And of course, the joy of learning need not stop at the Kindergarten level. If it does, we've really screwed up."We ask you to imagine Kindergarten classrooms where teachers are trusted to use their judgment about what's best for each class. Imagine a future where love of learning, not test-based performance, returns to the heart of our children's very first education experiences." -- Brookline, MA Teachers letter to their School Committee about returning the joy to kindergarten
In Finland they say their success in education has to do with two things. They train their teachers well and then trust them to teach. In the US, we are lacking in two areas, training and trust.
This link, http://inspirationlab.org/?s=%22clear+spring+school%22 is to a couple articles I published a few years back on a website sponsored by the National Association of Independent Schools. I'm grateful to play a part in a school where I've been trusted to teach.
Make, fix, create and assist others in learning likewise.
I have a different perspective on training and trust in our education system as compared to Finland.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, they are all Finish; one society and one culture. Here we have many societies and cultures vying for preeminence. So much easier to be a Finish teacher.
As to training and trust- We have a constant rotation of "improvements and methods" brought on by the continual adjustments to curriculum. This constant adjustment is brought on by competition in the text book industry which is fueled by educators become authors who support other educators become authors. A constant cycle of support for the new text in order to garner support for a future text has disrupted things. This is not a matter of the ever expanding knowledge base. It is an inbred system of financial endeavour. The result is that training is made useless because the tools are changed constantly, even in the middle of the school year in some cases. As to trust; this went away when educators were allowed to unionize. Two things happened. First, an adversarial environment was created. Second, we have gone from the business of educating to the education business. Now, new product enhancements and measurement of output have replaced training and trust as the main areas of focus.