27/05/2002
Education Minister pays working visit to Finland
The Education Minister Martin McGuinness has departed for a three-day study visit to Finland, as part of the review of Northern Ireland’s post-primary education.
The trip, taken together with another visit to Germany next month, is part of the minister’s brief to explore different types of school systems in view of the current hot debate on Northern Ireland’s own educational procedures for children leaving primary school.
Speaking before his departure, Mr McGuinness said: “The purpose of this working visit is to gather as much information as possible on two different types of systems – comprehensive and selective – to inform our own debate.
“The comprehensive education system in Finland ranked highly in recent international comparative studies and has some interesting features which include a focus on co-operation and collaboration between schools. I am looking forward to learning more about this.”
During the visit the Minister will meet Ms Maija Rask, the Minister for Education and Science in Finland, as well as other senior representatives from the Finnish education system. He also plans to visit different types of schools in Finland.
The International Programme for International Student Assessment research looked at the educational performance of 32 countries.
The countries that performed best were Korea, Canada, New Zealand and Finland all of which have non-selective systems.
(AMcE)
The trip, taken together with another visit to Germany next month, is part of the minister’s brief to explore different types of school systems in view of the current hot debate on Northern Ireland’s own educational procedures for children leaving primary school.
Speaking before his departure, Mr McGuinness said: “The purpose of this working visit is to gather as much information as possible on two different types of systems – comprehensive and selective – to inform our own debate.
“The comprehensive education system in Finland ranked highly in recent international comparative studies and has some interesting features which include a focus on co-operation and collaboration between schools. I am looking forward to learning more about this.”
During the visit the Minister will meet Ms Maija Rask, the Minister for Education and Science in Finland, as well as other senior representatives from the Finnish education system. He also plans to visit different types of schools in Finland.
The International Programme for International Student Assessment research looked at the educational performance of 32 countries.
The countries that performed best were Korea, Canada, New Zealand and Finland all of which have non-selective systems.
(AMcE)
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