Higher Education in England and Finland: A Comparative Essay

This essay provides a detailed comparison and contrast of the higher education systems in England and Finland. It explores the different approaches to education, including the emphasis on competition versus cooperation, and the varying structures of funding and quality assessment. The essay examines the educational philosophies, teaching methodologies, and student support systems in both countries, with particular attention to pre-primary education, psychological support, and teacher-student relationships. The essay also evaluates the merits and demerits of globalization on the English education system, and the differences in tuition fees between the two countries. Ultimately, the essay concludes by offering a preference for one system over the other, based on the analysis of various factors such as student well-being, educational outcomes, and overall system effectiveness.

ESSAY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION 1: Portfolio Evidence 1..................................................................................................3
SECTION 2: Portfolio Evidence 2..................................................................................................4
SECTION 3: Portfolio Evidence 3..................................................................................................6
SECTION 4: Portfolio Evidence 4..................................................................................................8
SECTION 5: Academic Writing (750 words)...............................................................................10
SECTION 6: Essay Self-Assessment............................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

SECTION 1: Portfolio Evidence 1
Self-evaluation checklist
Skills Do not
know about
this
Find this
difficult/
can’t do this
Can partially
do this
Can do this well
Looking for information
Identify which books/journals/websites to use ☐ ☐ ☐
Select relevant parts of a text ☐ ☐ ☐
Using sources
Acknowledge sources of information ☐ ☐ ☐
Avoid plagiarism ☐ ☐ ☐
Planning/ writing
Brainstorm ideas ☐ ☐ ☐
Plan written work ☐ ☐ ☐
Link ideas effectively ☐ ☐ ☐
Paraphrase & summarise ideas ☐ ☐ ☐
Write an introduction ☐ ☐ ☐
Write a conclusion ☐ ☐ ☐
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Personal study
Work independently ☐ ☐ ☐
Manage my time ☐ ☐ ☐
Oral presentation
Discuss written work in a tutorial ☐ ☐ ☐
IT
Access the internet ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐
Use search engines ☐ ☐ ☐
Create word documents ☐ ☐ ☐
SECTION 2: Portfolio Evidence 2
Outline (suggested word count: 200)
An outline is a map of the main ideas included in your essay. You do not need to write
full sentences, just notes of the main points that you are going to write in each paragraph
of your essay, along with the references.
Title: Comparison and contrast between the education system in England and Finland in
terms of quality and funding.
Introduction Background Information:
The education system in England aims at providing only academic knowledge
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whereas in that of Finland, it aims at overall development of the individuals by
ensuring that students are mentally, socially and psychologically stable and healthy.
Thesis statement:
Different countries have different education systems which affects the learners as
well as teachers.
Main body
paragraph 1
Topic sentence: The education system at Finland prefers to start the education at the
age of 1 to 5 whereas in England its 5-7. Childhood education is considered
important in Finland and primary education in England.
Supporting details: The education system starts in England from primary education
when the students are of age 5 to 7 which becomes compulsory for every student but
on the other hand in Finland, before the primary or the compulsory education they are
provided with early childhood education in which care is provided along with
education.
Main body
paragraph 2:
Topic sentence: The main focus of the Finland education system is cooperation
while that of England is competition.
Supporting details: The teachers in England ensures that the syllabus is completed
and the students gains the knowledge of the content without focussing on its
strengths, abilities and psychology. In Finland, along with providing knowledge, the
teachers also lay emphasis on the mental stability and the capacity of the student to
gain information which makes them stable.
Conclusion: Summary of main points: It was analysed that the education system in England and
Finland are much different in all the aspects as adult education and childhood
education are not shed light in England which is much focussed in Finland.
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Recommendations/suggestions: It can be recommended regarding the education
system of England that it must focus on the pre-primary education so that they can
gain various learning opportunities and also the compulsory education must be free
for the students so that many students can eb facilitated by it.
Reference List:
SECTION 3: Portfolio Evidence 3
Summarising (suggested word count, 100 including notes)
Question: What are the similarities and differences between universities in England
and Finland in relation to tuition fees?
Notes (Text 1): Notes (Text 2):
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In Finland, the tuition fees vary from programs
and degrees. There are range of tuition fee
structures for bachelor’s as well as masters. In
the first cycle degrees which is bachelors have
tuition fees between the range of 4000 to 10000
EUR per year and in the second cycle degrees
which is masters, the tuition fee is ca. 10000
EUR per year. But it does not take any fees from
the EU students (which came from European
regions) (Tuition Fees at Universities in Europe
in 2020 – Overview and Comparison, 2020).
