Finland has accomplished all of this by moving in the exact opposite direction of most other countries undergoing educational reform. Pasi Sahlberg, a Finnish educator and author, has chronicled Finland’s rise to educational powerhouse in his book Finnish Lessons. He argues that when most countries experience declining educational outcomes, the tendency among policy-makers is to crack down. They increase standardized teaching and testing. Students are subjected to more school, given more instruction in the core subjects of reading, writing and math. Ministries of education draft stricter curricula. Schools are compared to each other, with the hope that greater competition will trigger better results. Schools, teachers and students that persistently lag behind are punished – closed down, fired, failed or expelled. Finnish education rejects all of these notions. FYI, Ontario is about the same size as Finland. Now this is a progressive education system which believes that all children, regardless of their social circumstances or innate intelligence, are capable of achieving academic success!
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 16:01:55 +0000