On Education

On Thursday, I attended a small lecture led by the Director of General Education of the Finnish National Board of Education.  It was two hours that pretty much summed up why I am here.

The Director gave a fantastic presentation on Finnish curriculum reform, which is slated to be approved by the end of this year and implemented in August 2016.  In Finland, there is a national curriculum. This means that all schools, at every level, throughout the country are teaching the same content.  This is a means of keeping schools and education equitable for all students, and to provide a high level of consistency in education.

Throughout the revision process, they FNBE has sought input from different stakeholders throughout the country several times.  A draft of the curriculum was publicly posted for parents and the community to give input....at a national level. When I asked how they analyzed all of the data that surely generated, he told me that yes, it did take time, but that it was worth it to understand what those groups of people thought.  He also shared that, for the most part, the feedback was positive and that parents and the general community thought the Board was on the right track.

Can you even imagine that happening in the United States?

The revisions also included direct questionnaires to teachers, He emphasized several times that the most important resources in the process are the "education providers". What a great way to describe practicing teachers! Both the Director and the teachers and principals in the room talked at length about how collaboration was the cornerstone in the decision-making process, both in the curriculum revisions and the daily operations of the school.  One principal was describing the process that the students in his primary school engage in to determine the rules for their school. Apparently, there has been a lot of discussion on cell phones.

The speakers also emphasized the importance of teacher autonomy.  I heard this phrase over and over again throughout the entire discussion.  This autonomy is part of so many aspects of the work that teachers do here in Finland.  Although there is a national curriculum, it is up to the classroom teachers to determine how to deliver the material, based on the students in their class.  Furthermore, there are no standardized tests. Period.  Nor is there an "inspectorate".  (I love this word, too!). In short, teachers are trusted to to do their job.

This discussion was amazing but left me with so many more questions.  I spoke with the Director afterwards and we will be having coffee (a very Finnish thing to do) to talk about education here in Finland.  I also met several teachers and will be visiting their schools within the month. It was definitely the start of more to come.