Finse prof. Jukka Sarjala  over grote problemen van de Finse comprehensieve lagere cyclus s.o.: te grote verschillen tussen leerlingen;  veel gedragsproblemen bij leerlingen, minder interesse voor lerarenberoep

Vooraf: de voorbije jaren stelden de Vlaamse pleitbezorgers van een gemeenschappelijke/comprehensieve eerste graad Finland voor als een modelland inzake comprehensief onderwijs en brede eerste graad.  De vele berichten over de problemen met die comprehensieve lagere cyclus werden weggemoffeld. In voorliggende bijdrage schetst de Finse onderwijskundige Kukka Sarjala eens te meer de problemen met een gemeenschappelijke lagere cyclus. In andere bijdragen wordt gewezen op het feit dat Finland voor b.v. PISA heel weinig toppers telt – veel minder dan Vlaanderen.

Problems in the Comprehensive School

1. What Were Our Objectives

In Finland, we had a sweeping school reform in the 1970s. The reform was not easy, for political parties, researchers, and teachers disagreed on whether the new school was any better than the existing one. Those opposed to the reform felt that with the existing education system we could already reach the objectives which the ones in favour of the reform were striving for.

For one hundred years, we had a parallel school system in child and youth education. In that system, children attended a uniform school for the first four years. After the fourth year (na vierde leerjaar)  they were then divided between two different streams of schooling. The streams were quite different from each other as far as their duration, subjects and opportunities for further education were concerned. The popularity of the more extensive stream, which offered theoretical subjects, began to grow in the 1950s because it afforded a chance for the person to advance socially.

There were several shortcomings in the old system:

1. Schools which offered a better chance for social advancement were not equally distributed in the country. The school system was unjust because children did not have equal opportunities for social advancement through education.  ( De leerlingen werden al na het vierde leerjaar lager onderwijs opgesplitst –cf. Duitsland. Men vond dat terecht  te vroeg. In een land met een lage bevolkingsdichtheid is het echter  moeilijk om te differentiëren in eerste graad s.o.. Vlaanderen kan zich die luxe permitteren en kan dus in de eerste graad ook technische opties aanbieden.)

2. The general education of the populace showed great differences. People clamoured for raising the level of education, but there was no agreement on having two types of streams in basic education. There were no reasonable grounds for determining how big a portion of the age group was to be sent to schools which offered either a more extensive or more limited basic education. This formula varied randomly from place to place.

2. How Was the Reform Carried Out

The government and parliament decided that every school-age child had to be offered a chance to attend a nine-year school ( van 7 tot 16 jaar). The curriculum of this new school was more or less the same for everyone; among other things, everyone had to study one foreign language and the second national language of the country.

The main problem of the new school was: how to teach an entire age group in the same school, in the same class. In the planning stages of the reform, people said that slow-learners would dangerously lag behind; on the other hand, the school could be too easy for talented children.

In Finland, it is the municipalities that are responsible for arranging basic education.

3. Problems of the Comprehensive School

3.1          Te grote niveauverschillen en te weinig centen voor kleine niveauklassen

The original problem still exists. Especially in the upper comprehensive school (=lagere cyclus s.o.) teachers are faced with students with different learning abilities. Every student should receive instruction at the level of his skills, but that requires small teaching groups (in Finland probeerde men ook met niveauklassen te werken, maar als er in de vele landelijke gebieden maar een 30 à 50  leerlingen zijn per jaar is dit moeilijk haalbaar).

In the past few years, the economic situation of the municipalities has worsened. Some of the municipalities have been forced to cut their education budgets. This has led to increasing the nurses, school psychologists. There are too few officers who are supposed to help the students along. There have been cuts in the funding for teaching materials and supplies.

3.2          Minder discipline en leermotivatie bij de leerlingen

Many teachers say that in their teaching career, students have become more and more negative. Children are more restless and more self-centered; they are not so persistent in their work any more. Students have become polarized: a great majority of the students are doing better than ever before; on the other hand, there is a growing group of students who do not fare so well.

Family problems have increased: among other things, unemployment, mental disorders, alcoholism, broken families. Competition in the labour market has increased and parents have less and less time for their children. Children bring the family problems to school.

3.3 Lesgeven is minder aantrekkelijk geworden. Minder interesse voor lerarenberoep

The relations between the home and the school are not optimal in every case. A number of teachers are facing difficulties because some parents behave aggressively. Some teachers have been threatened with litigation on the grounds that they have given too poor grades to the students.

Many of the problems in the comprehensive school stem from the problems of society. Schools do not get enough resources; the economic differences between municipalities have a bearing on the school results.

Up to now, teaching has been an attractive profession, and we have been able to select candidates for teacher training from a large number of applicants. Just recently, we have heard, though, that a number of teachers would like to change jobs. This is a rather disheartening scenario for the Finnish education system.