Expected, Inspected, & Respected.
"We do not learn from experience … we learn from reflecting on experience."
-John Dewey |
"We do not learn from experience … we learn from reflecting on experience."
-John Dewey |
The Finnish education system seems to be getting things right. Their students rank number two in the world behind South Korea but without the pressure cooker atmosphere. Their secret seems to be to put the pressure on the teacher candidates rather than the children. The competition to get into their university teacher training programs is fierce - on par with getting into MIT. They take six years to get their teaching degree and must complete a masters degree. They spend one year in a public school where they have three mentors to learn from and observe. According to Amanda Ripley in The Smartest Kids in the World, when the teacher candidates practice teaching their own classes, they are critiqued by their peers and mentors and the feedback can be harsh, similar to the way feedback is given to medical residents in teaching hospitals. I'd like more harsh feedback in my practicum. I think sometimes teachers are used to giving feedback to children and have to be gentle so as to not injure their fragile egos. But teacher candidates aren't children; they should be able to take the criticism. I've heard the argument that teachers who struggled in school might make better teachers than those who didn't because they are more familiar with the strategies that can reach struggling students. I had thought that the logic behind that sentiment was sound but the test results coming from Finland have me second guessing it. Ripley asks, "Would a doctor who had botched several surgeries be an ideal medical-school professor?" She compares the lack of admission standards in the U.S. to, "recruiting flight instructors who had never successfully landed a plane, then wondering why so many planes were crashing."
Academic rigour for teacher candidates, high standards for the children, and highly selective education schools are crucial to the success of the Finnish education system. Using elitism as a pejorative is backwards. There is nothing wrong with high standards and wanting the best teachers possible. I don't know why more countries haven't adopted this strategy. Perhaps I'll find out by the time I'm Finnished the book, (pun intended).
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David Wiebe
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