"The Finns had a crisis," life-long educator, best-selling author, and Harvard professor Tony Wagner explains as we discuss his new film, The Finland Phenomenon, made with acclaimed documentary filmmaker, Bob Compton. "Their economy was failing. Their education system was poor. They knew that to grow their economy, they had to transform their educational system." Starting with the principle that cooperation is a key pillar of success, the Finns revised their educational framework.
"I saw teachers in Finland that were better than 90 percent of the teachers I see in America," says Wagner. There were many things that led to Finland topping the international education league tables (10 years and counting). A key driver: a tremendous investment in teaching made it the most sought-after profession in Finland.
Compulsory schooling now begins at seven. School is a place where students discover who they are and what they can contribute. National testing and school inspections are banished (teachers are trusted to assess their students). Classroom size has been reduced (limited to 20 students). Students are permitted to transfer to an academic or vocational school at the age of 16, and no university fees are charged for Finnish or European Union students.
This educational reformation has made them world leaders. Not surprisingly, global policy makers are paying more attention. Pasi Sahlberg, Director General of CIMO in Helsinki, Finland (the Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation) now advises policymakers in over 40 countries on matters relating to education and its reform. Four months before the release of his highly anticipated new book, Finnish Lessons: What can the world learn about educational change in Finland, Sahlberg spoke with me about the characteristics of successful educational systems, and about what is missing from many systems around the world.
What kind of education system will permit a country to have the people skills needed to compete globally?
The education system must be equitable, accessible, and flexible. Global competitiveness requires that all people develop competencies for life and work, not just some people. This means that a successful education system should help young people to discover their talents and build their lives based on them. Reading, mathematical, and scientific literacy will remain important, but their role as 'core subjects' in competitive education systems will be challenged by creativity, networking skills, and imagination.
An equitable education system makes sure that all students will perform well. It will provide early support to those who need more help in their learning than others. It will also emphasize caring and well-being in school (through healthy nutrition, medical, dental and psychological health), rights of students in school, and shared responsibilities in education and upbringing of children with parents.
Accessibility means that the education system provides good schooling for all, regardless of where people live or what they do. The education system that can offer unified and comprehensive basic education, rather than diversified provision of schooling (through private or non-public schools), will have better opportunities to respond to the changing needs of the competitive and complex world.
Flexibility is about providing adequate individual personalization in school, and freedom for schools to craft their curricula based on their capacities and local needs.
I know that Finland has banished national testing. How do you see the problems with standardized testing?
The main problem with standardized testing today is the quality of these tests. As learning in the globalized world is becoming increasingly complex and diverse, to test what pupils have learned through standardized tests is becoming more complicated. The increasing amount of what students learn cognitively today, let alone what they will learn tomorrow, is due to out-of-school influences, not the teacher or school. Standardized tests by definition are designed based on curriculum and textbooks, not the real world. Therefore, most standardized tests promote narrowing pedagogies, focus on core subjects and knowledge, and prevent teachers from teaching their curricula flexibly. Another problem with standardized tests is that as soon as you have invested in them, you want to also use them for all sorts of purposes for which they were not meant to be used, like determining the quality of schools and comparing them to each other, or measuring the effectiveness of teachers.
What elements are missing from the preponderance of the current systems?
Education systems in general pay too little attention to helping everybody find their own talent in school. It is evident everywhere that most people, after they have completed compulsory education at the age of 16 or 17, think that they are not good at anything. There is a small minority of those young people who say that they know what their talents are and that this is because of what they did in school. Another missing emphasis in current education systems all around the world is focus on helping young people to develop social skills and competencies that they need in their lives (that are dominated by communication through gadgets). This could also be called a lack of focus on developing social intelligences in school.
What can be done to better address the emotional well-being and intellectual potential of the individual, which appear to be suffering under current systems?
Emotional well-being can be addressed by reducing the academic dominance in schools and by increasing the social and creative aspects in what students do. It is a common misconception that competitive economies in a globalized world would require that children and students be prepared for them by environments that are based on more competition. It is the opposite. To prepare young people for the competitive world requires more cooperation in classrooms and between schools. All national programs, like Race to the Top, will jeopardize school, teacher, and student efforts to cooperate as they reward winners in the race and punish losers in public tests.
From a larger perspective, does your country's definition of educational excellence take into account the quality of life of individuals and of a society?
Educational excellence in Finland is a broad concept that spans far beyond academic achievement measured in standardized tests. Indeed, quality of life, overall well-being, and happiness are important criteria when teachers and schools decide whether their individuals or organizations have performed well or not. Artistic and cultural achievements are seen in most of our schools as the main indications of being an educated individual.
World Wisdom from Finland
Global competitiveness requires that all students develop competencies for life and work, not just some students. Therefore, a country's educational system must be equitable, accessible, and flexible. Cooperation, not competition, is a principal pillar of educational system success. Also essential is a tremendous investment in teaching quality. But beware of standardized testing, as it will undermine the achievement of these objectives.
