A Comparative Study of Education Paper Example

Educational reforms geared towards boosting economic growth and reduction of social inequalities has taken the center stage in expanding the global positions of the education system. Different patterns of inequalities in educational quality attainment in European countries like Finland and Luxembourg to comparable differences and similarities. Finland seems to have achieved the most successful educational system as compares to other European nations in the efforts to reduce inequalities in the education system. Yet, Luxembourg, on the other hand, has over the years registered a high score on the achievement of its GDP through its educations system is still wanting. Finland spends approximately 6.4 percent of the country's GDP on education where it realized a GDP of $234.2 billion per capital (UNESCO, 2017). The Finnish education system has elaborate expectations in specific educational levels as learners are prepared for higher and vocational education. The country's note is elaborated in the Basic Education Act to provide curriculum directions for schooling at no cost for all students. Luxembourg, on the other hand, offered an equal educational platform for all its native and foreign learners as a measure of improving the country's socio-economic background. The country devotes a significant amount of investment for the elementary and tertiary education as a strategy to increase participation in education throughout the country with each students receiving an average US dollars 7002 as well as intrinsic motivation for teachers (OECD, 2018). Through the distinct similarities and differences attributing to the efforts made by both countries, Finland and Luxembourg, this resume will make a comparative study of the two countries' educational system in reflecting their GDP levels.

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In the general perspective, Finland and Luxembourg show distinct dissimilarities in most of their characteristics. These differences originate from the contrast in their total GDP, population, as well as the country size. The differences provide contrasts in the social welfare and the educational disparities despite institutionalized policies to ensure that No Child Left Behind Act and the Basic Education Act in both countries are geared towards increasing access and participation in basic and tertiary education for all children as well as dealing with other educational disparities. The Finnish education system is driven by the Basic Education Act that focuses on the specified and customized educations needs for specific groups by catering specific curriculum tailored for the specific group. The strategies have in turn increased the educational quality and achievement of the systems in the country (UNESCO, 2017). Yet, Luxembourg emphasizes the No Child Left Behind Act which focuses on the monetary provision to increase participation rather than achievement. The huge difference contributed by the policy adopted in the two countries makes the educational outcomes obviously different among other dissimilar properties and priorities in the establishment of the educational policies and operations of the learning institutions.

In this sense, Luxemburg and Finland offer comparable contrasts in the exploration of their education, social and economic aspects.in the OECD global recognition through the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) ranking first and thirteenth respectively in 2017. Although Luxembourg is said to have more educational investment than Finland and teachers earning better salaries in Luxembourg than in Finland, the educational spending difference does not reflect in their academic achievement in the final attainment which is partly attributed to the policy difference in educational goals. Despite the high investment in the Luxembourgish education system, multiple barriers exist because of a lack of standardized learning language because they use German, French, and Luxembourgish alternately at different educational levels. The contrast in this setup in Finland is that they only use Finnish throughout in all levels of education as the national and instructional language. The consistency in their learning language has made a considerable difference in reducing educational challenges and barriers in the country as contrasted to the situation in Luxembourg (EAG 2018).

On the other hand, similarities exist between the Finnish and Luxembourgish educational systems, initially both countries have made considerable efforts to join the rest of the world in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the Education For all policy, needs to increase enrolment, retention, completion, and transition in all levels of education. Both Finland and Luxembourg have made a committed effort in ensuring they fight against educational disparities especially of gender lines among other challenges that lower participation like a reinforcement of the Inclusive Education policy. In the bid to bridge the gender gaps in education both countries have joined other OECD countries in the efforts to reduce hindrances for the girl-child drop-out of education. Increased representation and implementation of other challenged groups like learners with special educational needs have seen both countries make considerable efforts in ensuring that these special groups are accommodated in mainstream learning institutions of all levels. Both Finland and Luxembourg have over the years made a significant difference in their tertiary and vocational training to increase labor force skills and competencies for all levels to increase their labor capacity which translates in the growth of the centuries economies.

Conclusion

Conclusively, there is a big share of similarities and differences in the social- economic and educational orientation that exists between Finland and Luxembourg that are attributed by the theory and practices in the implementation of various OECD policies and recommendation making the two countries have different outcomes in their education systems.

References

Education at a Glance, [EAG] (2018). Country Note: OECD Handbook for Internationally Comparative Education Statistics 2018, OECD Education Policy Outlook: Luxembourg

OECD. (2018). Education at a glance. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/edu/educationat-a-glance

UNESCO. (2015). Education global monitoring report. Paris: UNESCO Publishing. Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org/gem-report