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Re: More on Scandinavian Academic Success
In his October Kappan piece on Finland, W. Norton Grubb noted that his team
of observers didn't find, in any part of the country, children who could not
attend school because of chronic health problems--the health care system
took care of that. In a summer years ago spent mostly in Denmark, I noticed
that some of the newer housing developments were built in the form of
circles--so people would naturally meet others. A certain number of units
were reserved for the elderly. It's not just investing in people but
thinking in terms of the larger society, not in terms of me.
Jerry
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Farruggio" <pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu>
To: <arn-l@interversity.org>
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 9:55 PM
Subject: Re: [arn-l] More on Scandinavian Academic Success
Let's not forget that it's the broader social
context in Scandinavian countries that makes
their superior public education possible. While
they're not "socialist paradises," they have been
Social Democracies since the end of
WWII. Progressive taxation raises the revenue
for social spending on the people, like national
health care, mass transit, etc The US right wing
liked to call them "welfare states." Invest your
wealth in your people and you get more educated, more sophisticated people.
Pete Farruggio
At 12:17 PM 3/3/2008, you wrote:
U.S. EDUCATORS SEEK LESSONS FROM SCANDINAVIA
HIGH-SCORING NATIONS ON AN INTERNATIONAL EXAM SAY SUCCESS STEMS FROM
AUTONOMY, PROJECT-BASED LEARNING
eSchool News -- March 3, 2008
by Meris Stansbury
A delegation led by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) recently
toured Scandinavia in search of answers for how students in that region of
the world were able to score so high on a recent international test of math
and science skills. They found that educators in Finland, Sweden, and
Denmark all cited autonomy, project-based learning, and nationwide
broadband internet access as keys to their success.
What the CoSN delegation didn't find in those nations were competitive
grading, standardized testing, and top-down accountability-all staples of
the American education system.
As CoSN officials explained during a webcast held Feb. 27, the delegation
traveled to Helsinki, Stockholm, and Copenhagen to talk with the ministries
of education in each country and exchange ideas with local business and
school leaders.
The group's goal was to learn how these countries are approaching
education, reaching students, involving teachers, and implementing policy.
Specifically, CoSN wanted to see how strategic investment in information
and communications technology (ICT) was affecting education in the region.
As in the United States, most Scandinavian classrooms are connected to the
internet, students and teachers have access to computers, and there is an
ample supply of online learning resources and virtual-schooling programs.
However, according to Keith Krueger, CoSN's chief executive, ICT in that
area of the world "is supportive of programs, rather than a driving force,
and is viewed as important primarily to ensure students' success in their
future careers."
Kati Tuurala, Microsoft's education manager in Finland-whose students
scored the highest in both math and science on the latest Program for
International Student Assessment (PISA)-said there is a "huge change in the
knowledge economy because of the global market. In order to ensure future
success, we need to know how to go from good to great."
She credits Finland's success to its major reforms of the 1970s, which
included an emphasis on primary education for everyone in the country.
"That's the reason for our present-day success," Tuurala said.
In all three countries, students start formal schooling at age seven after
participating in extensive early-childhood and preschool programs focused
on self-reflection and social behavior, rather than academic content. By
focusing on self-reflection, students learn to become responsible for their
own education, delegates said.
Barbara Stein, manager of external partnerships and advocacy for the
National Education Association, said Scandinavian countries "encourage
philosophical thought at a very young age. . Grading doesn't happen until
the high-school level, because they believe grading takes the fun out of
learning. They want to inspire continuous learning."
In fact, educators and policy makers in all three countries view
accountability and assessment far differently than in the United States,
delegates said. In contrast to the focus on quantitative measures and
standardized testing found in No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Scandinavian
officials rely on a system that produces highly competent teachers who use
their professional expertise to work with each student and develop
individualized learning plans.
"My teacher" and "the teacher" are terms of respect, not only when used by
the students, but also by the school leader or headmaster. The teacher is
most often viewed as a mentor, someone who has both knowledge and wisdom to
impart and plays a key role in preparing students for adulthood.
In Finland, for instance, teaching is one of the most highly venerated
professions in the country-and only one in eight applicants to
teacher-education programs are accepted. All teachers there have a master's
degree.
Unlike in the United States, which has taken the opposite approach,
Scandinavian countries have established national curriculum standards but
have set fairly broad mandates, letting authority trickle down as close to
the classroom as possible. Local school officials have the flexibility to
provide education services according to their students' unique needs and
interests, as long as the basic policy framework is followed.
