Radio | News week in plain Finnish | Saturday 10 August 2024

Schools started.

Schools started this week almost all over Finland. Now we will tell you what news there has been about the school this fall.

Weaker competence

When schools start, children’s skills are in the news a lot.

Research shows that children do less well in school than before.

Competence has gone in a weaker direction for a long time. It has weakened, for example, in reading, mathematics and natural sciences.

Politicians and many researchers say that’s a cause for concern. No one knows exactly what causes the weak direction.

Telephones

Schools started this week. Many suspect that smartphones are one of the reasons for children’s weaker skills.

Children may be less able to concentrate when they have a phone.

Many politicians think it might be good to ban phones in school.

Today, the law says that a teacher may not forcibly take the phone away.

Without phone

The Minister of Education Anders Adlercreutz says that perhaps a new experiment will start in schools soon.

Maybe the law will be changed so that children have to give their phones away. It may be that the phone is off during the whole school day.

After that, we will see if the children learn better without the phone.

Education Minister Adlercreutz says that many other countries are stricter with phones than Finland.

According to the Minister of Education, it can also be good for children not to have a phone during recess.

Fewer children

Schools have started. Only 54,000 children went to first grade this fall. It’s less than ever before.

The number of children is decreasing throughout Finland, especially in rural areas. Therefore, the number of schools is also decreasing.

With fewer students, small schools collaborate more. One teacher can teach students from different schools on the Internet.

Repeat

The topic of the news week was the start of schools. Let’s repeat the most important things.

Pupils’ skills are weaker than before.

Many people think that the reason is the phones.

The number of schoolchildren in Finland has decreased a lot.

This was Uutisviikko in plain Finnish, see you again. Goodbye!