Finnish
children start their school normally in pre-school when they are 6 years old.
They go to pre-school 2 or 3 days in week and practise skills, which they will
have to use in the real school.
When
children are 7 years old they usually start studying at primary school. It
takes normally six years. Children study basic skills like maths, mother
tongue, some sciences, physical education, music and arts there. They start to
study their first foreign language in 3rd form. That is usually
English, but it might be also German or French. In 5th form children
are able to take one more foreign language, Swedish or German usually.
After
primary school, when children are 13 years old, they start studying in lower
secondary school, which takes three years. Children study maths, mother tongue,
English as first foreign language, Swedish or German as second foreign
language, religion, history, social studies, biology, geography, chemistry,
physics, arts, music, domestic science and needlework. They are also able to
study more foreign languages, which are normally German, French or Russian.
Finnish basic school includes primary school and lower secondary school.
After
basic school children can go to the secondary school or vocational school. They
can also get vocation with article.
Secondary
school takes usually 3-4 years. It is very theoretical. Add to the subjects
whom the students have studied in basic school, they have to study also
philosophy or psychology. Days are longer than in the lower secondary school
and there are more things to study. In the end of the school students take
their matriculation examination. After that students can continue their studies
in the university or polytechnic.
Vocational
school takes also 3-4 years. After students have a vocation and they are ready
to work. Many of them still continue the studies in university or polytechnic.
The
most popular careers in Finland are teacher, engineer, psychologist, designer
and artist.
Children
in Sweden go to school at the age of 6. There are few private schools in Sweden
and most of the rest are common basic schools. Children are often in the same
class from 1st to 6th form and then the class is divided
into new classes. It means that in the lower secondary school students get a
new school.
Until
the 8th form students don’t get any marks. Instead they have
so-called “personal development dialogues” where teacher explains for the
students and their parents the overall opinion. The reason for not having grade
at an early age is to avoid competition and stress. From 8th form to
9th form the students receive marks in every subject twice a year,
but it is only the final mark received in 9th form which is used to
apply for secondary school.
If you
go to the secondary school in Sweden you can choose your own program by that
what you want to learn. There are 17 national programs for students who want to
study in the secondary school. You can study:
If
you study in the secondary school you don’t need to pay for bus tickets, lunch
or books but you must pay for notebooks and pencils and you also receive 100
per every month.
In
secondary school students receive their marks after they have finished a
course. When graduating all courses and the grades are added and divided to
make an overall value, which is used when applying for higher education. The
other way to be accepted to a higher education is to do the so-called “national
university aptitude test”.
You
can get higher education in the university or in different kinds of private
schools. What is unique for Sweden is the Folk High School, which has more
freedom to form own courses. Where you can study common subjects as medicine in
the university, you can also study forging for example. Often it is a less
stressful atmosphere.
Higher
education is very important in Sweden and therefore it is free. To cover up for
books, accommodation etc Sweden offers every Swede a special study loan, which
is better than usual bank loans. So everyone, even people who don’t have a
stabile income, can educate himself/herself.
There
are beautiful single-stored schoolhouses, friendly environment and almost no
teasing among the students.
Children
in Norway start school when they are 6 years old. In the primary school and in
the lower secondary school children study mother tongue Norwegian, maths,
social studies, art, handicraft, science and the environment, English (is
compulsory from the primary level), music, home economics, religion, physical
education and they must take second foreign language (German, French),
intensive language classes, language study or practical project work.
After
lower secondary school you can go to the secondary school. In the secondary
school Norwegian students learn a profession. In the first year they can choose
one of the 15 different areas of study and in the following years they can
choose more specialized courses, while those pursuing vocational training may
also serve in apprenticeships.
In
the secondary school children can study:
Students undergoing
vocational training are normally working towards a trade or journeyman’s
certificate. Vocational training is provided both at school and at the
workplace, and normally combines two years of tuition with a one-year
apprenticeship, followed by one year of productive work within the same
workplace.
When
you have studied 3 years in the secondary school you can go to the university.
There are 6 universities in Norway: the University of Oslo – which is the oldest and largest, the University
of Bergen, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, the
University of Tromsø and the University of Stavanger and the Agricultural
University of Norway in Ås. There are also Folk High Schools in Norway as in
Sweden. They are special because they give freedom to students to make their
own course.
In Norway it is very
popular to be an exchange student. Norwegian Norwegian students like to take
part in international projects and organisations. Students like to get new
experiences for their future. school system values education which is
internationally competitive.