The blog that isn't

Looking at my terrible track record at sustaining this, maybe I should rename it to "The Blog that isn't". That way I remove all expectations!

My last post was in 2013 in anticipation of a planned trip to Finland. A lot has happened since then, which, (I hope!), will be the material for the next few posts.

But first, I need to deliver on that promise from way back in 2013.

Was Finland all it was (and still is) cracked up to be?

As always, the answer is complicated. Here is a link to a very brief feedback presentation I made to my school at the time. For more background, also see the articles referred to in my previous blog on this.

Hotel Finn in Helsinki

The trip was a fascinating one. From sharing the flight from Frankfurt to Helsinki with the Finnish band Nightwish to spending two nights in the very quaint Hotel Finn with its ancient elevator to the beauty of the countryside outside Fiskars, it was a wonderful trip.

My lodgings in Fiskars.
I was in the room at the top.

So, what did I learn about the Finnish way of teaching? When you read gushing articles like this one, you expect to be wowed by what you find. But if you read past the sales-pitch language of articles like these, you will see that it is a very common-sense approach: Create an inclusive, safe environment run by highly-trained, professional teachers. And that really is pretty much it. Of course, since that visit, there has also been more research cautioning against the adulation. From the same source as the article above came this one (still with a misleading headline!), urging for a more balanced view. Then, of course, there is the whole underlying debate about what constitutes a good education system, such as this one questioning the validity of the PISA scores. This is not an easy question to answer, and if you are new to the debate, I am afraid you are going to have to read all the referenced articles and more!

The best I can do here is to give a very personal response grounded in my experience in the South African context. What did I find valuable?

1. Teacher training is paramount. Anyone who has had any experience in our own schools will agree. It does not matter what system you choose to use, if your teachers do not have the basic training and skills to implement that system, it will fail. Teaching is not an easy thing to do. (It took me three years of aimless floundering in the classroom to realise that!). Through various developments (both local and international) over the past few years, the profession has been devalued to the point where even some "teaching experts" will have us believe that with a few mechanistic drills anyone can become a good teacher. This has lead to the stagnation of teacher training and the idea that "if you're not good enough for anything else, become a teacher". The Finns went the complete opposite route and it shows. The calm confidence of the teachers and students that I observed in classrooms showed professionals at work in a space that they have mastered. When you have trained your teachers properly to a high level of competency and professionalism, you can allow them to take full ownership of and responsibility for the learning outcomes. This has a far better chance of long-term success than trying to micro-manage a lot of under-educated individuals to deliver something that they have not mastered themselves yet.
   
2. Creating an inclusive space that is child-friendly. This requires some investment in staffing and infrastructure, as well as a view of the child as an entity that is in the process of becoming - not a mini-adult to be equipped for the "world of work". (To that last point: don't fight me yet - it requires a lot of clarification. Material for a following blog entry.) On investing in staff and infrastructure, it is important to note that Finland is not a wealthy country. They are not building state-of-the-art, hi-tech schools. However, they choose where and how to invest their resources very carefully. They made the conscious decision that the available funds will be spent on staff first before anything else.
   
3. Diversification. Not all students are expected to follow the same narrowly defined route to senior secondary and tertiary education. See this website for a full breakdown.

What is required for us to emulate at least some of the successes of this system, is the political will and testicular fortitude to (1) fix teacher training, (2) provide good, (basic) infrastructure, (3) focus on and fund what is really important and cut out luxuries, (4) design pathways of success for the different skills required for both the students and the country.

There certainly is a whole lot more to address, but as a brief summary of what I took away, this will have to suffice.

As always, comment and challenge any of the above to get a more in-depth debate going.