Finland’s education system has consistently ranked among the best in the world for more than a decade. Documentary filmmaker Bob Compton and Harvard researcher Dr. Tony Wagner decided to find out why. The result of their research is captured in the new film “The Finland Phenomenon: Inside the World’s Most Surprising School System. Dr. Wagner guides the viewer through an inside look at the world’s finest secondary education system. A life-long educator and author of the bestselling book “The Global Achievement Gap,” Dr. Wagner explores and explains Finland’s success from within classrooms and through interviews with students, teachers, parents, and administrators. (film description)
A free screening of this hour-long film will be held at the Monument Mountain Regional High School on Tuesday, January 22 starting at 7 PM. Peter Dillon, Superintendent of the Berkshire Hills Regional School District, has invited me to join with several area educators to participate in a panel discussion following the show, and the community is invited.
The autonomy and decentralization found in Finland’s schools today came after more than two decades of sustained and intentional efforts which included a controlled and nationally driven approach to school reform that methodically shifted and redefined mandated curriculum standards. During this period, Finland invested in identifying the best teaching practices. It became expected that new teachers would have a master’s degree and be content experts in their field. Teacher performance was evaluated and school accountability was gauged through a central department of inspectors in every school.
As is the case at independent schools such as BCD, Finnish educators are given a great deal of autonomy over curriculum and instruction, and schools are, for the most part, self-governed. Standardized testing is not a central component to program design and implementation decisions, and teachers participate in peer assessments and model best practices for prospective educators. Parent satisfaction is high, as is evidenced by an extraordinary level of trust and respect for teachers and administrators. Students are motivated and engaged, and there are strong program offerings in both academic and vocational areas at the secondary level.
That US public schools provide most students with an educational experience that is significantly below that received in most other developed countries has been well-known and well-documented for decades.
That citizens of other countries (now including China and India) are day by day becoming better able to read, write, calcuate and, above all, evaluate than those in the USA is a major factor contributing to the decline in our international competitiveness.
That our leaders, despite having knowledge of these realities, have consistently opted to do next to nothing to reverse these trends suggests that the best hope for our country’s ability to compete in the global market of the future lies in the various educational models being developed and implemented in our private schools.
And that is why schools like BCD must be supported in every way we can.