Do students in Finland only study four hours a day? How much is myth and how much truth in the story of the most relaxed educational system

Ashley Davis2 weeks ago

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Finland's education system is often cited as an ideal model: no homework, no stress and excellent results in international tests. Moreover, social media posts regularly say that in Finnish schools, students only study for four hours a day. But are these controversial claims true or not? The answer is: partially. How much is myth and how much is reality in what is said about Finnish education, find out from the lines below.

Classroom in Finland PHOTO Fobizz

The myth of the “four hours of school”

Students in Finland can only study for four hours a day, but only in the first years of education. The system is structured as follows:

Grades 1 and 2: minimum 19 hours per week
Grades 3 and 4: minimum 23 hours per week
Grades 5 and 6: minimum 24 hours per week
Grades 7, 8 and 9: minimum 30 hours per week

So, elementary school students really have days with about 4–5 hours of classes, but as they progress into middle school, the schedule can reach 6–7 hours a day. The situation is similar from this point of view in Romania.

The major difference from many other educational systems is not the total number of hours, but the way they are organized. A lesson usually lasts 45 minutes, with breaks of a quarter of an hour. However, the system is flexible and teachers can decide to teach for 90 minutes, followed by a longer break.

During breaks, Finnish students are encouraged to go outside, whatever the weather, to exercise and relax. Finnish specialists believe that these breaks contribute significantly both to the ability to concentrate and to the students' well-being, which they put a lot of emphasis on.

Is homework given or not in Finland?

“I saw everywhere on the Internet the information that there are no homework in Finland. Even if you search on Google this answer will appear. But I live in Finland and we definitely have homework. Where does this misconception come from? Indeed, we don't have many themes, but they exist”a Finn once wrote on the Reddit platform, frustrated by the myth that is circulating.

Someone replied that it all started with the statements of some politicians in the documentary Where to Invade Next: Finlandwhich talked about the Finnish school. In the same material, there was also talk about the “four-hour school”.

“The teacher chooses whether or not to give homework, but there is definitely homework at all grade levels”a Finnish teacher clarified things.

What differs from other countries, and especially from Romania, is the amount of homework.

“I went to school in Finalnda and did all the so-called homework during school hours. Others did them during recess. It took about five minutes for each subject,” says a netizen.

In addition, many teachers choose not to give homework on Fridays for the weekend.

The central idea of this education system is that learning should take place primarily at school, not be relegated to the home.

PHOTO by Pixabay

Structure of the school year in Finland

Regarding the structure of the school year, it is not very different from Romania. If our students study around 180 days a year, in Finland the number is 190.

And the number of holidays is similar. Finns have:

Christmas vacation

Winter holiday (for winter sports, similar to skiing holiday)

Summer vacation is taken earlier than in Romania, at the end of May or beginning of June, but school also starts earlier: at the end of August.

What Finns don't like about their school

Even though the Finnish school is regarded as one of the most relaxed, and the performance of the children who have become adults is good in the labor market, there are also things that people there complain about.

“I think it's super ok to get kids to a certain level of knowledge, but it doesn't really think about smarter kids. Speaking from personal experience, I was very good at maths when I was little, and the usual response was to give me extra homework that was the same kind of homework I was already doing. I wanted to learn something new and interesting because I could understand the concepts faster than others, not just extra work on the subject I already knew”a Finn wrote in another post.

“Academics get bored and feel like they're wasting their time”commented another harsher.

Someone else explained the bright side of things:

“The Finnish school system is very bad at cultivating top talent, but supports opportunities for emotional growth for the gifted.”

Another big advantage of Finnish schooling, others say, is that there are very few private schools, and even in those, tuition fees are prohibitive. So everyone has an interest in making the public education system work well.

Other models of relaxed schools

Estonia is an example of a system that combines a balanced approach with top performance. Estonian schools include support for students' mental health and well-being as part of the educational model. At the same time, the country came out on top in the European Union in the PISA tests, with the best scores on all lines analyzed.

Netherlands it also stands out for policies that support autonomy for teachers and students, as well as a healthy balance between school and free time.

And Denmark is recognized for its emphasis on the general well-being of students, but also for its practice-oriented education and applicability in everyday life.