I recently read an article that interviewed three teachers originally from Finland that now teach here in the United States. I found that article interesting and somewhat sad. I have always been fascinated by Finland's education system because of their flexibility, allowance for individuality, and impressive results like 66% of students moving on to attend college, 43% attending vocational schools, and a 93% graduation rate (wow!). Finland also consistently tests at the top or close to the top on international standardized tests despite the fact that they do not measure children at all the first six years of education and have only one mandatory standardized test at the age of sixteen.
The teachers that now work in the United States and had previous experience in Finland report being overworked, overwhelmed, and all mention the fact that there is very little autonomy. Standards are strict, specific, and curriculum is basically predetermined to be taught in a certain way. One quote from the article states exactly how our classrooms look. "Muja finds that her level of professional freedom is often restricted by
the structure of the school day and a long list of teaching
responsibilities in America. “I teach six classes a day with a one
45-[minute] ‘planning’ period,” she said. “My classes are at three
different proficiency levels, and I have four minutes between classes to
prepare for the next class. At the same time, I am expected to stand in
the hallways to monitor students as [they] transfer from class to
class, and to check my email for last-minute updates and changes because
of ongoing testing or other events."" She goes on to say: "All of those tasks, and several others, wear her down: “I feel rushed,
nothing gets done properly; there is very little joy, and no time for
reflection or creative thinking (in order to create meaningful
activities for students).”" which I 100% agree with. Reflection is such an important piece of lesson planning and we have time for very little, if any.
The article talks about how teachers and students in Finland get a 15 minute break every hour. In contrast our students are expected to take their 4 (maybe 5) minutes in between class to use the restroom, walk to the other side of the building, stop at a locker, and get to class without being even a second late to not be marked tardy- can you even imagine if adults were held to these same standards at work? How stressed would we all feel if we needed to ask permission to use the restroom, had designated times we could get out of seats, could not talk to others around us or check our phones?
In Finland there are so many things that make their schools successful but here are some of the things that stand out to me as a teacher. Teachers have a similar status to doctor and lawyers, are seen as important and treated that way, are required to have a masters degree (which is subsidized) and are selected from the top 10% of graduates. There is national curriculum but it is used as a broad guideline instead of specific standards meant to be used with curriculum maps and unit guidelines that outline almost every aspect of what is to come. While Finland has the same amount of teachers as New York City it has a lot fewer students. Teachers only spend four hours in the classroom each day (apposed to our 7.5) and take two hours per week for professional development (we have no weekly professional development time but are forced into several useless meetings and trainings- usually during our own time or planning time). Finally, Finland sees the value of play in development and gives their elementary students 75 minutes of recess a day instead of the 25-30 minutes our students get.
It is easy to say we need to make changes but what changes need made? I have a few suggestions for our education system from my own experiences and research on successful education systems all over the world. First things first, Finland's system works because there are better quality teachers (and yes I am a teacher saying this, but lets be honest there are so many teachers that should not be teachers, they lack education as well as passion). Higher education requirements for teachers- a masters level at least and possible willingness to work towards a doctorate and assist those teachers with their education costs. Education is one piece but also requiring teachers to be passionate is a must! Treating teachers like professionals by allowing autonomy, throw out curriculum maps and strictly structured standards that are followed to the letter and instead make a guideline that can be adjusted and changed to meet students needs. Allowing teachers to take their planning time at home or at a coffee shop- planning can be done anywhere and often being outside the classroom where there are no distractions is better in my experience. More planning time, less class time- Finland's four hours of class time a day allows for so much more planning, reflection, and creativity to the point where I can't even imagine how great my lessons would be. Students aren't absorbing information when they are rushed and overwhelmed so allow for more time in between classes, longer recess for younger students, and less standardized testing. Allow for longer classes so students can achieve more (instead of 40 min) like Finland's 75 minute classes, but only do 3 or 4 classes a day with several breaks in between (15 minutes every hour is a great start). Meaningful learning experience come from hands on projects, reflection, and critical thinking which is not possible with our overly short class periods. No more than 20 students per class! I can see a major difference in my student's classwork when I have 20 students vs. 29- it is so major that I feel so strongly we are cheating our students whenever there are more than 20 students in a room. Less truly is more. I also believe everything from 16 years on should be completely career focused instead of general education that has nothing to do with a students future career. Why should a student take honors chemistry if they want to work in graphic design? Why is a future plumber required to take Algebra II rather than math related to plumbing in a vocational school offered to students 16-18 years old? Why is America so convinced that more is more? Students learning a few subjects in depth and fully (that are relevant to their lives) is so much more valuable than students briefly memorizing something to pass standardized tests in every single subject that they will not use again to that extent nor would they remember it even if they needed to use it later on because it wasn't fully and effectively absorbed.
In closing, instead of making no child left behind legislature which helps no one, increasing standardized testing, or offering vouchers to private schools how about funding our education system to value teachers? Require more of teachers upfront- better training and education to begin with, an advanced interview process to ensure they are not only educated but PASSIONATE, along with time to continue to improve each week and reflect, and subsidizing our education to ensure all that is possible. Change our outdated structure of 7 short classes a day with 4 minute "breaks" to 4 long classes where students have real breaks to actually absorb what they're learning and refocus. How about making education relevant to individual student needs and not a one size fits all solution to a student who is only 2 years away from the workforce? Lets stop failing our children and forcing an enormous amount of stress and pressure on them with little positive results and effects! Lets allow them to find a love for education rather than a dread of the school day.
Interesting articles to explore this further:
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/11/when-finnish-teachers-work-in-americas-public-schools/508685/?utm_source=yahoo&yptr=yahoo
https://fillingmymap.com/2015/04/15/11-ways-finlands-education-system-shows-us-that-less-is-more/
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