If you can spare 20 minutes to watch this TED Talk by Alan Lishness he will share with you some insight into how a great educational system runs. It takes about 8-9 minutes to get into the guts of the talk but it is interesting to hear him talk about how the Finnish system compares to the U.S. which ranks number 26 in the world compared with Finland at number 1.
What are the 5 key things that seperate the Finnish system to the American (Australian) system? You will admire (and like) these 5 things.
Other links:
What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland’s School Success”.
The Finnish approach to education reform.
Thought I would look quickly at this but ended up watching the whole thing. So many great concepts that we often talk about and believe about educating people. Finland don’t just TALK about it though.
Glad you got something out of it Towny. Hope to keep putting up stuff that gets us thinking about education not just locally but internationally as well.
I really liked the concept of scientific literacy. I also liked the fact that teachers in Finland are highly regarded. The Australian education system could certainly learn a lot from the Finnish system. Makes you want to teach there (apart from the cold winters and the fact that Finnish is a difficult language to master).