Seven days.
What can you really learn in a week?
Finland.
Three cities.
Five Schools.
What can you really learn in a week?
Sixteen study tour participants exploring their surroundings
and
Meeting and talking with
Inservice and preservice teachers,
Principals and Assistant Principals,
Faculty from the University of Jyväskylä, and
Education leaders from the Finnish Agency for Education, the Trade Union of Education,
and the Ministry of Education and Culture.
What can you really learn in a week?
Our blog will share some of the scope of what we learned in just one week. But, we have to confess that it really wasn't just one week. Most of our tour group participated in a book club, reading and discussing Finnish Lessons 2.0 (Sahlberg, 2015) during monthly meetings from September through February. And, then there was Pasi Sahlberg, himself, who videoconferenced with our book club, suggested the cities we should visit, and connected us with the Finnish Director General at the Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation (CIMO) for further assistance.
What can you really learn in a week?
Three cities: Helsinki, Jyväskylä, and Turku.
Five Schools: child care center, grades 1-6, grades 7-9, vocational high school, immigrant adult ed vocational institute.
Expert guidance and well-informed travelers who were university and school faculty and administrators along with a few friends.
16 participants times 7 days.
What can you really learn in a week?
Read on as our group shares some of what we learned in just one week!
What can you really learn in a week?
Finland.Three cities.
Five Schools.
What can you really learn in a week?
Sixteen study tour participants exploring their surroundings
and
Meeting and talking with
Inservice and preservice teachers,
Principals and Assistant Principals,
Faculty from the University of Jyväskylä, and
Education leaders from the Finnish Agency for Education, the Trade Union of Education,
and the Ministry of Education and Culture.
What can you really learn in a week?
Our blog will share some of the scope of what we learned in just one week. But, we have to confess that it really wasn't just one week. Most of our tour group participated in a book club, reading and discussing Finnish Lessons 2.0 (Sahlberg, 2015) during monthly meetings from September through February. And, then there was Pasi Sahlberg, himself, who videoconferenced with our book club, suggested the cities we should visit, and connected us with the Finnish Director General at the Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation (CIMO) for further assistance.
What can you really learn in a week?
Three cities: Helsinki, Jyväskylä, and Turku.
Five Schools: child care center, grades 1-6, grades 7-9, vocational high school, immigrant adult ed vocational institute.
Expert guidance and well-informed travelers who were university and school faculty and administrators along with a few friends.
16 participants times 7 days.
What can you really learn in a week?
Read on as our group shares some of what we learned in just one week!
I learned so much through this experience. I found that Finland treats each of its citizens as equals. Not only do they say it (like our Constitution), but they act on it. Everyone gets an equal education. That does not necessarily mean the same education. It means that it allows the teachers to teach to the individuality of the student- some might need more of one thing and less of another. Differentiation in instruction AND assessment. It is completely funded by the government all through University. So this leaves parents to not be stressed out about paying for school. While I put in hundreds of dollars a month for my daughter's future college education, this is a stress the Finnish people don't have to worry about.
ReplyDeleteToday, I was trying to pull some students to give them a test. These are the ones that "didn't meet student growth" in the winter. So I am trying to see if they make it now. (Most of them have Speech IEP's, IEP's or are being domained at the moment- hence the lack of growth.) Well, I went to all the classrooms today and was told they couldn't come because they were already being assessed. ELA district assessment, Eureka math module test, etc. I was so frustrated because A: Why do we test so much? B: What does this prove? C: When do we teach?
In Finland, there is no standardized testing. Teachers are allowed to actually practice the skills they were trained to do. They are allowed to teach and informally assess as they see fit. In one school, the students are accountable for a Greenhouse and the animals in it (rabbits, mice, birds). This is part of the science program. The students are held accountable, not the teachers. Here in the States, it seems that it has become the teachers' faults for everything and children aren't held accountable. Why is that? Finland has been doing this and their scores are one of the highest.
They also don't start school until they are 7 years old. This is what all the research tells us when children are developmentally ready to start reading, writing and learning. We push them too young and they can't do it. Then, they struggle and dislike school. In addition, in Finnish schools, they make the students play outside for 15 minutes EVERY hour. Believe it or not, they don't have many behavior issues. Hmm.
I loved this experience. It was so eye-opening to see how another education system works. I believe that everyone should take the time to do this. I have to admit that I came back a little depressed because it highlighted all of the things that the American education system needs to work on. Hopefully, more people will take this into consideration and work with this goal in mind.
Rachel
Rachel, it is nice to read your thoughts and hear your voice like I did for a whole week. I was also impressed with many things we saw and heard there. I enjoyed watching the children get ready to go outside to play on the day it snowed. The children were so excited. I think to your point they counted students with special needs as two students in terms of class size. I was super impressed by the vocational school where we say a school built by the students. I agree, it was an important trip and we learned a lot that can help us with our practice here. Seema
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ReplyDeleteWell said!
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