is that the only technology oriented subject is Computer Training with optional 1
module. However, in order to receive the Matriculation Certificate students need
have passed only the compulsory modules: 1 in Physics, 1 in Chemistry, 2 in
Biology, 2 in Geography (total 5). Remarkable is also that Religion consists of 3
compulsory modules. The duration of one module is five weeks.

Gaps in the Physics curriculum

The main goal with the National Curriculum in Physics is defined as “... to broaden
the pupils' knowledge of physics and their conception of the nature of physics, and
to strengthen skills in the experimental acquisition of information”. This means that
the content of the syllabus is concentrated on Physics as one disjoint part of the
natural sciences. In order to achieve this goal the curriculum recommends the
method of induction – to start with students' prior knowledge and develop it
towards general laws and fundamental principals. This method has advantages
and disadvantages. One advantage is apparent in the phrase “prior knowledge of
students”, it is a good starting point to develop discussions about different
phenomena in nature based on the students' own experiences. In order to show
the impossibility to implement this transition from the ”simple” to the ”complex” one
may use the principle of scientific topicality to be applied. According the principle of
scientific topicality a developed theory is the key to understand and explain all
problems and flaws with predecessor-theories. Undeveloped theories are
incapable to explain the developed theory. Transition from the “simple” toward the
Ingvar Stål ISETL, School of Education, University of Glasgow 2012 7
“complex “ is in contradiction with the principle of scientific topicality, because the
“complex” cannot be explained by the “simple”. The Physics National curriculum is
created on the principle of simplicity, in the beginning of a teaching process it starts
with classical Physics and then after several transitions it arrives to the complex
theory of Quantum Physics. During the teaching process some of the students'
knowledge becomes obsolete. However, understanding some obsolete knowledge
led to the creation of new topics which are not connected to each other. The
Physics National curriculum points to “.... ( guide ) the pupils in thinking in manner
characteristic of science....” which is advantage, but what means under “...in
manner characteristic of science...” is not clear.
The next task of Physics studies is the development of “... his or her personality
and forming a modern world view.” The quote appears to be about a personal
worldview. However, the personal worldview is not the same as the scientific
picture of nature or simply the scientific worldview. In order to understand and use
the scientific worldview the national curriculum must open the borders of Physics,
which means that it has to create connections with other sciences in general. This
could be done by establishing interdisciplinary relations.
The objectives of the National curriculum contains many good ideas. These
objectives, however, must be analyzed together with the official Physics textbook.
The Physics National curriculum states that “The pupils will learn scientific skills,
such as the formulation of questions and the perception of problems... to present
and test a hypothesis;...” but the Physics textbooks and the description of
laborations contains already defined hypothesis and instructions on how to
conduct ready made experiments. The double standards of the curriculum is
clearly apparent in the final-assessment criteria, “The pupils will know how… to
follow directions..., how to perform a science investigation according to the
instructions given...”. It should be noted that the usage of mathematics in Physics
is somewhat limited because of the students' undeveloped math skills. For
example, solving of linear equations is the last topic in grade 8 and definition of the
function is introduced as late as in grade 9. It is interesting to analyze the concept
of phenomena. The Physics National curriculum emphasize the classification of
observations which belongs only to Physics. Students learn which phenomenons
belongs to Physics and which do not, they learn to “... understand casual relations
between phenomena”. It should be noted that the categorization of different
physical phenomena contains contradictions, for example, Motion and Vibration
are considered to be different phenomena. The same confusion arises with
general properties of waves – reflection, refraction are properties of light. Very
often the word “phenomena” is used as a synonym for the word “property”. It is
Ingvar Stål ISETL, School of Education, University of Glasgow 2012 8
good that the syllabus emphasizes applications of Physics.
The listed contradictions of the Physics National curriculum creates problems in
teaching physics. The teachers have to develop their own educational programs
creating a society of people with a high variance in their Science knowledge level.
The Physics National curriculum does not necessarily create the opportunities for
students to “...know that physics is a basic science, and that physical knowledge
and experimental methods of information acquisition are used in other sciences,
and in technology”, it depends on the creativity of a subject teacher.
The same tendency occurs in the Chemistry and Biology curriculum. For example,
in the introductory part of the Biology National curriculum states that “In biology
instruction, life and its phenomena and prerequisites come under investigation.”
Again, the content of the syllabus is concentrated on Biology as one disjoint part of
the natural sciences.

References.

1. http://www.eduskunta.fi
2. Finnish National Board of Education, National Core Curriculum for Basic
Education 2004,
http://www.oph.fi/instancedata/prime_product_julkaisu/oph/embeds/47672_core_c
urricula_ basic_education_3.pdf

Ingvar Stål ISETL, School of Education, University of Glasgow 2012 9