Finnish schools and Spain

Lots of attention to schools in Finland lately ... and the Finns are reportedly fairly open to homeschooling and, in fact, they could move to a voluntary model pretty easily.  (My analysis of Finland and US systems is coming soon). Unlike Spain where this family ran into issues and homeschooling is illegal. UPDATE on first link from Farenga:

I have learned that though my first post about the situation in Spain was correct, my second, where I claimed homeschooling was officially illegal in Spain, is not correct. This is due to my misreading of the information I received and I apologize for any distress this may have caused anyone. The situation in Spain is that the courts did not find a constitutional basis for homeschooling to be a right that families can exercise, but the courts noted this right could be added to the constitution. Obviously this is a big task for the small number of Spanish homeschoolers to accomplish, but one that is possible. In the meantime, Spanish homeschoolers are in the gray zone of homeschooling versus government authority, a situation familiar to homeschooling veterans in the US in the 1970s and 1980s: the Spanish families I know are still homeschooling but no one knows if they will be prosecuted for doing so. Time will tell, and I hope that during that time Spanish homeschoolers are able to rally public opinion, as well as polticial and educational support, to make homeschooling a constitutionally-protected practice.

Zemanta suggests this article:

• Why Finland's schools are the best in the West (cbc.ca)

From the article (emphasis mine) which is Canadian in origin:


           Consumer choice

Another surprise about the Finnish system, particularly given its high test scores, is that school is only compulsory up to the end of Grade 9.

Not surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of Finnish teens (over 95 per cent) apply to go on to upper-secondary school. But the key word here is apply, which means that the student is making a personal choice to continue learning. In my view, it is foolhardy to force those teens who clearly have no interest in learning to remain in school until they are 18, as we do here in Ontario. Believe me, I know!

But the truly impressive part of the Finnish system is the clear choice of educational streams that students have should they choose to continue on.

Of the more than 95 per cent who stay in school, roughly 38 per cent move on to the separate vocational high schools, which offer a more hands-on, workplace-focused system of instruction, designed to set them up for further post-secondary education in the field of their choice.

Over here, technology or shop courses are often seen, even at the institutional level, as "dumping grounds."

In Finland, on the other hand, non-academically inclined students are, at least from an institutional perspective, given a clear, parallel and respectable educational choice.

From the BBC: