A lesson from Scandanavia?!?!
An article in this months eschool newsletter grabbed my attention this morning “U.S. educators seek lessons from Scandinavia”. The article discusses some fascinating observations of schooling in Scandinavia and the results they are seeing after some serious changes in their education system over the past 20 years. So why the interest in Scandanvia? Well these countries are at the top of the results table of the international maths and science testing - http://www.pisa.oecd.org/.
What interested me here was the observations these American educators made about what seemed to be (by international testing standards) the leading education system on the planet. For starters, they do not start pushing academic content anywhere as early as we do here in Australia (or many other countries)
In all three countries, students start formal schooling at age seven after participating in extensive early-childhood and preschool programs focused on self-reflection and social behavior, rather than academic content. By focusing on self-reflection, students learn to become responsible for their own education.
….“the U.S. holds teachers accountable for teaching, here they hold the students accountable for learning.”
I have always questioned why we have prep aged students (5 years old) working away at desks for such a large percentage of the school day. Teachers in high school are constantly complaining that students do not take responsibility for their own education. Perhaps there is something to be said for instilling the importance of this at the beginning of a child’s schooling life. Furthermore, the article notes the importance of these early years where teachers
“encourage philosophical thought at a very young age. … Grading doesn’t happen until the high-school level, because they believe grading takes the fun out of learning. They want to inspire continuous learning.”
There is also no standardized testing, rather a focus on quality educators who encourage project based learning. All educators are very well qualified and highly regarded within society.
““My teacher” and “the teacher” are terms of respect, not only when used by the students, but also by the school leader or headmaster. The teacher is most often viewed as a mentor, someone who has both knowledge and wisdom to impart and plays a key role in preparing students for adulthood.
In Finland, for instance, teaching is one of the most highly venerated professions in the country—and only one in eight applicants to teacher-education programs are accepted. All teachers there have a master’s degree.”
The teachers in this system are free to develop more individualised learning programs for their students and are not given limitations from a over prescriptive national framework. There is also minimal filters on information services and teachers are free to have complete open access to online resources.
“Internet-content filtering in the three countries is based largely on a philosophy of student responsibility. Internet filters rarely exist on school computers, other than for protection from viruses or spam. As a school librarian in Copenhagen said, “The students understand that the computers are here for learning.”
There is so much gold in this article, it goes on to talk about their assessment and ways they develop a desire to learn in each of their students. The testing and “ranking” of students does not take place until the last couple of years of senior schooling. They don’t have constant testing throughout early schooling, they don’t take lessons during the week to “practice” for the end of schooling exams. In fact they do the opposite, yet they still top the international testing. On top of this it seems they have developed an education system where children enjoy, value and embrace opportunities to learn. When will we wake up and take notice?!?!? Too many students are stressed out of their minds or just don’t care. While we continue to stress the importance of standardised testing and “drill” students for the test - they will become more and more disengaged. It saddens me to see the piles of students standing outside a room preparing for an exam drilling each other and stressing over an examination of “stuff” that has minimal relevance to their lives and learning.
So what is it that brought about this change?
“The change occurred because teachers felt the system stifled them and hindered creativity in the classroom. One school in Helsinki, Aurinkolahti School, believes that learning should let children “have fun and know the joy of life.” Educational technology is used to create a community of learners who build knowledge together.”
When it comes to educational technology the focus is more on personal productivity than the equipment or “stuff.” There are NO Interactive Whiteboards, student response systems etc etc. They simply use the tools that help productivity and provide connectivity for learning. We don’t need the “stuff” (especially those flaming IWB’s), we just need to develop good educational programs. It is more of a philosophical discussion than it is a funding of equipment discussion. Here in Australia we are about to have schools receive funding for computers if their ratio is below a certain mark. The Government’s “educational revolution” is going to throw money at more computers and “stuff” without actually considering what it will be used for. There is no use having a bunch of computers when our system dictates the use of the equipment. Thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment and infrastructure being deployed so our students can type their WORD DOCUMENTS?!?!!?!?
Certainly recommend reading the article…. It is just a great read!! Now this would be my kind of study tour!! More to come I am sure….
