The Force of Finland - The Visit: Day 4

Today was another successful day for us! We visited Mannkkaanpuron Koulu today which is another Espoo school. This school has close to 400 students (ages 5 or 6 to grade 6). We met with Johanna, the school headmaster/principal. They were super busy with closing down the school year so we are very grateful to be able to visit. Everyone that we met made us feel comfortable and welcome. We talked with three prep teachers (teach the multicultural students in a small, separate class before entering the larger, regular Finnish class). We visited the 5th and 6th grade class. The students were very excited that we were from America and were very eager to speak to us in English! They taught us a little Finnish that they had been learning! The teacher said that is has been a little bit of a problem this year with the English because the students prefer to speak that than Finnish. During lessons, they are required to speak Finnish so that they can become accustomed to the language. We were able to stay almost two hours and learned SO much in that time. Here is our list from visit #2:

1. The National Board of Education sets very broad guidelines (what would be similar to our standards but MUCH broader). Townships can add their own spin for the population. Then, schools are able to add according to their culture and values.
2. Teacher work in teams when working on their school improvement. There are no outside "forces" that come in to evaluate the school. The teachers within the school work together to make their school better. "Leading is working together."
3. At this particular school, every day and every class can be quite different. The starting and ending times differ from day to day and class to class. The latest is 3:00pm for 6th graders and that is only once a week. This facilitates smaller, more individualized learning.
4. In prep classes, the students new to Finland integrate with their Finnish peers as much as possible. For example, some students are able to join their regular math or music class. Students stay in the prep class for one year, unless a special circumstance occurs and the teacher feels that the student should stay longer or shorter.
5. Some students learn Finnish in as little as 2 or 3 months!!!
6. There are very few assistants. They choose to hire more teachers for co-teaching opportunities. They explained that they do not want the younger students to become too dependent on help.
7. PRINCIPALS IN FINLAND MUST TEACH!! A principal or headmaster does not have a specialized degree other than in teaching. All teachers in Finland have their master's degree. This particular principal co-teaches with several classes and even pulls students for extra language support.
8. There are two report cards a year. There are no grades but explanations of how the student is doing in each area or with each guideline. Only 5th and 6th graders get number grades.
9. Self evaluation and responsibility are huge student focuses.
10. Johanna explained that in her opinion, she believes that the Finnish education has excelled so much because of 2 factors 1) student-teacher relationships (looping helps with this!) and 2) the teacher prep programs in their colleges
11. A teacher's role is the "boss" but with warmth and support
12. Teachers are trusted leaders and professionals in their school.
13. There are issues with students not turning in homework, sometimes. The teacher has afterschool or "club" time for the students to get it accomplished.
14. Working closely with the parents is a guideline in their national curriculum. Teachers are not intimidating for the parents or vice versa. Parents come in for "adult conversations" about school and the child's progress. Students are often involved in these conferences.
15. This school holds two 45-minute lessons and then the students get a 30 min. recess. During this time, teachers rotate monitoring the students outside. If it is their day to monitor, teachers will still get a 15 minute break. The teachers' lounge was large, comfortable with coffee and snacks. We were in there during their morning break and the teachers seemed very happy to come in and relax with each other for a few minutes.
16. The prep classes have 2 goals: 1) teach the Finnish language and 2) to teach the new to Finland students Finnish school culture.
17. In Finland, teachers concentrate a lot on teaching kids how to learn and giving them the tools to learn with. It is impossible for a teacher to teach a student everything so they want to be sure that students are able to learn in general.
18. They were astonished that teachers in the US are evaluated based on test scores!

The list could go on and on and on!! We took the bus and then the train back to the hotel. It was very different for us to see small children (probably 6 or 7) hopping on and off buses and trains by themselves to get home. The children here become quite independent at a very young age!!

Tomorrow is our last full day in Espoo before we head to Helsinki. We are very excited about visiting the university and talking with their education department! Finland has some world-class teachers...and we're sure that's because of their teacher education programs!