The delegation, led by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), sought to understand how Scandinavian students were able to score as highly as they did on the math and science sections of the recently administered Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).
According to the article:
. . . 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.
Like students in the United States, Scandinavian classrooms are highly connecteded. Students and teachers have access to computers, online learning resources and virtual learning programs.
But Scandinavian educators credit some of their success to a systemic emphasis on project-based learning, universal access to primary education, avoidance of early grading, and educational strategies that focus on reflection.
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, of the National Education Association, notes that 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.
Instead of high stakes tests, Scandinavian countries
rely on a system that produces highly competent teachers who use their professional expertise to work with each student and develop individualized learning plans.
And teaching is a respected profession
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.
Like here in the States, Scandinavian countries have national curriculum standards. Unlike here, they allow authority for delivery of those standards to trickle down to the very local level.
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.
And as for the filtering issue:
. . . 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.”
Scandinavia is not the U.S. Educators noted the stark differences in the high degree of home connectivity in the three visited countries. Neither abject poverty nor ostentatious wealth are manifest in these three countriesdue the strong tradition of government sponsored social programs.
Nevertheless, the report is worth serious consideration. It suggests that learning is likely to happen if we use what we know about effective teaching and engaged learning.
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On a lighter note, just in case you missed them, you might enjoy these high stakes testing backlash songs:
