Tag Archives: Finland

High cost of low trust in pre-school education

(Op-ed published by The Straits Times on Sept. 6, 2013)

By Trisha Craig

IF PRE-SCHOOL were an Olympic event, Finland would have a lock on the gold.

Its early childhood education system consistently ranks at the top of international charts. And when you walk into typical Finnish classrooms, as I did last week, it is easy to see why.

On the metrics that matter with these global comparisons, Finland excels. The student-teacher ratios are low, meaning each teacher has fewer pupils to attend to. Teachers are well trained. This fosters warm, nurturing and intellectually engaging interactions.

Pre-school teachers in Finland are also well compensated and well respected, which means that centres face less of the disruptive high turnover that often plagues early education systems where teaching is less socially valued. Continue reading …

Let kids play, give teachers trust

Singaporean parents will support a focus on play in pre-school if convinced it will benefit their children later. TODAY file photo

Singaporean parents will support a focus on play in pre-school if convinced it will benefit their children later. TODAY file photo

Op-ed published in Today, March 15, 2013

By Trisha Craig

Wednesday’s announcement by Education Minister Heng Swee Keat that the Ministry of Education (MOE) will, for the first time, become directly involved in establishing and running kindergartens is a welcome and auspicious development. It signals the seriousness the Government attaches to early childhood education and its commitment to raising standards and providing broad access to high quality pre-school.

The programme for now is a pilot one, where models will be tested and best practices sought in 15 demonstration sites. As the MOE embarks on this remarkable endeavour, are there any models of excellence from which it can learn?

Internationally, the gold standard is often considered Finland. Does Finland, a small, wealthy open economy near the Arctic Circle, offer any lessons for Singapore, a small, wealthy open economy near the equator, when it comes to early childhood education?

At first glance, it would seem so. After all, in addition to some financial measures, the two countries are so similar, and top the global charts, on all kinds of international measures of institutional (lack of corruption), economic (global competitiveness), and scholastic performance (maths and science scores at secondary school).

Thus, when they diverge, as they do on pre-school quality — the national angst caused by the revelation that Singapore only ranks 29th internationally is certainly part of the backstory to the improvements outlined in the MOE’s announcement — Finland is a natural place to look at when it comes to lessons on how to improve the system. Continue reading …