Re: VS: [xmca] Finland

[Andrew Babson <ababson@umich.edu>]

Thank you Carol, I appreciate the SA example. I look forward to reading
your chapter. If you have published any related work on the topic of
"teaching to the test" in SA, I could cite in a piece I'm finishing right
now for a volume of the* **Annals of the American Academy of Political and
Social Science *on social policy in SA 20 years on. SA has its own
entrenched historical precedents, but this seems a good time for policy
experimentation. I think your piece could offer another example of how SA
education leaders could be truer to the idealistic Constitution if they
avoided many aspects of the Anglo-Saxon model.

On Tue, Jul 16, 2013 at 12:12 PM, Carol Macdonald <carolmacdon@gmail.com>wrote:

> Hello Andrew
>
> What an interesting post.
>
> I have been reading about educational change and education reform.  The
> last 30 years thre ite has been a lot of in the  Anglo-Saxon (English
> speaking if your prefer) countries.  It is really atheoretical (even
> leading to the loss of curriculum studies as a discipline), piecemeal.
> assessment driven and expensive (I could go on.)
>
> The point I want to pick up particularly is assessment-driven.  The rise of
> international testing (which of course says the Finnish children are the
> best) has perhaps been unduly influential .  South Africa of course comes
> stone last. But teaching to the test breaks down the pedagogical
> relationship.  Valuing what teachers know becomes sidelined. Respect for
> teachers as autonomous professionals diminishes.
>
> We have Annual National Assessment in Grade 3 & 6 (Grade 9 is coming).  The
> schools which don't score 60% have been labelled dysfunctional.  If you
> know that 75% of schools in my province are labelled dysfunctional, this is
> poor performance indeed.  The response of the education system is not to
> address pedagogy, but to get teachers to teach to the test.  The teachers
> are give the question types, and told to teach them. (We give the highest
> proportion of of GDP to education known.)
>
> In South Africa we are now into the 5th new curriculum since 1990.
>  Teachers are called "noncompliant" as if that is self-evident, and they
> are to be blamed.  I am writing about situation the excessive curriculum
> reform has developed into for a chapter for Andy's book (in progress).
>
> Carol
>
> On 16 July 2013 17:44, Andrew Babson <ababson@umich.edu> wrote:
>
> > I thought I would follow up on this, especially re Peter's post just
> > earlier about Bill Gates' influence on education "reform". It also seems
> > from Bruce's original post that I may have missed an earlier discussion
> > about Finnish society.
> >
> > Yesterday in class, we got into *Finnish Lessons, *and according to the
> > book it's clear that the Finnish model is very different than what Gates
> > and his ilk are building. For one, testing and assessment are put in
> their
> > proper perspective. Because teachers are taught to consider themselves as
> > experts and researchers of their own profession, data are welcomed but
> > scrutinized and used fittingly. In other words, the data serves them and
> > their students, not the other way around--- a very Deweyan approach.
> > Teachers are given the autonomy and the professional respect to do this,
> > and they are not pitted against each other, which contributes to mutual
> > trust. They seem to be comfortable sharing knowledge with and learning
> from
> > their colleagues.
> >
> > We can then ask why this approach and that of Gates and the "global
> > education reform movement (GERM)", as Sahlberg calls it, diverge so
> > drastically. Why not take a hint from Finnish educators and students, who
> > have established a long-term record of success?
> >
> > Among many reasons for this divergence, it needs to be highlighted that
> the
> > Finnish model is not easily or quickly replicable, let alone measurable.
> It
> > is a cultural artifact, an outgrowth of shared values and practices,
> chief
> > among them cooperation, respect, and trust. To further illustrate: one of
> > my students worked directly for Arne Duncan at the DOE for three years,
> and
> > said that although the Finnish model was explored, Duncan et al.
> determined
> > that only classroom-based pedagogical procedures could be replicated
> here.
> > Now, you can guess how skeptical we in this newsgroup might be about that
> > approach, considering how much education happens outside of the classroom
> > in Finland, and the above point that you can't import, a la carte,
> > sociocultural dynamics involved in classroom pedagogy.
> >
> > So, the Gates/GERM approach begs us to wonder what if about all of this
> > money spent on "reform". What if it had been spent on building and
> > implementing a 30 year plan to 1) transform the status of teachers into
> > experts who collaborate with other experts, and 2) apply the Vygotskian
> > principle of balancing autonomy and support to the entire system? Again,
> > it's not like I think we here in the USA don't have it in us to learn
> from
> > the Finns (after all, as Sahlberg points out, they took a lot inspiration
> > from US educational research and practice). Not to be simplistic, but I
> > still think it mostly goes back, as I mentioned before, to political
