industry & reform music ; as a teacher of English , it ’ s the ability of words to create new worlds and share the thoughts of others . Standardisation and teaching to the test removes this for both the students and the teachers .
If , as your music teacher , I ignore your interest in jazz and insist you only play country music because I know that is what is on the examination then I may obtain good grades for you , but you may also never play the piano again . Music isn ’ t always standardised to this extent ( student numbers are often smaller which allows for some autonomy ), but English and many other subjects certainly are . As a teacher , to feel that you are in fact creating a dislike for a subject about which you are quite passionate can be soul destroying .
In Finland , it is rare for politicians to criticize teachers or try to control the direction of the education system . The professional body and the union are one organisation and membership is around 95 %. All decisions around education must go through them at some point .
What does the future hold if we continue on the same trajectory ?
In the United States there are schools that teach mathematics via online programs as they cannot find qualified teachers to do so .
In South Korea – where they have had some success with the more traditional educational program – school starts at 8am and continues until early evening before students head off to hagwons – private tutoring colleges . The government has introduced laws to prevent hagwons from operating after 11pm and a branch of the police force conducts raids to enforce this . Parents take out mortgages to pay the fees and many tutors have become wealthy . The most well-known of these , Andrew Kim ( said to be the world ’ s highest paid teacher !) is actually not a fan of the system : “ I don ’ t think this is the ideal way ,” he told writer Amanda Ripley . “ This leads to a vicious cycle of poor families passing poverty to their children ,” adding that in his opinion Finland had a much better system ( Ripley , 2013 ).
South Korea also experiences high incidences of teenage suicide , as does Japan , India , and many others due to the pressures of the education system . This is also an issue in Australia ; however strict media rules around the reporting of suicide , incidents involving children and school protocols mean that these are rarely heard of in the public arena . An attempted suicide from a 5th grader in Canberra during a NAPLAN test was only reported on when it came out in a recent enquiry into NAPLAN in the ACT .
Why are we still doing what we do when all evidence indicates that it does not work ? This question was often put to me on my visits to Finland , where teachers are encouraged to try new ideas and continuing with anything that was proven to not be effective would be considered unprofessional . Why are we so determined to inject ‘ rigour ’ into our students ’ learning , yet so reluctant to apply it to the analysis of our own education practice ?
In a recent discussion with Pasi Sahlberg , I asked him why there was such a resistance to change here . He suggested that he felt many leaders want to change but simply do not know how to go about it . Australian education has fallen into a mode of taking instruction from above and rarely implementing anything contrary . Many of us have seen little change in the last few decades so we are not adept at implementing it . Pasi mentioned that he often has leaders ask him : “ How do I go about doing this ? Who do I ask ?” His response is usually : “ Just do it , you are the principal and it is the right thing to do .”
I asked a school administrator here what education writers they read . The answer : “ I mainly read business leadership books ,” was a revealing insight into where our education system has gone . A business environment is designed to have winners and losers . Is this what we want for our children ? Perhaps our students are afraid to make mistakes because our teachers are afraid to take risks because our schools are afraid that they might lose some ‘ competitive advantage ’?
When I asked Finnish educators about the school they taught at and how it compared , the response was always : “ In Finland , every school is a good school .”
If we view education as a business then we may feel justified in treating students and teachers as products , parents as customers and teachers as employees . Using this business model we are in competition with ourselves . ATAR and NAPLAN results compare one school to another . If one compares favourably , then the job is considered done . If it were a
Why are we still doing what we do when all evidence indicates that it does not work ?
genuine business , it would not be allowed to continue using outdated practices that were not successful . It would have a research and development arm .
But what of the students who were not part of the successful school ? What of the teachers who walked away from the system because they love learning and working with young people and don ’ t like being just ‘ employees ’ delivering test content ? How do we compare with the rest of the world ? Particularly those countries that are open to educational change , building a love for learning ( as opposed to a love for winning the grades contest ), and preparing for the unknown future rather than the known past ?
A Finnish teacher who worked in a Victorian ( the State , not the era !) school lasted six weeks and told his story in a recent edition of Opettaja , the magazine of the professional body in Finland . He estimated that we were 30-40 years behind .
There is so much of the Finnish system that can be applied here immediately . The term ‘ progressive education ’ is unknown in Finland and their students work at a higher level than here , as PISA results confirm . A number of private Finnish style childcare centres have appeared recently across Australia . The Finnish model has found favour with parents when given the option . The schools that make these changes also see an improvement in parent / student satisfaction as a parent understands that a student who is enjoying school will likely do well academically .
It is ironic that the changes we need to make to improve the outcomes for our students are also the same changes which will retain , and attract the best teachers in the country . ■
Michael Lawrence is a teacher and author . He is currently working with a Finnish university on a program designed to introduce Finnish educational ideas into Australian schools .
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