Finlands authorities are working towards banning regular school system of subjects forever.
Yep. You read that right. No more Maths and English. Physics and Chemistry, at least not in the form we know it.
The head of the Department of Education in Helsinki, Marjo Kyllonen, said:
“There are schools that are teaching in the old-fashioned way which was of benefit in the beginning of the 1900s — but the needs are not the same, and we need something fit for the 21st century.“
What's the replacement?
Instead of the normal individual subjects, it'll be more multi-discplinary. So, say you're teaching the history of Agriculture in Nigeria, you're teaching the geography of it, chemistry, mathematics, physics. More context, less abstract.
What that means is that you'll never have to say things in class like,
This education system will first be introduced to 16-year-olds. This will make students choose more independently what their future ambitions are.
That's not all. Students won't sit in the classroom formats. They will now sit in discussion group formats, where everyone is basically bouncing ideas off each other and solving problems head on.
What's Finland doing to prepare for this?
About 70% of the teachers in the country's capital, Helsinki are already going through preparatory training for this system. Teachers involved in this will also get a salary raise because of this.
Can this system work in Nigeria?
No, not yet. Not next year. Or next two years. Or even in the next 10 years.
Finland didn't arrive at the point they are right now; they reached this stage following a series of reforms and evolution.
Nigeria hasn't even set out on that path of reform yet.