Aina silloin tällöin The Learning Teacher Network -lehden päätoimittaja Gerard de Kruif pyytää minua kirjoittamaan pieniä artikkeleita suomalaisesta koulusysteemistä. No arvatkaapas, mistä nyt halusin kirjoittaa....

 

http://www.learningteacher.eu/sites/learningteacher.eu/files/flipbook/519/Web/index.html

Ja sama teksti suoraan...

 

PISA, Finland and Curriculum reform: The Importance of the memories of the process up to 2016

After the Pisa2012 results were published in December, there was debate on how the Finnish education system should be changed so that we could regain number one position. Ranking as one of the top European countries wasn´t enough. Therefore, major changes in our schooling system were insisted by politicians and the media. We, the educational professionals, weren´t so hesitant about undertaking such dramatic changes, because we knew the changes were already on their way. We were only worrying about the economic cutbacks in the educational field.

Nevertheless, Finnish students once again reached top results in Pisa. So why do we want to reform a well-functioning system? The world around us has undergone major changes since the beginning of the 2000s. Thus, the competencies needed in our society and working life have changed, requiring new skills for building a sustainable future. That is why the content of teaching, pedagogy and school practices should be reviewed and renewed in relation to the changes in the operating environment and the skills required in the future. Our goal is to build more participatory, physically active, creative and linguistically enriched schools as well as integrate teaching 
and learning.

In Finland, the entire general education system will be reformed in terms of objectives, lesson-hour distribution, the National core curricula and local curricula. The reform of the National Core Curricula and local curricula provides us an opportunity to discuss the changes taking place in today´s world and to develop schools and teaching.

The essence of our new National Core Curricula will be simple. Instead of asking "why" and "what" we´ll ask "how". How can we recognize the uniqueness of every child? How can we increase cooperation and participation among pupils? And how can we enhance learning in the multiple dimensions of broad-based competence?

I believe that no-one can change the entire system - not even a visionary. The reform of the National Core Curricula and local curricula provides us an opportunity to discuss the changes taking place in today's world. Now we have a common framework as well as time and structures to carry out this discussion.

The answer lies within the staff of our schools. The backbone of the Finnish Education system is formed by highly educated teachers, all the way from kindergarten to university. This issue needs to be discussed with teachers, pupils as well as parents and the whole society. The target won´t be to change the contents of the curricula but to reorganize how our schools work. We are about to focus on the structures of schools. We should keep what´s worth keeping and abandon what we no longer need. And, consequently, we should improve what we decide to keep.

This January I educated some 400 teachers to think about the future. They were excited and happy, that we, the leaders of the curricula reform in our area, were interested in hearing their opinions on how things should be. We are only about to begin our journey. But, as a pupil of mine once said, the journey is important. Because in the course of that journey you make memories that last for a lifetime. Let us see what kind of memories we made when the reform is ready August 2016.