Продължаваме нашето проучване, в което анализираме образователните системи по света. Във втората част от поредицата ще обърнем внимание на следващите държави, които впечатляват със своите специфични училищни структури, иновативни методи за преподаване и уникален образователен манталитет.
Finland
In Finland, compulsory education starts at the age of 6. It is pre-school, free and 4 hours a day. The main goal at this age is not to accumulate knowledge, but to play games and create a stimulating environment for holistic development with peers. Children are encouraged to take initiative. Schools are self-governing. Until the 9th grade, everyone is taught the same and has national assessment criteria for all subjects. At the same time, there are no national tests in secondary schools.
The Finnish miracle – така наричат световните експерти образователната система в тази скандинавска държава. Чудото се състои в това, че образователната система там се различава коренно от повечето в западна Европа и САЩ. Във Финландия учениците нямат домашни и не се явяват на стандартизирани тестове и матури. Причината за това е, че Министерството на образованието смята, че децата и юношите трябва да се наслаждават на най-прекрасните години от живота си. Когато все пак има някакви проверки на знанията, те са под формата на разгънати въпроси, за да могат учениците да покажат реални знания и умения, а не просто да налучкат отговора. Учениците не учат, за да се подготвят добре за предстоящите изпити и матури, а за да получат реални знания. Те искат да знаят и системата им помага да не загубят първичното си човешко любопитство, характерно у нас само за малките деца. Затова и уроците не са структурирани еднотипно. Всеки преподавател е свободен да избере методология на преподаване и какъв материал да преподава. В същото време манталитета на родителите е „широк” – те не притискат децата да имат непременно високи оценки по всички предмети. Така се избягва излишния стрес и учениците се концентрират върху усвояване и прилагане на знанията и уменията си, а не върху това как ще бъдат оценени.
Education systems around the world – part 1
Another significant difference with most educational systems is the fact that in Finland schools and universities are not divided into prestigious and not so much. All educational institutions offer the same quality of education, which puts children on an equal footing. They simply enroll in the nearest neighborhood school. This equality provides prerequisites for schools and universities not to compete with each other, but to cooperate and build connections to build a unified educational system. If a school discovers a new teaching approach that is successful, it shares it with others to maintain the overall level of quality of education. In contrast to Bulgaria, where universities and schools, because of the delegated budgets, have long entered into direct competition and have shifted their focus; their main purpose is to show which educational institution is more prestigious, not to educate.
The following characteristic of Finnish education partially coincides with the new changes implemented in our country. In Finland, students at the age of 16 have the opportunity to choose how to continue their education - to train for a profession or an academic career. When choosing a profession, they are trained in polytechnic schools and institutes, where they acquire more practical skills. If they want an academic career, they prepare to enter a university. about 43% of the students choose vocational education. And here comes the difference, which stems mainly from the mentality and attitudes in society. In our country, higher education tends to be devalued, because it is a matter of "prestige" for your child to graduate from higher education. It is a fact that today it is easier to get accepted to a university in Bulgaria than to graduate from high school. Young people go to higher education under compulsion, not because of their internal natural needs, because the whole system in our country is wrong. Without the cherished university diploma, it is practically difficult to find a well-paid job. The result is deplorable - young people absorb academic theory, and business is in dire need of practical specialists, especially in applied and engineering sciences. Forced to study something to which they have no affinity, but which is "prestigious", young people do not fully absorb the knowledge of the specialty they have chosen and often after graduation work in a completely different field. Unlike Finland, where those who go into a profession rather than academia have good careers and are well paid
Canada
According to a study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which tracks the development of education around the world, Canada is listed as the country with the most educated nation. The influence of different educational systems is observed in different provinces. Among English-speakers, the Scottish system is strongest, while in the French-speaking part they prefer the French model. But despite this decentralization, the high level of education in Canada speaks mostly of the fact that Canadian children show the best results at international exhibitions in the field of informatics, mathematics and natural sciences.
What is specific and different about our education system is the student evaluation system. It varies depending on the level of education (secondary or higher) and according to the educational institution. Assessments are divided into four categories and weighted differently – thinking, knowledge, inquiry and communication. In practice, in mathematics classes, for example, which are loaded with a lot of scientific data, knowledge is given more weight than communication, while in an English class, for example, it is the exact opposite.
In most Canadian provinces, a letter grading system is used - from A to F, or it is graded in percentages - from 0 to 100 %, with A = 90 and above %, B = 80 - 89%, C = 70 - 79%, etc. n. . The signs + and - are added to the letters, which specify the grade - so A+ is a better grade than A-.
The articles are part of a master's thesis on the topic "Radical reform in education - individuality instead of unification" in the specialty of Pedagogy for the acquisition of the qualification "teacher of economic disciplines" at the IU - Varna, protected with Excellent.
© 2026 Iliana Dechkova