The tuition fee in England is not cheap but lesser
as compared to Finland. The average tuition fees
in England may charge up to £9000
(approximately $14,300) per year. This is for the
students of UK and EU but for the international
students it is much higher (Tuition Fees and
Funding Opportunities in Finland, 2020).
What are the similarities and differences between universities in England and Finland in
relation to tuition fees?
The similarities between the tuition fees in England and Finland is that Finland also has different
tuition fee structure based on the countries and England also has varied fee structure for the people
for UK and EU and that in other countries. The difference is that the students from EU are exempted
from the tuition fee if they study in Finland but if the students from Finland studies in the
universities of UK then they are not exempted instead they are taken greater fees.
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SECTION 4: Portfolio Evidence 4
Paragraph structure (suggested word count, 300 including notes)
Topic: Merits and Demerits of globalization on the Education system in England.
Item A: There can be improvements in the teaching and learning processes as it allows
accepting various cultures and this can be integrated in the processes of teaching
and learning. This will give many opportunities to the learners to know the
similarities and differences between the knowledge of the world. This will also lead
to cooperation between the universities of different countries. Furthermore, due to
globalization, the accessibility of the knowledge can be enhanced by the use of
internet. This makes it possible for the students and teachers to communicate with
each other sitting at different places. This helps the learners and the teachers to
create global view of education as it provides references and valid concepts about
the very confusing concepts.
Item B: On the other hand, the large amount of information can sometimes consider some
information unreliable. This also does not allow the people to access the
information who lives in the areas where the communication technology is not so
developed which also increases the gap between the well technological advanced
areas and the areas with IT facilities. Also, the people relied on the distance
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learning are in loss regarding the human touch in the learning and teaching process.
So, it becomes very difficult to maintain the teaching and learning process as most
of the people mises various opportunities.
Concluding remarks: This can be concluded that globalisation is considered as the most powerful
process which has influenced and touched many aspects of the education. The globalization can affect
the education system both negatively and positively. The distance learning which enables the learners
to learn from the teachers by sitting at different places can also prove to be the loss of the human
touch in learning and teaching. The teachers must ensure that they become able to maximize the
positive effects of internationalization which is a new form of commodification and citizenship which
can facilitate the learners, teachers and educators.
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SECTION 5: Academic Writing (750 words)
Essay Title:
Compare and contrast the higher education system in England with that of a chosen
country in terms of funding and quality, concluding with which system is
preferable?
Higher education system is also known as post-secondary education system is a system of third-
level or tertiary education which is a final stage of formal learning. It is basically a system which
refers to the social and economic factors that helps in making the public schools at the state,
federal or community levels (Halinen, 2018). The factors involve school facilities, compensation,
public funding, staffing, employee benefits, resources of teaching and many more. Furthermore,
it can be described as coordination of individuals (which include teachers, students and
administrators), processes, functioning and the infrastructure (transportation and safe facilities).
These must be intentional instead of being forced. It basically divided into fixed stages in which
in order to go to another stage, the previous stage must be completed and they are elementary,
middle, high, college and university (Federick, 2020).
The education system in England is classified into two main parts which are primary education,
secondary education, further education and high education. The UK children who come between
the age group of 5 to 16 need to attend the schools legally. On the contrary, the education system
in Finland starts for the children of age group 1 to 5 as they can get pre-primary education.
Before the compulsory education, the children are given the pre-primary education which gives
many opportunities for learning and also the early childhood education and care is also given at
very initial stages of children’s life (Hutchinson, Reader and Akhal, 2020).
The education system in England focusses on competition while in Finland it aims at building
cooperation. The Finns focus in the saying that real winners do not compete which was quoted
by Paronen. In England, there ate top performing schools and teachers while in Finland it is not.
There is merit-based system in England which is not in Finland because they consider the
cooperation as a norm in the learning environment. Finland focusses on various basics rather
than getting the test scores in subjects like math and science.
In England, the main focus is on increasing the scores of test and comprehension which is
important for Finns also but not major. The education system in Finland ensures that social
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inequality is balanced and the students get the meals for free in schools. Also, they ensure that
the students get easy access to the healthcare facilities in every case of need which is missed in
the education system in England. The education system in Finland focusses on psychological
condition of the students and for that the administrators and teachers also organize many
effective psychological counselling which influences the mental abilities and capacity of the
students. On the other hand, the education system in England does not focus on the psychology
but more focuses on completing the syllabus and getting the highest marks and by focusing on
this, the teachers and the administrators sometimes ignore the health and psychology of the
students (Chung, 2019).
