Why Finland’s schools leave ours in the dust

Move it: Children in Finnish schools are encouraged to sit less in the classroom. The science says that a child who moves and plays is a child who learns, according to the writer. — Filepic/ The Star

WHEN politicians wring their hands over “global competitiveness” in education, the solution, they always seem to insist, is to crack the whip harder. They are looking in the wrong direction. If you want to see the most successful education system in the world, you don’t go to the rote-learning factories of East Asia. You go north. You go to Finland.

Finnish students don’t start formal school until age seven. They have the shortest school hours in the developed world, roughly 20 hours a week, compared with over 30 in the United States. They take 15-minute outdoor breaks for every 45 minutes of instruction. Homework is minimal – often less than 30 minutes a night.