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In The Global Search for Education, join C.M. Rubin and globally renowned thought leaders including Sir Michael Barber (U.K.), Dr. Leon Botstein (U.S.), Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (U.S.), Dr. Madhav Chavan (India), Professor Michael Fullan (Canada), Professor Howard Gardner (U.S.), Professor Yvonne Hellman (The Netherlands), Professor Kristin Helstad (Norway), Professor Rose Hipkins (New Zealand), Professor Cornelia Hoogland (Canada), Mme. Chantal Kaufmann (Belgium), Professor Dominique Lafontaine (Belgium), Professor Hugh Lauder (U.K.), Professor Ben Levin (Canada), Professor Barry McGaw (Australia), Sridhar Rajagopalan (India), Sir Ken Robinson (U.K.), Professor Pasi Sahlberg (Finland), Andreas Schleicher (PISA, OECD), Dr. David Shaffer (U.S.), Chancellor Stephen Spahn (U.S.), Yves Theze (Lycee Francais U.S.), Professor Charles Ungerleider (Canada), Professor Tony Wagner (U.S.), Professor Dylan Wiliam (U.K.), Professor Theo Wubbels (The Netherlands), Professor Michael Young (U.K.), and Professor Minxuan Zhang (China) as they explore the big picture education questions that all nations face today.
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We allways use this word Sisu for us. It basically means "gutts" (google wiki for more) We are a country that has very limited resources, its cold and mostly forest. But from a small country has come alot. In sports we have numerous F1 World Champions, In Rally we have more world champions that any country in the world. NHL is full of Finnish players. Peter Nygard runs Canadas biggest clothing line. We even have one man directing in Hollywood ( even if badly) We are highly ranked in all time Olympic metal charts. We fought against Russia in WW2 ( we say we didnt loose) Alone. We are even the only country that paid all the war debt back. It is this weird idealism what we have. We are quite humble but "we just get on with it" This also trips into education, We want to succeed but we try to do it together. We dont have billionaires but alot of people do allright. That i believe is the aim.
Testing has it's place but not as a means of determining progress of an entire system. Also, it is important to note that at age 16-17 students are given an option for vocational training. Wow, what an idea. We need all kinds of educated students and they are not all going to come out of colleges and universities. All education needs to be valued.
You'll hear the mantra over and over again from business leaders (especially small businesses): they didn't need their education.
The Fins also focus on something that we don't (or can't): cooperation. Education is a social experience. We're so stuck on individual achievement that we'll never be able to do this.
We'd rather have 99 people fail and 1 person be great than to have 100 people achieve.
I would rather have less "greatness" in that 1% and more happiness and quality of life in that 100%.
On the other hand, this begs the question, why are the reformers pushing for alternate certification programs where would-be teachers receive only 5 weeks of training. It all boils down to money and undermining the very strengths of American public education.
But you're absolutely correct. Despite mountains of evidence and credible research aginst the reforms being imposed through outright bribery during an extremely vulnerable time of near economic collapse (disaster capitalism), our federal govt. has prostituted itself to corporate interests and is pushing full speed ahead with the undermining and dismantling of public education.
state of mind, and on you realizing your potential. We must realize that potential to be successful and
lucky. Luck can be learned based on "The Lottery Code". And it is quite rational to believe in luck!
Regressives always want to turn that quick buck. They cut program after program and dollar after dollar for anything and everything that could help alleviate the very problems they constantly bemoan (ie welfare, abortion) yet happily throw billions of dollars into the money pit of war. Maybe if I was a bit more educated, I could understand how doing things backwards is supposed to propel us forward.
K-12 students are on the street by 1pm in the afternoon, Rate my professor.com has professors trying to get the students to like them, to enhance their next semester enrollments.
Universities are more concerned about shiny new buildings and expensive textbook turnover.
Parents interfere too much with teachers that actually expect students to work and not interrupt the classroom.
Like I said a dismal mess.
However, I hate to be negative, but the Finns also have something else we don't have: a highly homogenous society. And it's a small country so when tackling something nationally - well, it's doable.
Having said that - I love that teaching is such an extremely esteemed profession it's difficult to get a spot at university - many apply but only the best students get accepted to the be Ed majors.
that public school teachers there belong to a union. That's right, those awful unions that we keep hearing are the main obstacle to educational progress in this country are a mainstay of what is widely considered the best public school system in the world.
=And, of course, Finland is doing exactly what teacher union leaders have been calling for
for decades: offer the kind of salaries that will attract the most talented people to the teaching profession, train them well, support them in the classroom, and encourage them to collaborate,
not compete with one another, as in the "merit pay" zero sum/"I win; you lose" model that
private-sector education "experts" are so fond of.
What's interesting, this is what every public school teacher I know, myself included, have been saying is what is needed for years. But, of course we get labeled as cry-babies but get all the blame when what we are forced to do (but know is not benefiting the students) fails.
I forget where the United States ranks in the world, but it is probably not in the top 20. Even the Republicans are talking about increasing visas for intellectual workers from other countries as the United States apparently does not have enough people to fill 21st century company skills.