Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva’s son Siaosi has praised the Finnish education system as a model that other countries can learn from.
Siaosi Pohiva was head of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Assessment Unit of the Education Quality and Assessment Programme.
He was instrumental in supporting Tonga’s move away from standardised marking.
As Kaniva reported last year, he stood by his father in his move to change the assessment system in Tonga from standardisation to raw marks.
He said Fiji and Samoa in the Pacific had already changed from standardisation system and used a modern raw marks system.
Siaosi urged people to read a report from the World Economic Forum on the Finnish system.
“Thanks that the Lord has given us a good example we could learn from,” he said.
He said the most important point about the Finnish system was there were no standardised tests.
He also praised the country’s late starting age for school.
“Students should start going to school when they are seven years old. How excellent! “
Finland stands at the top of many international education ranking systems and had been widely praised. Students do not start classes until they are seven years old, have no homework, fewer classes and are encouraged to play, learn to treat each other as equals and are supported by highly qualified teachers in small classes.
According to the World Economic Forum report, Finland has no standardized tests.
“Their only exception is something called the National Matriculation Exam, which is a voluntary test for students at the end of an upper-secondary school.
“All children throughout Finland are graded on an individualized basis and grading system set by their teacher. Tracking overall progress is done by the Ministry of Education, which samples groups across different ranges of schools.”
According to a British report, Finland routinely tops rankings of global education systems and all students, regardless of ability, are taught in the same classes.
The gap between the weakest and the strongest pupils is the smallest in the world. Finnish schools have only one mandatory test at age 16.
The main points
- Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva’s son Siasosi has praised the Finnish education system as a model that other countries can learn from.
- Siaosi Pohiva was instrumental in supporting Tonga’s move away from standardised marking.
- Siaosi urged people to read a report from the World Economic Forum on the Finnish system.
For more information
10 reasons why Finland’s education system is the best in the world
