Finland to Become First Country in the World to Get Rid of All School Subjects

For centuries, the formal educational system has been roughly the same. Topics are divided into subjects, and those subjects are taught independently of each other. There are subjects like Math, Science, Language, and Physical Education that are taught by different teachers at different times.

In Finland, a country known for its progressive views on teaching, this method of teaching will now replaced by a new and possibly more effective method. Finnish officials want to remove school subjects from their curriculum.

According to the head of the Department of Education in Helsinki, Marjo Kyllonen,

“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.”

Finland seeks to abolish the old system of presenting information to students in favor of a new interdisciplinary method.

Instead of teaching individual subjects, teachers will teach the students events and phenomena in an interdisciplinary format with only small batches of students. For instance, students will be taught about the Renaissance from the perspective of history, geography, math, and science.

This system will be taught to students in their senior year, beginning at the age of 16. Students will be able to choose which topics or phenomena they would like to study in order to shape their ambitions for the future. This will also answer the age-old question of students, “What do I need these subjects for?” With this new method, they are provided with the context they need in order to understand why they must learn what they’re being taught.

The Finnish education system is already working on the transition from the traditional teaching method to this newer method. About 70% of the teachers in Helsinki have already started to prepare for the new system of teaching, and as a result, they will receive a pay increase.

The new teaching model is expected to be completed by 2020.