Getting to Know International Contacts- Part 2

A few weeks back I managed to establish a wonderful international contact, but, alas, have not heard back when I requested further communication. With the World Forum Radio seemingly non-existent, I decided to search the Internet for a podcast about the Finish education system, which I am absolutely fascinated and inspired by.

I was able to find a podcast which was a conversation between an Australian commentator, Natasha Mitchell, and Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, former teacher and current official with the Finnish Ministry of Education, as well as the author of the book, Finnish Lessons: What Can the Rest of the World Learn from Educational Reform in Finland? This podcast was such a treat. You can listen at:

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/what-we-can-learn-from-finnish-education/3851186

It is tough to say what was the most inspiring part of this conversation, but perhaps most applicable to this week's course emphasis on equity and excellence, there is one point that seems the most relevant. Finland has been rated as the top school system in the world for many years. When Dr. Sahlberg was asked what his secret was, he was quick to say that there was no secret. No secret sauce, so to speak. Instead, the difference is based in what, according to Sahlberg is proving to be true in most of the countries who are excelling in the field of education. It is that in Finland, they prioritize equity over all else! Sahlberg even went so far as to say that in Finland they don't really care about academic excellence. They see education as a right. It is ILLEGAL to charge anyone for an education. There are no private schools. They are against the law because a quality education is seen as an equal right of every person.

Further, children do not start their schooling until age 7. And, at that, the focus of the first few years of primary education are on well-being and happiness, and helping children who are having a hard time adjust and find their way. Additionally, children are only in school for four hours a day and they have no homework. Yet, they are not only competitive with the rest of the top countries in education, they are beating them. But this is of no concern to Dr. Sahlberg.

Competitive, he explains, is really counterproductive in education. In the 90's,  when so many countries were using high stakes testing to push teachers to push children to reach higher academic goals and using funding as a rewards or punishment for success therein, Finland turned the other direction. With a focus on community and cooperation, they realized that by rewarding a few individual schools or teachers, you make cooperation very difficult.

Teachers, he added, are very highly esteemed and extremely well-esteemed. At the University of Helsinki, where Dr. Sahlberg is a professor, there were over 2500 applicants for 120 spots in the Master's of Education program. One of those that was accepted was applying for the seventh year in a row! Sahlberg explained that by setting the bar very high at the entry to teaching programs, they have virtually eliminated the possibility of having a poor teacher. As a result, being a teacher is as highly respected as being a doctor or a lawyer. Further, teachers are trusted to develop their own curriculum and to be creative. Their is a national framework within which they work, but they are trusted to listen to their students and to let curiosity, which is highly valued in their culture, lead the way. Teachers are also trusted to do all assessments with no formal testing until exit from school at age 18-19.

Also relevant to the topics we have been studying is the way that the Finnish seem to value play. They are more interested in having children play and be happy for as long as possible and believe it is a mistake to put kids in an institutional setting to early or for too long.

Clearly, we have a lot to learn from Finland!

I have tried to contact Dr. Sahlberg. I found his email address at the University and asked him some questions about kindergarten curriculum. It was very hard to find an email address for him, so I was ecstatic when it didn't bounce back. Unfortunately, I didn't receive a reply. So I went to the Global Children's Initiative and did some exploring.

Three things I learned through the Global Children's Initiative were as follows:

1) There is an incredible program called the Saving Brains that works to protect and bolster children's brain development during the first 1000 days of their lives. It focuses on children living in poverty. I work with infants primarily and am a huge brain science geek, so I find this idea spectacular.
2) I learned that in Chile, the Center for the Developing Child has been working to bring literacy prep into Kindergartens. In Chile, Kindergarten focuses on play and getting used to working groups, much like Finland, but in first grade, the curriculum suddenly speeds way up. Children are expected to make a leap that they aren't prepared for. .This is an interesting thing to think about after all of the reading we have done about play being taken out of kindergarten. It is necessary to make the preparation fit the future program, as well.
3)In a study of affects of toxic stress on brain development, the CDC study brain activity and IQ loss and recovery amongst children in Romanian Orphanages. The conditions in Romanian Orphanages often include little to no human contact except for daily group trips to the toilet. The study found that children who were put in foster homes before the age of 2, recovered half of their IQ points, whereas children who were put in foster care after two, were virtually the same as children who remained institutionalized through their childhood. This data really reinforces the resilience of young children,  the importance of relationships in children's development, as well as the vital importance of the first few years of life.

If you are interested in reading more about these issues in Harvard Magazine, here is a link to the current issue. http://harvardmagazine.com/2009/03/the-developing-child

Thanks so much for reading.
I hope you found it as interesting as I did!

-Lauren