Becoming a Finnish Teacher

The idea of evaluation is to signal the level of student’s knowledge and skills to the student him/herself and possibly to employers etc. The student benefits from the evaluation because it signals how much the student has learned. It can also function as an incentive to work harder to achieve better grades. Typically, the grading system of a course is connected to the course aims and there are criteria provided for each grade. If one achieves all the goals, one gets top grades, if not the grades are lower. There is also a minimal level one has to accomplish to pass the course. For the education provider, the grading systems make sure, that everyone who graduates, has the skill level required in that specific course or education. The challenge of evaluation is to measure the right things and in a way that is consistent. The assessment should be unambiguous and not vary by the teacher’s mood or liking of a particular student. It would be good to have clear and public criteria for asses