The Scandinavian country is an education superpower because it values equality more than excellence.

[midnight]

I just love this idea about co-operation and creativity being the corner stone of this countries successful school model...


"Instead, the public school system's teachers are trained to assess children in classrooms using independent tests they create themselves. All children receive a report card at the end of each semester, but these reports are based on individualized grading by each teacher. Periodically, the Ministry of Education tracks national progress by testing a few sample groups across a range of different schools.

As for accountability of teachers and administrators, Sahlberg shrugs. "There's no word for accountability in Finnish," he later told an audience at the Teachers College of Columbia University. "Accountability is something that is left when responsibility has been subtracted."

For Sahlberg what matters is that in Finland all teachers and administrators are given prestige, decent pay, and a lot of responsibility. A master's degree is required to enter the profession, and teacher training programs are among the most selective professional schools in the country. If a teacher is bad, it is the principal's responsibility to notice and deal with it.

And while Americans love to talk about competition, Sahlberg points out that nothing makes Finns more uncomfortable. In his book Sahlberg quotes a line from Finnish writer named Samuli Paronen: "Real winners do not compete." It's hard to think of a more un-American idea, but when it comes to education, Finland's success shows that the Finnish attitude might have merits. There are no lists of best schools or teachers in Finland. The main driver of education policy is not competition between teachers and between schools, but cooperation."

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success/250564/

[idwiyo]

1. K&R WOW, this is really great read. Thank you for posting it.

[midnight]

2. I'm glad you read it and enjoyed it....

[idwiyo]

3. "There's no word for accountability in Finnish, Accountability is something that is left when

responsibility has been subtracted."

It's brilliant and so true. Such an easy concept and so difficult for many to understand.

[longship]

4. The word is "sisu"

The translation is complex because there's no literal translation. But here's Wiki:

sisu

My mother, a Suomilainen, tried to explain what it meant. Her answer was, "When Suomilainens approach a door that says Pull, they push anyway because they're not going to let a door tell them what to do."

I guess that's the best one can do.

Sisu means a sort of stubborn intestinal fortitude. (According to my mother, who was fluent in Finnish, both spoken and written, until her dying day.)

It's a Suomi thing.

on edit: BTW, Suomi is not Scandinavian. Although many western Suomalainens speak Swedish, the language is not of Scandinavian origin. It is more related to Hungarian. So Suomi is not really a Scandinavian country. I know; I am being a pedant.

[msongs]

5. how can they live without race to the top...the corporate enrichment program nt

[midnight]

6. They can because everything is public... This is a great example of how public schools work...

and why we should stop privatizing our schools...

[Squinch]

7. K&R