Daily Archives: February 15, 2012

Schools We Can Envy

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I recently read a book review about schools in Finland on The New York Review of Books (School We Can Envy).

The review offers thoughts and comparisons on both the American and Finish education systems. Some thoughts raised can be good starting points for conversations about teaching and learning in our public schools.

In education circles, we often look to Finland’s education system as an example about how to do things well in education. It has achieved success on international assessments – “Finland has one of the highest-performing school systems in the world, as measured by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)” – and people are looking to try and emulate Finland’s achievements.

I think it would be wonderful if educators and government leaders could learn some lessons from Finland and work together to keep our schools improving.

 

Testing

“bad things happen when tests become too consequential for students, teachers, and schools, such as narrowing the curriculum only to what is tested or cheating or lowering standards to inflate scores.”

Our students deserve an education that is broad based and does not focus solely on tests. Assessment practices are improving, with a greater emphasis being placed on assessment for learning and assessment as learning.

 

Balanced Curriculum

“In response to the federal and state pressure to raise test scores, school districts across the nation have been reducing the time available for the arts, physical education, history, civics, and other nontested subjects. This will not improve education and is certain to damage its quality.”

The fundamentals of our education system should not be only reading, writing and math. Any pressures to reduce the arts, physical education, socials studies and other areas of interest for students must be resisted. The fundamentals of our education should be children, and providing them with a variety of learning experiences in all subject areas.


Improving Teaching

“Finland has spent the past forty years developing a different education system, one that is focused on improving the teaching force, limiting student testing to a necessary minimum, placing responsibility and trust before accountability, and handing over school- and district-level leadership to education professionals.”

All educators need to be engaged in discussions about improving teaching and learning. With all due respect, I disagree with some of the current dialogue surrounding teacher autonomy and professional development. Principals and Vice-Principals have an important role to play in helping teachers teach, and helping students learn. We must be part of conversations related to effective teaching practices and professional development.

 

Creativity and Curiosity

“The Finnish nine-year comprehensive school is a ‘standardized testing-free zone,’ where children are encouraged ‘to know, to create, and to sustain natural curiosity.’”

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be in a school where teachers feel safe and secure in trying lessons and activities that focus on creativity and curiosity? Let’s allow teachers some freedom to be creative and to share their passions in their teaching.

 

Personalized Learning

“Finnish educators agree that “every child has the right to get personalized support provided early on by trained professionals as part of normal schooling.”

We are working in British Columbia on personalized learning. If you have not already done so, visit the Ministry of Education’s web site on British Columbia’s Education Plan.

 

When I look to Finland I try not to focus on how well they are doing. I like to read about what they are looking at to improve their system. They are not satisfied with the ways things are. Educators in Finland are continuously looking at how they can do a better job.

How are we doing a better job at Cleveland?

  • Testing – we are having conversations in primary and intermediate teams about assessment practices, teaching and learning. We understand that we have some work to do, and we are looking for ways to have assessment help improve our teaching.
  • Balanced Curriculum – we do help one another with ensuring that children are given exposure to a variety of learning opportunities while at Cleveland. We do not cut art funding, and promote good teaching in all subject areas.
  • Improving Teaching – the teaching team at Cleveland are having very good discussions about how we can improve our teaching in math. I visit classes and talk with students and teachers about learning. We are always trying to get better.
  • Personalized Learning – this is an important topic, and one that I look forward to talking to all staff about over the next few years. Teachers will be developing a greater understanding about how personalizing the learning will help more children achieve success in school.

We also need to spend considerable time talking about the social and emotional needs of our learners, and working with families to help our students.

Together, we can make Cleveland a school to envy.

Take care.

Depressions and Bullying

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Did you happen to visited the CBC web site and its pages on Mental Health.

Depressed Children Targeted By Bullies – This article is from Friday, February 10th.

Some key points for me were:

  • “Children who cry easily and show other signs of depression are more likely to be bullied, but researchers suggest the depression may not necessarily be caused by bullying.”
  • “researchers found little evidence that being bullied increased a child’s risk for later depression”
  • “Parents and teachers need to be aware of the signs of depression in children and help them, the researchers stressed.”

The CBC web site has links to other mental health topics.

When I read articles like this, I can’t help but think of the number of children who experience social difficulties in their peer groups and who may be or become targets. I also worry that some of the reactions to bad behaviours may in fact be making the problems harder for children, if not handled properly.

When learning about a child who may be having trouble with his or her peers, I think it is very important that we take the time to listen to all parties involved, and not react to only one story. (10 Reasons to Listen to Both Sides of Any Story)

Working with children and families on mental health issues can be a touchy subject for some families. Even the term “Mental Health” triggers an emotional response in the adults and may shut down discussions.

  • We need to be more willing to have open discussions with one another about children and their social and emotional needs.
  • We need to work with children to give them to tools to handle the complex world of social relations.
  • We need to respect the privacy of all children involved and not carry out the discussions with people who have no need to hear the story. Privacy should not be dead.
  • We need to look at aspects we can control and not focus all the time on the other child.
  • We need to support all children in our schools and make this a place for all children to feel safe, secure, and important.

Ask your child about what they learned in the Stand By Me program. We are working on giving them tools and skills that will help us to make this a caring school.

Take care.