In order to facilitate the students, the Finns also guide the students individually which motivates
them to perform better which is missed in the education system in England which aims at
teaching the students and gaining the best marks. The education system of Finland strives hard to
maintain a good atmosphere for the students rather than making the studies stressful. The
students of Finland get everything with less stress and in most effective way which helps them to
excel in certain subjects. Also, this can be identified from the teachers od Finland that they are
not changed every year sometimes same teacher teaches some students for 5 to 6 years after
which they become the mentors and just like the family members but on the other hand in
England, the teachers are changes every year which does not help in making effective bond
between teachers and students (Moffat and Yoo, 2020). Furthermore, the timing in the schools of
England is from early morning i.e., between 6 am to 8 am where the students feel sleepy and
cannot study and gain the things taught to them effectively. This is not in case of schools in
Finland. The timing of the schools in Finland is between 9:00 to 9.45 am to 2:00-2:45 pm. In this
time, the students get a larger time for lunch also, and the timing of particular classes is also
sufficient. Also, in Finland, the basic education is provided to students free of cost which is not
available in England. Various scholarships are given to certain students according to their
financial condition and performance while no scholarships are valid for the students in England
(la Velle and et.al., 2020).
Therefore, it can be analyzed from the above-mentioned points that the education system in
Finland is more preferable than the Education system in England as it not only focuses on giving
education to the students but also lays emphasis on the overall development of the students i.e,
mentally, physically, socially, psychologically etc. The pre-primary and the adult education are
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not available in England but plays a major role in the life of students as it gives them various
opportunities for learning and which also helps in gaining knowledge about so many things along
with the compulsory education (Kallio and Länsman, 2018).
SECTION 6: Essay Self-Assessment
Complete this form before you submit your portfolio.
Good Evidence Some Evidence Insufficient Evidence
Essay Structure
A. Has a clear structure
including an
introduction; body
paragraphs, conclusion
& bibliography
B. Has a clear thesis
statement that states
their sub topics and
position
C. Has clear topic
sentences in each main
body paragraph
D. Has features of an
essay not a report, i.e. no
headings, bullet points
etc.
Content
E. Has compared
directly between the two
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countries in each
paragraph
F. Has commented on
what we learn from the
comparisons
G. Has included suitable
background information
in the introduction
H. Has included a
suitable summary and
overall comment in the
conclusion
I. Has written 750 words
(+/- 10%)
Use of Sources and Referencing
J. Has a minimum of 2
sources per paragraph
K. Has in-text citations
which follow Harvard
style. E.g. (Coughlan,
2014)
M. Has avoided
plagiarism
Use of English
N. Writes accurate
sentences
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O. Spells and punctuates
accurately
P. Uses a range of
language
Q. Writes in an
appropriate academic
style
Things you have done well
Things you need to improve on
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The correct information is taken from the websites, books and journals. The authenticated
information was taken to gain in-depth insights about the topic which is education system in
England and Finland. The comparison was made clearly. All the information was justified through
references. The word count was properly managed which contained all the significant and relevant
information.
The things to be improved are that the number of sources must be more than used now. Every
paragraph must contain 2 sources which was not done in this essay. The financial data must be
collected from the authenticated websites which increases the credibility of the essay. England must
also provide scholarships to the students so that they do not hesitate to get the admission in schools
because of less stable financial condition.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Chung, J., 2019. The Education System of Finland. In PISA and Global Education Policy (pp.
49-74). Brill Sense.
Federick, A., 2020. Finland Education System. International Journal of Science and Society.
2(2), pp.21-32.
Halinen, I., 2018. The new educational curriculum in Finland. Improving the quality of childhood
in Europe. 7. pp.75-89.
Hutchinson, J., Reader, M. and Akhal, A., 2020. Education in England: Annual Report 2020.
Kallio, A.A. and Länsman, H., 2018. Sami re-imaginings of equality in/through extracurricular
arts education in Finland. International Journal of Education & the Arts. 19(7).
la Velle, L. and et.al., 2020. Initial teacher education in England and the Covid-19 pandemic:
challenges and opportunities. Journal of Education for Teaching, pp.1-13.
Moffat, J. and Yoo, H.I., 2020. Religion, religiosity and educational attainment: evidence from
the compulsory education system in England. Applied Economics. 52(4). pp.430-442.
Online
Tuition Fees and Funding Opportunities in Finland, 2020. [ONLINE] Available through :<
https://www.mastersportal.com/articles/354/tuition-fees-and-funding-opportunities-in-
finland.html>
Tuition Fees at Universities in Europe in 2020 – Overview and Comparison, 2020. [ONLINE]
Available through :< https://www.mastersportal.com/articles/405/tuition-fees-at-
universities-in-europe-in-2020-overview-and-comparison.html>
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