"What shall we do? Shall we decide on the Study-Visit course in Helsinki as initially planned or shall we go to England and take a course on their school inspection system OFSTED?"
In the end, after reflecting on the real essence of our Erasmus+ project "Gestionar, Formar, Enseñar y Aprender Idiomas en un Entorno Europeo de Calidad" we opted for Finland and what an excellent decision it was!
In this entry I'll try and show you several reasons fot it as well as some of our findings about the success of the Finnish school system.
I travelled to Helsinki on 22nd April. The course lasted 7 days, from Sunday to Saturday and it was held in different venues in Helsinki and in other towns in Finland. The organisation is Spanish, with their headquarters in Jaén. Its name "English Matters". We came across it on the European platform School Education Gateway.
The course was a success. English Matters was able to produce a course where work, culture, guided visits to Helsinki and Tallin, talks and free time interrelated in a very productive way. Very intense but worth all the efforts.
One of the best things on this course was the European dimension. The opportunity to meet other 129 teachers from 17 different European nationalities, all of us sharing interests, worries, views, cultures, etc. but most of all sharing human experience. An unforgettable experience and one to repeat!!!
My main objective in Finland was to be able to find out about
- the key to their successful education system, and their good results in PISA reports- the reasons for their highly-competent population in English
And did I discover anything? Yes, I think so...
The 130 participants were split up into 6 groups according to the level we taught back in our countries. And each group got to visit 3 different schools. Mine were a Finnish-Swedish upper-secondary School (similar to an IES but only for Bachillerato), an Adult School (similar to our Escuelas de Adultos) and a Vocational School (similar to our FP y Ciclos).
After visiting the schools, we reached some conclusions:
- Educators decide on education policies, NOT POLITICIANS!
- Education is not a political weapon.
- Trust in all directions: government, principals, parents, teachers, students
- Extremely-well trained teachers, and highly respected!
- Selection of teachers by each school through interviews
- School facilities adapted to the needs of the students
- Welcoming school buildings
- No child is left behind
- Relaxed school environment: VERY FEW EXAMS!!!
- Teachers as learning facilitators, not instructors
- Active role of the student in the school
- Interrelated subjects
- "How can we work together to help children?" philosophy
- Hands-on approach of subjects
- More autonomous learners
- Emphasis on practical skills
- Fewer subjects and fewer school hours
- Autonomous schools: the government provides the money and each school decides on how to spend it, how to run the school, number of teachers and specialists needed, equipment, maintenance, etc.
- And so many more...
And as for their ability to speak English...
... Well, from what I could see, at school the emphasis is very often placed on communication, being able to express what you want to say by means of debates, work on projects, research...
They also do grammar and use textbooks, but in a much lesser way than we do in Spain. Language teachers always start the school year by learning what each individual pupil or student can do in the language studied. They don't repeat the same thing year after year. And they don't focus on grammatical accuracy at all!!!
Another key factor is that hardly any programme or film is dubbed into Finnish or Swedish. They are subtitled, but not dubbed. Therefore from a very early age, Finnish people are exposed to a vast input of foreign languages.
To make this story short, I'd just like to add that travelling around Europe, meeting European teachers and trying to make the slight differences that separate us smaller is one of the best experiences one can have as a member of this distinguished profession, so much respected in Finland and so little in Spain sometimes.
And if you'd like to read more about this course and the Finnish education system here are the links to several publications by other Spanish teachers on the course, and other interesting links. I hope you enjoy them!
https://prezi.com/p/vlviorbahj9_/
https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_how_to_escape_education_s_death_valley
(the whole talk is highly interesting, but it focuses on Finland from minute 10:40). Please, watch it!
http://www.educaweb.com/publicaciones/monografico/2015/educacion-finlandia/