Therefore, teachers are extremely autonomous in their work. So are
students. For example, internet-content filtering in the three countries is
based largely on a philosophy of student responsibility. Internet filters
rarely exist on school computers, other than for protection from viruses or
spam. As a school librarian in Copenhagen said, "The students understand
that the computers are here for learning."
Julie Walker, executive director of the American Association of School
Librarians, said these countries see students as having "the filter in
their heads."
Walker also noted that while "the U.S. holds teachers accountable for
teaching, here they hold the students accountable for learning."
One school that delegates visited in Copenhagen, Katrinedalsskolen, has
students become independent learners working across curricular areas.
Students stay with one teacher or mentor from grades one through nine,
moving freely about the building-which is centered around the school
library, or "pedagogical center."
Assessment
In the Danish system, the notion of grading is a foreign concept, with
competitive grading postponed until high school. Students are judged in
relation to their own growth, rather than that of others, and they are
continuously evaluated. Teachers also write individual learning plans for
each student after these evaluations.
Project-based learning begins in the first grade, and teachers work with
students to structure their learning through a process described by one
educator as "dialogue and trust." Assessment is achieved primarily through
a dialogue with each student, as is communication with parents about their
child's progress.
Exams tend to be limited as exit criteria to grade nine, along with a
project-based assignment that requires students to plan, research, present,
and create around a broad theme.
Finland, which does not use standardized exams, reformed its educational
system in the 1990s to remove the European school inspectorate system of
accountability. According to Walker, "Students use progressive inquiry and
are educated through questions and problem solving."
The change occurred because teachers felt the system stifled them and
hindered creativity in the classroom.
One school in Helsinki, Aurinkolahti School, believes that learning should
let children "have fun and know the joy of life." Educational technology is
used to create a community of learners who build knowledge together.
ICT abroad
It's important to note that in all three countries, neither abject poverty
nor ostentatious wealth are manifest, webcast participants heard. This is
owing to strong traditions of social programs that provide young people and
their families with a robust support system. "Therefore," explained
Krueger, "there is no great digital divide like in the U.S."
About 98 percent of homes in all three countries have computers and
broadband internet connections. The communities in all three countries also
frequently have media centers where students and teachers can receive help
from qualified professionals.
Because of this high degree of home connectivity, Sweden has decided that
the government is not in charge of implementing technology in its schools.
So, home connectivity does not necessarily translate into widespread,
sophisticated use of ICT in schools. Said Krueger, "We did not hear
expressions about the need to make a deep-level change in the nature and
structure of schooling in the three countries . nor did we get the sense
that ICT was provoking efforts to reconstruct the nature and role of school
in an extensively wired society."
However, connectivity for all schools is still a goal in Denmark, and its
widespread implementation is encouraged through district competitions for
winning technology prizes. Denmark also has a national social-networking
portal and is a leader in terms of Web 2.0 applications.
Yet, none of the three countries has implemented classroom technology to
the scale of the United States. Said Ann Flynn, director of educational
technology for the National School Boards Association, "Technology is less
visible in all classrooms-technology such as whiteboards, student response
systems, students laptops-they're just more focused on personal
productivity."
Technology tools, such as computers, have been given primarily to teachers
as a way of supporting their instruction-but there are few student-focused
ICT initiatives, such as one-to-one computing programs.
Nobody's perfect
Tuurala said that Finland, though ranked highest on the PISA exam, still
"doesn't have a clear vision as a nation as to what constitutes our
national education policy. We need to ask ourselves, 'What do we need in
order to succeed in this global employability market?'"
A reoccurring theme in all countries was the need for policy makers and
education administrators to have a clear vision of how technology can
improve teaching and learning.
"We heard this in nearly every meeting, whether it was being identified as
the reason for a success strategy, or its absence highlighted as a core
reason for lack of progress," said Krueger.
He continued: "There appears to be less focus on the use of ICT for
innovation. Clearly, it takes strong and visionary leadership to promote
new uses of technology or other strategies, when you have succeeded with
traditional high-stakes measures."
The webcast concluded by emphasizing that even though these three countries
are succeeding in student achievement, they also grapple with some of the
same questions encountered in the U.S.-how to ensure high-quality learning,
how to use technology more effectively, how to gain digital maturity, and
how to reenergize the use of technology in schools on a continual basis.
Link: Consortium for School Networking http://www.cosn.org/
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=52770
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