> will.
> > Although habits and dispositions (and by extension, "cultures") are hard
> to
> > change, they can be changed with enough motivation and time.
> >
> > Andrew
> >
> > On Fri, Jul 5, 2013 at 8:27 PM, Andrew Babson <ababson@umich.edu> wrote:
> >
> > > Hi XMCA'ers, and thanks Bruce for bringing up this topic. I assigned
> > > Finnish Lessons for one of my classes, and we just started this past
> > Monday
> > > so your post is timely. Once we get into the book, I'll share some
> > further
> > > thoughts in this thread. Rauno, I appreciate your historical insights
> on
> > > Finland (and Leif, interesting to know about trends in Sweden).
> > >
> > > It's galling to realize that the major thing, really, standing in the
> way
> > > of solving so many social problems in democracies is political
> > will---i.e.,
> > > not because we don't know what to do, or that we don't have the money
> to
> > do
> > > it, but because advocacy hasn't been organized or passionate enough to
> > make
> > > it happen. It's good to see positive examples like Finland's education
> > > turnaround, generations in the making.
> > >
> > > Andrew
> > >
> > > --------------------------------------------------------
> > > Andrew Babson, Ph.D.
> > > Lecturer, Graduate School of Education
> > > University of Pennsylvania
> > >
> > >
> > > On Fri, Jul 5, 2013 at 3:50 AM, Leif Strandberg <
> > > leifstrandberg.ab@telia.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >> Good Luck Finland...
> > >>
> > >> don't do what we have done... a massive support to private schools
> > >> ("private" is an euphemism... for s.c. risk capitalism)
> > >>
> > >> and the result is segregation and bad quality
> > >>
> > >> Leif
> > >> Sweden
> > >> 2 jul 2013 kl. 18.49 skrev Rauno Huttunen:
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>  Hello,
> > >>>
> > >>> Pasi Sahlberg is respected educational scientist in Finland. He knows
> > >>> what he is talking about.
> > >>>
> > >>> In 50th and 60th there was big debate in Finland concerning grand
> > school
> > >>> reform. Existing school system was reproducing unequality. Finally
> > party
> > >>> called "Maaseudun puolue" (Agrarian Party) agreed to work together
> with
> > >>> social democrats and communists in order to plan and execute of a
> grand
> > >>> school reform which would guarantee every child equal opportunities
> in
> > >>> educational system. Right wing parties gave heavy resistance but
> school
> > >>> reform was executed.
> > >>>
> > >>> Actually I am personally perfect example of this new Finnish
> elementary
> > >>> school system. I have working class background and my school success
> in
> > >>> lower grades was poor. In old school system I would have never make
> it
> > to
> > >>> "Lyseo" (high school/gymansium/college) and university. I had only
> some
> > >>> distant relatives who make it to Lyseo and only one who make it to
> > >>> university.
> > >>>
> > >>> Now we have to fight for our school system and not let private
> schools
> > >>> run over the well working public school system.
> > >>>
> > >>> Rauno Huttunen
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> ______________________________**__________
> > >>> Lähettäjä: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
> > >>> k&#228;ytt&#228;j&#228;n Bruce Robinson [bruce@dolphy.eclipse.co.uk]
> > >>> puolesta
> > >>> Lähetetty: 2. heinäkuuta 2013 19:16
> > >>> Vastaanottaja: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > >>> Aihe: [xmca] Finland
> > >>>
> > >>> Hello xmcaers,
> > >>>
> > >>> Following the recent discussion on Finnish culture, you might be
> > >>> interested in this interview about the Finnish education system and
> > `why
> > >>> it is so successful from today's Guardian. There's some interesting
> > >>> speculation about the relationship between relative equality and the
> > >>> education system.
> > >>>
> > >>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/**education/2013/jul/01/**
> > >>> education-michael-gove-**finland-gcse<
> >
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/jul/01/education-michael-gove-finland-gcse
> > >
> > >>>
> > >>> Bruce R
> > >>> ______________________________**____________
> > >>> _____
> > >>> xmca mailing list
> > >>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > >>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/**listinfo/xmca<
> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca>
> > >>> ______________________________**____________
> > >>> _____
> > >>> xmca mailing list
> > >>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > >>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/**listinfo/xmca<
> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca>
> > >>>
> > >>
> > >> ______________________________**____________
> > >> _____
> > >> xmca mailing list
> > >> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > >> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/**listinfo/xmca<
> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca>
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Carol A  Macdonald Ph D (Edin)
> Developmental psycholinguist
> Academic, Researcher,  and Editor  *EditLab.net*
> Honorary Research Fellow: Department of Linguistics, Unisa
>
>