Thursday, March 29, 2012
Book Discussion
We had an interesting and lively discussion yesterday afternoon. We talked about the merits of the various reform efforts taking place in Finland such as: the abolishment of tracking, few standardized tests, rigorous teacher prep programs, and sustained, teacher driven PD. We also debated issues like merit pay for teachers, a concept that is completely foreign to Finnish teachers. We concluded the discussion by brainstorming a list of Finnish educational practices that might be successful here at the Academy. We liked the idea of requiring administrators to teach one class and offering more teacher PD days that have an interdisciplinary focus. Deb suggested administration send home periodic newsletters via email to community members that highlight interesting classroom and extracurricular activities. In addition, a summer newsletter could be sent home that showcases the educational, PD, and enrichment activities teachers have engaged in over the summer-this might help create a more positive public image of the teaching profession and dispel some of the stereotypes about teachers.
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One of the interesting things about the Finnish system is the autonomy that teachers and individual schools have. Whenever I try to think about ways of implementing aspects of it at WA, I bump into rigid obstacles like the standardized tests, Dept. of Ed. mandates, and other sorts of red tape. We simply don't have the independence. The policy makers for our system are often not educators, as opposed to the Finns.
I do like the idea of administrators teaching some classes so that they have a more intimate connection to the students, faculty, and climate of the school. How would they be evaluated though, and who would do it? I don't recall how evaluation is done in Finnish schools.
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