What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success

[JackRiddler]

11. They're paid well for Finland...

in a country where there is a strong social welfare system, health care and pensions, and lower rents. They have a strong teachers' union. It is a respected career with job security. They are not under attack, like here. They are not blamed for problems they did not cause. They are not under unreasonable pressures to perform to arbitrary evaluation. There are almost twice as many teachers per student as in New York. Class size is accordingly smaller.

The numbers shown on that chart do not come out to "half of the average American teacher"! 2654 euros is not half of 5266 dollars, however this chart shows no breakdowns by years of service and obviously doesn't cover differences in cost of living.

From NYT, Dec. 12:

The starting salary for school teachers in Finland, 96 percent of whom are unionized, was about $29,000 in 2008, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, compared with about $36,000 in the United States.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/education/from-finland-an-intriguing-school-reform-model.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

Please read this article about the curious Finlandophilia in the US (curious because it is often pushed by the school "reform" movement that selectively emphasizes which aspects of Finland's system are good).

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